Our second pre-season friendly coincided with Ian's birthday and a visit by my sister, Heather. When we realised she would be staying with us we asked if she fancied coming with us to watch the match. She isn't interested in football, has never been interested in football, but has got caught up in all the post promotion excitement. We stayed with her the night after the Wembley triumph and she had to endure endless replays of the match and 'the goal', so much so that she decided she would jump at the chance to visit the iconic New York and especially watch the maestro, Alex Revell, live.
We parked at Ian's office and started walking toward the ground. Being a friendly the crowds were rather sparse, but the closer we got to the ground the more worried she became. As we arrived on Don Street she announced, 'I don't like it, I'm scared'. Looking around me I saw all the usual types of people. The drunken louts with viral tattoos weaving their way along, the really ugly men (and women) that you tend to see at away games, the shifty young lads in big groups giving it large. 'What of?' I asked, nonplussed. 'All these horrible men, and no other women' she replied. A quick glance around showed us that, there were indeed, some other women, some more obvious than others, and as the bottleneck of Don Street broadened out into the North car park, she relaxed a little. The next hurdle was looming however, the turnstyles. Firstly she had brought a handbag, yes a handbag! This of course required searching for knives, flares, umbrellas etc. 'this is my first football match' she told the one eyed steward with squirmy teeth. 'Ha ha ha ha ha,' he merrily replied. Then she had to enter the ground. She had read the last blog and was very worried that she would be denied access and left outside with the scary other fans while we laughingly hustled through. Kind family that we are we let Ian go in first to instruct her in the proper use of the ticket (Ha ha ha ha ha). And Vicky and I came behind so we could save her if she couldn't get in. Luckily all went smoothly.
We headed for our seats, very quiet around us once again although the twitchers were there. Must be as dedicated as us. Heather was now feeling much less afraid and we took a few photos for the album. You can see the twitchers in the background!
The players were introduced and john swift, the Chelsea starlet on loan for the season was to start. We started brightly but were undone by a couple of good Leicester moves/poor defensive decisions and were 2-0 down at halftime. Heather was disappointed that we saw very little of the maestro, and that she didn't get chance to join in with 'come on you reds' due to the lack of atmosphere. She was also very disappointed with the scoreline, despite it only being a friendly.
Evans completely changed the team for the second half with only Swift and Wood staying on. He looks a wonderful player, just lacking a little defensively, but I'm sure Evans will bully that into him. Agard scored his customary, 'I'm here, I'm good, come buy me' goal.
Although I really hope he does stay with us. That gave us the chance to leap up and cheer, which Heather enjoyed immensely. Colin made a couple of outstanding saves, hopefully he will get the nod over Loach who had played in the first half. We have good competition for goalkeepers though. Then Leicester went and scored again. Agard missed a sitter, 'don't bother, I'm rubbish'. Maybe he does want to stay. The sponsors man off the match was, unsurprisingly, John Swift, the news greeted with a huge round of applause. The New York faithful really like this boy.
In the end Leicester won 3-1, but as the twitcher said, they don't play till a week on Saturday and our players needed to be more careful. 'Do you want to sample the delights of the New York toilets', I asked Heather on our way out. 'We'll save that for next time' she replied.
Man of the match
Jackie - John Swift
Ian - John Swift
Vicky - Adam Collin
Heather - Pringles left foot
Quote of the day
'This is my first football match' Heather at turnstyle
Funniest moment
Walking to the ground me saying to Heather 'I always get overtaken by men with sticks or people with a limp' then turning round on hearing a noise to see a besticked man and a man in a mobility scooter bearing down on me.
Ian's award
No memorable refereeing decisions either way.
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