And then we'll wander the streets of Scunthorpe, find some dodgy pubs, trail miles and miles to the ground, get abused about being gay from a couple of hundred locals! Why do we do it?
Why?
Because the 90 minutes on the pitch (for once!) made it all worth while, and also the non stop support of the team, everyone wanting us to win and no moaning. Also we know a few Scunny fans from England games so it was nice to get one over them!
We arrived in Scunny just after midday, met the lads that had come on the earlier train and our Scunny mates in the Honest Lawyer near the station. They were sponsoring the match, and looking forward to a nice easy win, but to be honest they were expecting a slip up sooner or later as their recent run had shocked them!
Their fanzine had a superb cover. It had 4-0 in very big print and taped to the front was a pin so that you could prick yourself just to make sure you were awake and the 4-0 win over forest was real!
A few beers later and it was back to the station for a taxi and a quick visit to the Sam Smith pub "The Berkerley" near the ground.
We left about 2.45, walked to the ground, paid our ££ to get in, I was quite surprised at our turn out, I would have said around 300, but seeing the goals on TV yesterday possibly only 200! Hard to tell when everyone is spread out.
It was good to see that Wilkins had made the changes that everyone has talked about, El-Abd and Chippy were given the day off and Kuipers was back on the bench.
The game started in a lively fashion and Scunthorpe probably had the edge, but we were playing a proper 4-4-2 with Revell up front and playing as a centre forward. Williams was alongside him, but IMHO he is no better than anything we have on the bench.
Hammond was back to his old self, Hart battled and our back 4 looked solid, with Butters and Hinshelwood playing well as the central defence.
After 17 minutes Williams appeared to be taken out on the touch line, the Lino waved his flag and Butters and Whing would have matched Linford Christie as they steamed up the pitch to make their feelings known.
It was obviously a bad one, even seeing the TV clip, I cant really see what happened, but the Ref didnt hesitate to red card the Scunny player. Whing was also booked for joining in!
A few minutes later it got even better, Whing who appeared to be spurred on by the boos he was getting swung in a great cross, and Tiny Cox nipped in between two defenders to place his header wide of the keeper.
Scunthorpe spent the next 20 minutes moaning at the referee (players and supporters) but we just got on with the game and passed the ball about superbly.
We kept stretching Scunthorpe, but just before half time we gave away a stupid goal. They broke on the left, the cross came in, no real danger, Hinshlewood got his head to the ball, but instead of clearing it he managed to get it all wrong, smashed it in against our crossbar, the ball then hit Butters, then Henderson, then a Scunny foot made contact and it was 1-1.
Grrrrr
Second half and we switched Williams for Robinson and this injected yet more pace into our attack, with Harty pushing forward as well.
Not long into the second half and Whing gets free on the right, jinxes past the full back, slams in a low cross and Harty deflects it into the net.
We go slightly barmy in the away stand.
We attacked superbly in the second half, we continually stretched the 10 men of Scunthorpe and deserved another goal, Revell ran himself into the ground as an out and out centre forward.
One dodgy moment saw Henderson go to catch a cross, next thing the ball was in the net, they celebrated our players looked calm and the referee was placing the ball for our free kick.
Cox was then harshly booked for diving, nobody even appealed for a penalty, he just tumbled over.
The final whistle saw every player over celebrating, the players punching the air like a cup win, the Scunny fans were waving and shouting encouragement to the referee!
Who cared about the 5 hours til we would get back home, 3 points, well deserved, oh and we met our Scunny mates back in the pub.
Henderson - 6 did all that was asked of him
Whing - 8 great attacking display
Butters - 8 pushed Revell for MOTM
Hinshelwood - 6 solid return
Mayo - 6 good display, used his experience
Hammond - 7 back to his old self of wanting the ball, then making good use of it
Hart - 7 showed the players what commitment is
Cox - 7 made good use of the ball, a very up and down player, Saturday was a big big up
Fraser - 6 poor first half, dynamic 2nd half
Revell - 9 ran and ran and ran and worried them for 90 minutes, deserved a goal
Williams - 4 needs to look at Hart and Revell
Robinson (for Williams) 7 best game in an Albion shirt, looked up, used his pace well,deserved a goal
Rents (for Fraser) got a couple of minutes at the end
Lynch (for Mayo) got 5 minutes as well
Mark R