By
Tanzo
An early start was not required for this one, as train tickets
had been successfully acquired on the cheap, using a family rail card.
A rare lie-in until 7am for a London game was something of a treat
compared to other 4am starts. I set off, and I was halfway to the
bus stop, before I remembered I'd forgotten me bait! I continued on
rather than risk being late. As I got nearer to the bus stop around
the corner came the bus, great! Missed it. I decided I might as well
go back for me bait anyways now. So off I went, picked it up, and
set back out again and got back to the bus stop with a couple of minutes
to spare. The bus turned the corner, and I hopped on.
I got to the central station for 8.40am perfect timing. One of my
mates was there and waiting. The train was also in on the platform,
so all we needed now, was the other two to arrive. One of them having
the train tickets and match tickets! However, I was informed that
they'd been running late because one had slept in. As calls were made
on the loudspeaker to board the train, and the time approaching 8.55am,
time was running out. I decided I'd better go and see what time the
metro they'd be arriving on was due on the notice board at the platform,
when a metro came flying in, and there they were. We scurried up to
the train and hopped on. Within a minute, whistles were blown and
the train pulled off.
Compared to the coaches, the train was sheer comfort. We even had
glasses to pour our cans into, and a table to put them on. The inspector
checked our tickets, and there was no problem with the family card.
I say that because the four of us had suddenly mysteriously become
brothers and cousins, and one of the lads magically became 15. I glanced
through the papers. Given felt Shearer might stay on another year.
We'll see. The predicted team saw Bernard come in. I didn't realise
Babayaro had got injured. It also had Bellamy down as right-winger…
a system I'm not too found of, and a source of controversy as we would
find out later.
We had to get off the train at Peterborough to get a coach to Stevenage,
and then hop back onto the train to get to Kings Cross. Special coaches
had been set aside for NUFC fans, and we hoped on one of them. On
the coach I dozed off to sleep, some others re-arranged the furniture
to allow them to continue to play cards. When we arrived at Stevenage,
we got a regional WAGN train towards London. It stopped at various
stops, and we decided to get off at 'Finsbury Park' one stop away
from Arsenal tube station. We went on to Arsenal, and headed for the
Drayton Arms. The Toon fans were already in full voice and some were
rather inebriated. Songs continued and beers were sung. Then Niall
Quinn came on the TV and people jeered and sang "Sad mackem b*stard".
Some morons threw their plastic glasses at the TV and they smashed
to the floor.
We headed to the ground at 3.40, and many sang as they approached
the ground, and slipped through the turnstiles. We were right beside
the skybox, and could see Warren Barton, Quinn, and hairy monkey man
(not that one) Richard Keys. The teams were read out, with the help
of the video screens in the corners. And then the players took the
field.
Once again, ball retention was poor. We give the ball away far too
much, and do little to protect the back four. From my viewpoint certainly,
if a little more thought went into our play we could do a lot more
damage. Too many rushed passes. We have no-one in midfield that can
put their foot on the ball and slow things down. Arsenal took the
lead on 19 minutes with Bergkamp sliding passed Given. Only some fine
saves from Given stopped Arsenal scoring more. A couple of chances
fell to Bowyer, the best coming late on when the ball was pulled back,
Bowyer rode a challenge by the deplorable Ashley Cole but saw his
weak shot saved. Boumsong limped off with what now appears to be a
hamstring injury. With Babayaro out too, we're back to square one
as far as new defensive recruits are concerned to improve our defence…
The away crowd was poor, though the skybox dividing the section behind
the goal, and on the side doesn't help. The loudest chant of the day
came at half-time when people chanted towards the skybox at Niall
Quinn. What good that did is uncertain? More effort should have been
applied to backing those between the white lines. However, during
TV breaks Richard Keys was topped up with more blusher to howls of
laughter and jeers. When the woman then turned to Barton, he took
one look at the fans and laughing turned the offer down.
As we left the ground, disappointed and hopping on the tube towards
Kings Cross, we chatted to some Arsenal fans. At Kings Cross we got
some food and hopped on the train to Stevenage. At this point, texts
started flooding in about Bellamy's apparent decision to not play
on the right-wing and feigning injury in training. We were curious
why he hadn't started. As we got to Stevenage we needed to get the
coach again to Peterborough to catch the connecting train. As we got
to the coaches, a GNER bloke on a loudspeaker microphone said, no
alcohol was to be consumed on coaches and could be stored in the boot.
This sparked loud chants of "We are drunk and disorderly". Once again,
I slept on the coach. When we arrived at Peterborough the train was
waiting and we hopped on. It departed at 9pm for home. This time we
were joined by a couple of mates of on our crew. We chatted and had
a laugh. One member had a killer headache and spent most of the journey
dozing off.
We got back at 12, and one of the lads' dad came to pick us up. He
told us the whole story of the Bellamy affair. We also discussed the
sale of Solano. A right-winger is a serious must, if we are to make
any progress at all. The signing today of Amdy Faye may also be good
news. If he can add some much needed steel into the side, as well
as slow things down when needed and control things from midfield.
I've seen him a couple of times, and each time I was impressed, so
hopefully he'll do well here. As for Bellamy, I hope things are smoothed
over and he stays. He'd be a terrible loss if he went. |
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