Hot on the heels of the Wolves game the Millers were in action again in a Tues night game against the Hornets of Watford. Tues night games are all about logistics. In from work at 7pm, gobble tea down and back out the door at 7.15. Once again Chris let us down resulting in us having to take the car, this time avoiding the dodgy Wellgate car park in favour of the even dodgier area round the back of Ian's old office. Approaching Don Street we spotted a woman selling the book, Reliving The Dream, for which Vicky had brought ten pounds. She brought out her money and the lady said 'do you want it signed?' And passed it to the man standing next to her, who seemed to be the author, Jonathon Veal. You don't get that everyday. We arrived at the ground in plenty of time, with around 10 mins to go till kick off to find an enormous queue. Curse these Millers fans who expect to arrive 2mins before kick off and get straight in! After much discussion we decided on turnstyle 10, bad choice as you will find out. We won't be using that one again, although we were able to get in in time. Wooly and James were already in situ, even though they have to travel from Hull. Also already seated was old guy on the end. I nodded to him and he nodded back. Small steps.
The team was announced and, surprisingly, there was no Kieran 'I want away but no one will pay me enough money' Agard. The word was that he was in talks with Wolves. He obviously hitched a lift on their team bus on Saturday. Someone on the row in front is going to have to buy a new shirt.
The good news was that Ritchie Smallwood, scorer of the winning penalty in last seasons play off final had resigned, on loan, just before the game, and was in the starting eleven. As kick off approached it became apparent that one of the twitchers was missing, although Ian Mark 2 was there, and the woman. The bad news was that the fat woman in front had been replaced by a thin man, so that is clearly not her season ticket seat and all my hopes of her shielding me from the worst of the winter weather were dashed.
The players took to the field, New York New York was played, legs were kicked and the referee, Mr Webb (no not that one) blew his whistle. We were off.
The first half was a treat for Millers fans, we passed the ball about superbly, just falling down in the final third. The Watford players tried to combat this by throwing themselves to the floor at every opportunity, especially the number 19, much to our fans disgust. They seem to be a team of just Italians, with all the histrionics you would expect, and Mr Webb fell for it every time. Queue Boos, swearing and name calling from Ian, Wooly, and Ian Mark 2 (hereafter known simply as 2). 'Green is giving the ball away a lot' said Ian. 'Greens passing is a little off' said 2. Unfortunatly, we did not capatilise on our superiority, and half time arrived at 0-0.
The second half began and Watford slowly came more and more into the game. We had few chances, mostly just from free kicks around the area. One of them saw Pringle try to curl it in when the wall appeared to be about five yards away, we need that vanishing spray NOW. A very strong tackle in the centr of the park saw Green leave the field, much to his disgust as he slammed his boot to the floor. Turns out he had a nasty injury.
You could feel it coming, and sure enough a move down the left saw Watford score. We pressed for the equaliser and Watford broke and scored again. There fans were ecstatic, ours despondent. Last season we would have thought nothing of being 2-0 down with five minutes to play, but against a good Watford side it was a bridge too far. Mr Webb brought the game to an end and, despite the scoreline, applause rang around the stadium. We had put on a good show, especially in the first half, and it bodes well for the rest of the season.
We trudged back to the car, heads down, only to find that there is no longer a light in the alley beside Ian's office, and a strange man was following us in the darkness. A little spooky.
Final score Millers 0 Watford 2
Men of the match
Jackie-Paul Taylor
Ian-Ritchie Smallwood
Vicky-Ritchie Smallwood
Ian's award
Constant pandering to number 19
Funniest moment
There are no funny moments when we lose
Ps Latest news is that Agard has travelled to Bristol as we have agreed terms with City and he is discussin personal terms.
Pps We will not be travelling to Millwall on Sat so the blog will be brought to you from an armchair via the torture that is the Sky rolling results service
Shame about the score. I'm never going shopping in Watford again, even though it is only a few miles away. But what happened at turn style 10?
ReplyDeleteAnd how did you get the photo of Green's foot?
ReplyDelete