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Matchday Diary: Spurs vs Everton, Carling Cup

I only told my lad he was going to White Hart Lane on the Tuesday morning so he wouldn’t get too excited. I’d taken advantage of the £5 for kids offer for that game, and managed to get a pair of tickets in Lower south stand block 25, row 18 I think. This was to be Luke’s third trip to see Spurs live, and he has still yet to see a defeat, so I was feeling confident. I’d taken the day of work, so we were able to set off extra early from West Berkshire, leaving the house at quarter to four… down the M4, onto the M25, then sat in queues for 50 minutes…. ‘Dad, do people do this everyday?’ Yes son, they do. ‘Why?’ Kids can be very perceptive sometimes.

Finally made it down the A10 and parked near the Irish Club for £8… then off to collect the tickets. It was already getting dark, and there were lots of optimistic fans queuing to collect. After the usual hassle picking up the tickets…’what name did you book them under?’ ‘what credit card was that?’ ‘The booking reference is no good apparently’ … tickets were found under the wrong name, but they were in our hands. Bosh… that was another £42 all in. Off to the Spurs shop to buy a beany for Luke’s little brother… and he wanted one too..another £9.98 gone… then food at a Burger bar… another £8. Oops, and I forgot the programme (£3.50 I think)… before I insisted I needed a beer!

So, which pub was going to allow me to take an 8 year old in?  Hmmm… not the Corner Pin… but the one next door to that with the beer ‘garden’. Still, it sold cans of beer, and there were a couple of other little ‘uns in there, so I was happy. I had to explain two things here to Luke. Firstly, a beer is all part of going to footie, and secondly, ‘Yids’ is a friendly chant used by Spurs fans and not an aggressive war cry! I’m not really sure he understood what the hell was being chanted in the pub to be honest. At 7pm we left to go to the ground and watch the warm up.

Found our seats, and were able to watch the boys warming up in front of us… all very exciting for Luke. The match started… plenty of singing coming from the South stand… Everton doing OK…. Until Tom buried his chance on the half volley. Cue pandemonium… even standing on his chair Luke couldn’t see the aftermath of the goal. Best comment of the game after that was ‘who’s the new guy playing on the wing Dad… he’s pretty good?’ I couldn’t really argue with this, David Bentley was like a new player that night… he almost looked like a multi-million pound signing for once! For the pen I was able to hoist Luke onto the back of the seat in front so he could see in real time… and one of the strangest goals I’ve seen live. After that, Luke stood the whole game… no shouts of ‘sit down’ when you’re under four foot!

Final whistle, and off to find the car… for a blast home in under an hour and a half, and the lad in bed by 11.30pm, tired, but very happy…. Just like his Dad!

I dont really know what it is about a 3pm kick-off on a Saturday afternoon, maybe it's the traditionalist in me, but it always feels that bit more special than the Sky-governed Sunday games. Todays trip down the M6 and M1 was going to be a touch more enjoyable. Of course we were top of the League at the time, that helps, but this afternoon our hometown rugby team,Warrington Wolves,were playing at Wembley in the Carnegie Challenge Cup Final, so half the town would also be making the trip southwards. Friends and relatives could not understand why we choose to watch Birmingham City at home, rather than Warrington in their first final for 19 years, for us it wasn't even a contest. WHL wins every time.                                                                                                                                            

After a quick cuppa and a few biscuits for breakfast the usual pre-match rituals begin. My wife Jane and I are quite superstitious, as with many of you I suppose. We try and stick to the same routine for each trip.  So in the back goes the Spurs flag, but this time with the added addition of a Warrington top as a one-off, and the scarves are hung out of the rear window, making sure each one is hung form the correct window, it's the routine.                                                                                                                                                                          A quick call to the local BP for the obligatory £40 worth of diesel for the trip and we're on the M6 for 9.30am. Threats of a queue at Junctions 15-16 don't appear so apart from the usual roadworks at Birmingham we reach the M1 in good time. A 4-car pile-up on the Northbound side at Northampton slows us down a bit, but 18 miles of queueing traffic on the opposite side will make a few United fans late for Old Trafford.                                                                      

We arrive at Milton Keynes services in good time. It has to be MK, not Northampton or Watford Gap,it's the routine. Which also means it has to be a Sweet Chilli Chicken Royale Value Meal for both of us, with fries and Diet Cokes. There's a few Spurs fans there who say hello and a coachful of Notts County fans arrive, some already donning the Black and White shirts with 'Campbell' on the back. A quick visit to the shop for extra provisions, Jane plumps for a bag of Aero bubbles and i'm on the Maynards Wine Pastilles.                                                                         

Once again, luck is on our side, a free run, so we are ahead of time as we exit the M25 at Enfield, a quick drink and a bag of Quavers at the Inn on the Park to kill some time and then down the Meridian Way to get to the Car Park at West Street nicely in time. There's plenty outside the Bill Nick as we walk to the ground, all in good spirits. I have a good feeling about this game today.                                                                                                                  

By 3.20pm that feeling has changed, after numerous last ditch blocks and missed chances I begin to resign myself to the fact we are not going to score this afternoon. An hour later Mr Crouch ensured my mood has changed, ableit for just 3 minutes, as some Jol-era defending brings the scores level. As the game enters the 4 minutes of added time and Birmingham are looking dangerous, I begin to fear a repeat of 2 seasons ago and we break a Golden Rule. "Don't leave early to beat the traffic". Literally seconds after we exit the ground and we make our way along Worcester Avenue, the roar goes up, 30000plus cheers inside the ground are joined by joyous scenes in the streets outside as people scramble for their phones to ring a mate and found out who scored' "It's Lennon"                                      

That changes the mood of the drive home, much better. Two stops on the way back, it's the routine. First stop is Northampton services and we arrive in record time. No Duck Wrap for me this time, all sold out, so it's a non-so-tasty BLT sandwich while Jane choose the Chicken Wrap and we're sat tucking into our food at a time when previously we have still been stuck in traffic. A few Warrington fans start to turn up on their journey back. If I had not known the result beforehand, I would have thought they had lost such was there mood, not much celebrating and hardly a bounce in their strides.                                                                                                                                    

Back onto the Motorways,once more no real delays and we arrive at our final stop at Stafford services in good time. We cant resist a quick chocolate bar while Jane buys some bread rolls to feed to the ducks at the picturesque lake behind the cafe. More Warrington fans arrive, but you still wouldn't guess they had won the Cup. We return to the car contemplating if that were Spurs winning a trophy that day, and that were Spurs fans arriving we would be hearing several chants of 'Yid Army'.                                                                                                                           

The last leg of our journey is the shortest and 46-miles is covered in no time, and for the first time we're back in the house before 9pm. Plenty of time to get ready for Match of the Day to see if that header of Crouchie really did cross the line.