Game Thirty One - Scunthorpe away

22 November 2008

So here we were, arguably the biggest game of the season so far as we travelled away to take on Scunthorpe in a top of the table clash. Only a victory would see us reclaim our position at the top and whilst we all know that the league isn't won at this time of the year, there is something special about seeing your teams name above everyone elses in the rankings. Yes it's only League One but you can only beat the teams in front of you and that was indeed our task for today.

The trip to Scunthorpe would be different to any done before as it involved setting off from Nottingham after spending the night at my friend Sam's place. After a very pleasant evening with her, I was up early and sneaking round the house as not to wake people before setting off to the train station. The normally packed out market square was quiet as you like with only a few early morning shoppers heading around going about their business - do these people not have matches in random places to get too? Madness!

The plan of the day was to get the train from Nottingham to Grantham where I'd meet Katy for the relatively short drive up to north Linconshire. Quick breakfast stop at the train station and I was off to meet her feeling pretty ropey as the effects of flu and a poor nights sleep were starting to hit home.

It turned into quite an eventful journey with all things considered as we travelled through various little towns and villages on our way to sunny Scunny. Random places and street names caught our attention such as the village of 'Laughterton' and the pub called the "Hume's Arms" - wonder if there was any connection to our former striker or pure coincidence?

The main event though was saved for in Gainsborough when as we pulled up at some traffic lights, a little old man crossed the road next to the stationary car. Perfectly harmless looking pensioner who wouldn't hurt a fly but quick as you like, Katy locked the doors of the car as if he was some kind of axe murderer! It was all ok though as that little red light means that no pensioners would be attacking us today!

We arrived and parked up in Scunthorpe at about 11:30... inexplicably early indeed as we hadn't encountered any of the traffic that we allowed for. Still it gave us a chance to find the nearby pub and sit in warmth and just relax while others slowly drifted in.

Lisa and Carl were next to arrive and sounds like they'd had a fun journey - don't let the smile fool you. Divorce was on the cards after she was annoyed by her other half in the passenger seat.

Foz and Ben joined us in the pub shortly after (minus Foz's half naked dad and Tash who had decided not to make the trip). We were also joined by a look-a-like Nick from the apprentice... but the pic of him didn't really showup. Random chatter made the 3 and half hours fly by in which we learnt that I'm an expert drummer... so long as the drum kit was made of Katy's boots. They may have been out of The Tweenies as she put it but they can sure hold a tune!

After the pub fun, me and Katy made our way into the ground to find our seats and for the first time in ages, actually stayed where we were meant to. Whilst the usual suspects all headed off to find the atmosphere, the two of us stayed put as due to ill health, I think any real attempt at singing would have just resulted in a coughing fit or loss of voice. Responsible away game for a change!

It was absolutely freezing as we made our way to the back of the stand and awaited the kick off of this top of the table show down. The ground was pretty much sold out in most areas and there was a sense of real anticipation as the players made their way out onto the pitch to a scene of balloons and tickertape.

For the first time in a while, City started the game at a high tempo and pushed forward right from the off. The speed up front seemed to be paying off (when DJ wasn't offside) and we were always looking to break through the stuborn Scunthorpe defence. Fryatt twice went close, one shot blocked and the other producing a good save from the hosts keeper. But midway through the first half, Fryatt threaded the ball through to the on-rushing Lloyd Dyer who kept his cool and threaded his effort past the keeper in the way we've seen many times already this season. Forgetting the illness and grown up away game theory, I jumped on Katy in celebration in the same way she bounced madly at Brighton away last month!

Almost from the restart, Scunthorpe were almost level as the always dangerous Paul Hayes had his effort brilliantly saved by Paul Henderson. A stunning stop and proved why he has reclaimed the number one jersey as his own. He could do nothing to stop the equaliser when it came though. After what looked like a foul, Hayes found himself in sight of goal from a tight angle but somehow lashed the ball home off the post. Great strike as so many seem to be against us.

City looked most likely to take the lead going into the break as we pushed forward. King firing over the bar and after brilliant work from Berner down the left, DJ Campbell saw his effort expertley saved by the inform keeper.

Wasn't to be though and so at half time we reflected on what could have been as we head over to the other side of the stand to see Helen and then made a quick call to Dexter in between coughs to report on the first half. It was impossible to text as the coldness had removed all feeling from my fingers. Not keen.

The second half was a lot quiter in terms of action on the pitch and chances for both teams were few and far between. Instead the crowd amused themselves with the "Left side - right side" chant which is getting more and more annoying as the weeks go on. Every five minutes? Is it really needed?

As the clock ticked down, the draw was looking more and more likely until a loose high ball was controlled by Andy King who then raced through, beat a defender and curled a peach of an effort home from the edge of the area just past the reach of the keeper. Great scenes in with the away fans as hugs galore were shared and the sounds of "We are top of the league" were heard as the game restarted.

With only injury time remaining, Scunthorpe won a few corners which the keeper decided to come up for and caused trouble in a packed box but it was the cool head of Henderson that won the ball in the end.

With his resulting clearance, the final whistle sounded and was greeted by huge cheers and joy. The toughest test so far in this long season had been passed with flying colours and we could truly feel that we had earnt our place at the peak of the league table. It was nice to see that it seemed to mean something to the players to as they celebrated too as if they were fans.

And so we all filed out of the ground, happy with life once more. A big difference to how we felt walking out of the County Ground last week after the disappointment of blowing a lead. Here we'd pushed hard and fully earnt the three points despite the referee's attempts to ensure that we left with nothing.... although that was easily explained when we saw the back of the programme.... Player number 12?

And with that we left Scunthorpe and headed back down south to the midlands and Nottingham station where Katy had said she'd drop me off - bless her little cotton socks! The conversation on the way home was very random indeed with talks of Katy "sexing up the gear stick." Oooh Errrr Missy!

Now what blog would be complete without a mention of the little man? Despite not having seen him at all on the day, he still popped up on the journey home as we passed by Stapleford on the way home - I'd like to think that that is a town of Lil'Daves.... which is why we headed to Nottingham instead!!

A quick stop at Nottingham station for food and I was off home back to sunny syston, very weary and feeling very rough. This had proved the second major test in the 100% record challenge though. Midweek games? Done! Games when ill? Done! Carlisle on fox travel is the next main one! Bring it on!

So that's Scunthorpe done. Back to the top of the league and sets up a nice clash with bottom of the table Crewe on tuesday night. It's the perfect chance to open a gap between us and those chasing hard but this is the type of game that we will normally struggle in and end up dropping points. Thoughts of 1-0 defeats to Rotherham, Hull, and Nottingham Forest in the past few years are still fresh in the mind. All three of those teams were bottom when we played them at home and all three took maximum points from us.... how many times can lightning really strike? We'll find out during the week!!