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Dagenham vs Rochdale Match Day Report |
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Written by Administrator
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Sunday, 05 October 2008 |
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| Rochdale
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| Football League 2 Spotland
Saturday 4th October 2008 | 2 Benson 31 Ritchie 68
| PRE MATCH
A ridiculously early meet of 7.35 at Upminster station for this marathon trip up North. First on the scene were Stew, Dogva, Middle and Cabbage, and then Wayne and Peaky (guesting) arrived on the Thurrock express to meet us. C2C trains were again on a go slow with engineering works going on, and when we finally got to London we had a fruitless walk to Aldgate station, as there were no tubes from there!!! So first expense of the day was two black cabs to Huston where Count and Richardson (two games in a row) were already in attendance. Dogva had assure everyone that he had booked two tables for the train North, but was obviously lying, as we had 4 two seat rows to squeeze into, and with 100s of other travellers defying the credit crunch to pay Branson's scandalous fares, the train was banged out. An uneventful journey then followed, although the cleaner entertained us with her amusing Northern expressions!!
On arrival in Manchester we were looking to locate a pub showing the QPR game on SKY to satisfy Wayne's needs. However, nowhere in the City seemed to have it, and so we settled for a Wetherspoons charging more for a beer than a bar in the middle of London!!! That was not really on so it was on the local train to Rochdale, and then a cab to the excellent Church Inn pub, next to the away end. Should have got in here earlier!! SKY TV, pool table, cheap beer, clean toilets and friendly locals. An excellent place for any away fans travelling to Spotland in the future. And then right opposite there a proper old fashioned chippy, serving up excellent grub at reasonable prices. So far so good!!!
ATTENDEES
Dogva, Stew and Middle from the regulars, Cabbo and Count from the semi-regulars, Wayne Mardle as this week's guest celebrity and then Peaky and Richardson on their first away trips of the season. Excuses were varied for non attendance. Deaders laid it all on the line and used a whole season's worth for one game, which is very silly. Hockey, lack of money, sailing, canoeing, attending a birthday party...............Deaders rolled them all out for this and will need some new material going forward. Browns did not give a specific reason. Mumblings of weddings and West Ham were heard though. No apologies for absence from Winkle which was a shame.
CROWD
Just over 2,500 at the excellent Spotland stadium. Made some noise early but a lack of real atmosphere. Seemed to get on their own team's back pretty quickly, and the ref's a little unfairly (we would never do that!!). Some good banter appeared to be going on with Robbo, and generally seemed like a good bunch. Daggers attendance was not announced, but looked to be around 80-90. Most of the normal faces present, although no representation from the HLP!!!
GAME
Controlled by the Daggers from first till last, one of our top 3 performances since coming into league. Made one of the favourites for promotion look very average. A goal in each half, could have been more, excellent. Nobody from Rochdale had any complaints with the result, a sign that it was an excellent day's work from the Daggers.
POST MATCH
The local cabbies were not the most helpful for our return to Manchester for the train to London. One would not let us take more than 6 in a bus the size of a 248, while the other one was 15 minutes late. It meant a bit of a dash for the train back. Once again it was packed, and once again Dogva had failed to get any tables, proving he may own a small town in Essex, but up here he is nobody!! Some sweeteners, in the form of Quality Street, to fellow passengers meant tables were acquired for most of the journey. Cabbo got chatting to a very pleasant young doctor who was travelling with us, but she used a few words with more than one syllable and so that chat didn't last long, but Wayne jumped into rescue things. The train also stopped at every stop possible between Manchester and London, including an extensive your of the West Midlands. The air con also appeared to have given up meaning it was like an Estonia sauna for much of the journey. Finally, after what seemed like a couple of days but was only three and half hours, we arrived back in London, and even had time for a few overs of non ball cricket on the Northern Line platform. Richardson and Count left us at Bank, Richardson with just 11 hours to recover for a half marathon n Sunday morning, and Wayne boarded a separate train at Fenchurch Street. The rest of us endured another C2C crawl to Upminster, and by the time we made it, enough was enough, and nobody could even summon the energy to visit the Yeoman or the Alishan. An excellent day out!!!
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