Because the Leeds game is so close this was to be the last munchbox of the season, so I made it a little exotic with cocktail sausages and pesto pasta. We set off around 11.30, which seemed early enough, until Vicky informed us that the beerbus was leaving at 8.30. Clearly the Middlesborough pubs we're going to take a good hammering. We decided to leave the A1 around the North Yorks Moors and find a place for a picnic in the sun. Coming across a car Park next to a small stream we decided on that, and opened the car door to get out. The sun was very misleading, it was freezing, thank god I had taken my hat and gloves. So we ate in the car and people/dog watched.
We arrived in Middlesborough with plenty of time to spare and set about looking for parking. After a misturn into a factory we came across a bit of wasteland with a battered old car and a sign saying 'Matchday parking £3'. A little man leapt out of the car and relieved us of our money. Thinking about it he was probably an opportunist, but good luck to him. It turns out the wasteland was pretty close to the stadium, and it was also pretty cold. Shame Ian had decided on summer clothes, no doubt not wanting to be caught out again. The Riverside is a nice looking stadium with some interesting features nearby.
We rushed straight to the loo on entry, in interests of this blog of course. There were plenty of them, clean, warm water, not hot. A little bit tatty which brings the score down a bit. Overall not bad.
We were seated in the corner, quite a lot of Millers had travelled, amongst higher class Millers fans about half way up. Our yobbo mates at the back were probably wondering where we were. To our left some Boro fans were trying to put out a giant flag over the seats, unfortunately some of the seats had netting over them. They struggled for ages, before deciding on the back up plan, a tiny little flag just in front. Eventually we could see that the flag read Raith Rovers.
We had spotted a few old friends among the crowd. Chris's mate Tom, Ian's mate Mark, Mr Nasal, Ian's mate John and sons, The Mullet. No sign of Mr Serial Killer and his eyebrows though. The team news was announced and apparently young Farrend Rawson had picked up a knock and was to be replaced by Richard Wood. Interestingly he was running up and down the line below us. A portent of things to come. Steve had also dropped Pringle for Adam 'I love a stepover' Hammill.
We put up a pretty good show in the first half, not creating much but not giving anything away either, and half time saw the score at 0-0. Alas, we had our usual kamikaze five minutes early in the second half and conceded two goals. We hugged and puffed after that to no avail and Boro ran out 2-0 victors. What we expected really, but Millwalls defeat meant we all felt that we were almost there. Little did we know! Next up Fulham away.
Men of the match
Ian - Clubfoot
Jackie - Smallwood
Vicky - Arneson
Quote of the day
"Why is Rawson not playing?"
Toilet watch 6/10
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