PRE MATCH
Well pre match was a very early one for this local away trip to Darlington. It began with 3 cabs heading to Stansted at 6.30am, all booked and picked up with military timing. Even Weasle (making a guest appearance and renowned for his awful time keeping and love of sleep) ws up and raring to go. On arrival at Stansted, Bear very nearly failed to make the plane, as he tried to smuggle through his Tescos Value deodorant only for security to thwart his efforts. Once we had overcome that it was on the trusty Wetherspoons pub for breakfast...........of two pints. It was at this point that Peaky disappeared to the toilet, never to return, although a bloke baring a remarkable similarity to Daggers keepre Tony Roberts did come and join us!! He was even kitted out in full keeping gear, gloves and everything!! Then it was a dash down to the plane for the 8.25 Sleazyjet departure to Newcastle. As always, the flight ran right on time and we were even kept amused by the £16 Weasle shelled out for 4 cans of beer for a few of us!!!
On arrival in the North East the credit crunch took hold of us as we opted for the Metro into the City Centre rather than fork out for cabs. Deaders was trying to be helpful putting all the bags on to one trolley before a rather grumpy Metro employee informed us this couldn't go on the train!! On arrival in the City Centre it was a walk to the luxury Travelodge, with Harrison not leading us to the wrong side of the Tyne Bridge as he had done in April!! To early to check in so off to some very dingy bar for a fry up and liquid refreshment. It was only 10 in the morning so we declined the treble shots for £2.50 deal which was on offer!! All of this by the way was still going on with Tony Roberts tagging along!!!
From there it was on to a couple of pubs on the Quayside, taking in the first half of the North East Derby, before jumping in the minibus for the 40 minute drive down to Darlo. On arrival there we agreed to head straight into the ground for a pint and a pie. It was at this point that an idiot amongst
the UD ranks decided he could wait no longer for the toilet (even though he had sat for 40 minutes on a bus) and decided to use a corner of the car park as a lavatory!!! Idiot!!! He also did this in a corner of the car park nearby to the main entrance/reception to the ground, and therefore the most heavily stewarded part of the ground!! Without going into details the result was non-entrance to the ground and a waste of £16 as we had already bought our tickets (thanks to Russ at this point who offered us some spare ones he had on the way past the bar). Into the ground and the pies on offer meant we were like kids in a sweet shop, and most managed to get through a few of the flavours before the game started!!!
ATTENDEES
A huge 12, although one did not make the ground (see above for this nameless baffoon!!). The full 12 though included the big 4, semi regulars Bobby and Cabbage from the semi regulars, and then plenty of guests, Bert, Richardson (4th game this season so maybe semi regular), Bear, Weasle, Harrison and Pecky (although he vanished at the airport and was replaced by Robo!!). Those missing who should have known better included Browns, no reason given, Gobless, no reason given, and Winkle, scared of flying!!
CROWD
Just over 3,000 which in a stadium the size of Darlo's is like a reserve team game!! Why do Clubs like them build such grounds?? Daggers contingent was probably about 80, although this was never confirmed anywhere. Certainly less than attended for the drama in April!!
GAME
Awful from the Daggers. Even when two down, you knew there was going to be no repeat of last season's heroics, and there wasn't!! We were outplayed all over the pitch, and for the first time this season you could see we did not have a chance of getting anything. Giving away a sloppy goal after 4 mintues never helps, but it never got any better. The highlight was yet more pies being digested at half time!!
POST MATCH
Bobby managed to seal a deal with the catering staff meaning we were given a box load of the remaining pies for a very reasonable rate. However, most people had already taken on board 4 or 5 and so these were never going to be eaten!! We then had to pick up our man who had not made the ground, and then wait for the minibus back to the Toon. While he was stuck in traffic (God forbid they ever did get a proper crowd!!) we took some amusing abuse from some local youths!! More amusing was the Copper's reaction which consisted of encouraging us to go and shove a pie down their throats!! We declined, but a top man nonetheless!! We then had similar abuse from another group of kids as we boarded our bus. I think they were just surprised Tony Roberts was with us!!! The next 40 minutes were sleep time on the road back to Newcastle.
After a quick change a round it was out to drown our sorrows after the abject performance. Everything seemed a bit different to April, although the locals were more fed up than us after their defeat to Sunderland!! Anyway, the rest of the night is to long and drawn out to write about, and the pictures in the photo section tell the story. The next day was a time for trying to sober up before the flight home, and watching the not very good FA Cup Draw send us to Hereford.
Hopefully Darlo won't go up, as it would be a shame to knock this away trip off the calendar!!! |
