We were soon joined by the Bhalba lads and the beer was soon flowing. About 2.40 we left for the ground and joined the large queue to the away entrance. You had to walk through the home fans to get to the away section, novel idea!!
They had deemed our away support not to require the usual away terrace, so we got the end 2 blocks of the covered stand on the side. I would guess at 500+ noisy away fans, bolstered by the Huddersfield lads we had bumped into in the first pub we visited on the way to the Crown Inn.
As for the match, well my experience of playing on a beach made for passing the ball along the floor pointless, sadly the pitch made the game a bit of a dire affair. Salford (I think) had played Rugby on it the night before and the rugby markings had been painted green to hide them, but made them stand out more as grass was a rare find on the pitch.
We gave away a very soft goal, Roberts was caught unawares and made an almost half hearted dive (did he slip?) and the ball was in. Our defence was given a tested several times by a lively Stockport team, but second half we looked more up for it.
The goal was simple, a corner from Jones and Virgo won the header and it was
1-1. He celebrated in-front of us and the Huddersfield boys were soon escorted out for over celebrating! After that chances were few and far between. Roberts saved well on the ground from along range shot, but he was beaten by a 40 yard lob that if it had been on target (and it only just missed) would have been a goal.
The Harding incident (hard to see from our side as the home dugout was a long way away) but seeing it on TV, somebody on the bench throws the ball at Harding standing about a yard away and it hit him in the stomach or below! Understandably our team reacted, but Roberts was out of order running 40 yards to join in and should have been red carded as he certainly appeared to thump one if not 2 Stockport players or people from the bench.
I understand that the radio this morning mention some sort of FA investigation into the matter (word of mouth from a work colleague). This incident woke up the silent home fans and had them baying for Roberts blood. At the final whistle we had to leave via the normal away seats and when we came up the road leading to the main road a small Stockport "stone island" group had gathered and walked down towards the Brighton supporters.
We turned the corner so missed what happened, but by all accounts the 2 Sussex Police followed them and when they would not disperse the Police used Pepper Spray on them.
Not sure of the facts and what happened after but several people say this did happen. A few of the people travelling back on the later train also got offered out, but by a group of 14 or 15 year old Stockport lads trying to be hard, they just got laughed at and they disappeared off!
Our train back was interesting. Packed with Chelsea "lads" talking about how they had been run round Manchester by Man City and how they had been dreadful but won the game as Robbie Fowler couldn't hit the target.
We were speeding along nicely when we suddenly stopped at a tiny station before Chesterfield. The dreaded bing bong and the guard told us that the signal box up front was empty as the signalman had gone home and his relief had not turned up! What a farce!
We sat at this station for about 45 minutes before a new signal man turned up! We arrived into London about an hour late and the buffet (despite being restocked at Derby and Leicester) had run dry, the Chelsea boys certainly like a beer or two. We then caught the underground with just enough time to get the 10.17 back to Worthing, but we got stuck at Euston due to signal failure at Brixton which meant the Victoria line shutting down.
We eventually ended up on the 11.17 with the people who had caught the later train back to London. They had a nasty trip home as Chelsea took advantage of numbers to attack Man City fans travelling back by train and they got threatened by the same group of Chelsea nut cases.
So quite an eventful day, shame about the match which the pitch ruined. All I want to hear now is how Mr Blackman got into the game for free!
Mark R
Roberts - 4 gave away another goal, yet made other good saves. Too unreliable for me at the moment
Harding - 8 great match, cool calm, looks good
Virgo - 6 great goal and always gives 100% even if sometimes caught out of position
Cullip - 6 solid
Butters - 6 as above
Jones - 6 involved in everything, but still gives the ball away quite often and too easily
Oatway - 6 solid
Carpenter - 6 as above
Hart - 6 battled
Benjamin - 5 looked laboured (was he injured?)
McPhee - 5 never looked like scoring
Robinson - 6 looks nippy, needs more experience
Lee - 3 dreadful, said he doesn't see himself as a forward, didn't look like one on Saturday!
Jones/Mayo/El-Abd not used
They had deemed our away support not to require the usual away terrace, so we got the end 2 blocks of the covered stand on the side. I would guess at 500+ noisy away fans, bolstered by the Huddersfield lads we had bumped into in the first pub we visited on the way to the Crown Inn.
As for the match, well my experience of playing on a beach made for passing the ball along the floor pointless, sadly the pitch made the game a bit of a dire affair. Salford (I think) had played Rugby on it the night before and the rugby markings had been painted green to hide them, but made them stand out more as grass was a rare find on the pitch.
We gave away a very soft goal, Roberts was caught unawares and made an almost half hearted dive (did he slip?) and the ball was in. Our defence was given a tested several times by a lively Stockport team, but second half we looked more up for it.
The goal was simple, a corner from Jones and Virgo won the header and it was
1-1. He celebrated in-front of us and the Huddersfield boys were soon escorted out for over celebrating! After that chances were few and far between. Roberts saved well on the ground from along range shot, but he was beaten by a 40 yard lob that if it had been on target (and it only just missed) would have been a goal.
The Harding incident (hard to see from our side as the home dugout was a long way away) but seeing it on TV, somebody on the bench throws the ball at Harding standing about a yard away and it hit him in the stomach or below! Understandably our team reacted, but Roberts was out of order running 40 yards to join in and should have been red carded as he certainly appeared to thump one if not 2 Stockport players or people from the bench.
I understand that the radio this morning mention some sort of FA investigation into the matter (word of mouth from a work colleague). This incident woke up the silent home fans and had them baying for Roberts blood. At the final whistle we had to leave via the normal away seats and when we came up the road leading to the main road a small Stockport "stone island" group had gathered and walked down towards the Brighton supporters.
We turned the corner so missed what happened, but by all accounts the 2 Sussex Police followed them and when they would not disperse the Police used Pepper Spray on them.
Not sure of the facts and what happened after but several people say this did happen. A few of the people travelling back on the later train also got offered out, but by a group of 14 or 15 year old Stockport lads trying to be hard, they just got laughed at and they disappeared off!
Our train back was interesting. Packed with Chelsea "lads" talking about how they had been run round Manchester by Man City and how they had been dreadful but won the game as Robbie Fowler couldn't hit the target.
We were speeding along nicely when we suddenly stopped at a tiny station before Chesterfield. The dreaded bing bong and the guard told us that the signal box up front was empty as the signalman had gone home and his relief had not turned up! What a farce!
We sat at this station for about 45 minutes before a new signal man turned up! We arrived into London about an hour late and the buffet (despite being restocked at Derby and Leicester) had run dry, the Chelsea boys certainly like a beer or two. We then caught the underground with just enough time to get the 10.17 back to Worthing, but we got stuck at Euston due to signal failure at Brixton which meant the Victoria line shutting down.
We eventually ended up on the 11.17 with the people who had caught the later train back to London. They had a nasty trip home as Chelsea took advantage of numbers to attack Man City fans travelling back by train and they got threatened by the same group of Chelsea nut cases.
So quite an eventful day, shame about the match which the pitch ruined. All I want to hear now is how Mr Blackman got into the game for free!
Mark R
Roberts - 4 gave away another goal, yet made other good saves. Too unreliable for me at the moment
Harding - 8 great match, cool calm, looks good
Virgo - 6 great goal and always gives 100% even if sometimes caught out of position
Cullip - 6 solid
Butters - 6 as above
Jones - 6 involved in everything, but still gives the ball away quite often and too easily
Oatway - 6 solid
Carpenter - 6 as above
Hart - 6 battled
Benjamin - 5 looked laboured (was he injured?)
McPhee - 5 never looked like scoring
Robinson - 6 looks nippy, needs more experience
Lee - 3 dreadful, said he doesn't see himself as a forward, didn't look like one on Saturday!
Jones/Mayo/El-Abd not used