This wee road trip consisted of the following people:
The trip nearly got off to a bad start, as MartinT nearly forgot the tickets! But once we were all in the car, we were off. MartinE (and to some extent me) were kept entertained by a dangling sheep in the back seat of the car, which when tugged down, vibrated its way back up a rope.... On the drive down I was messing about with the freebie Story flag given away at the Torquay game - I had decided I was going to wear it under my baseball cap as an improvised Keffiyeh (Arab headdress). After a few attempts I got it looking quite reasonable (see right). We stopped off at a Motorway Burger King, at which Dave "The Arab" Atkinson terrified the locals wearing his improvised Keffiyeh! Adam Sheriden also spotted Dave doing the EASY! EASY! chant at the car, shortly before they left the services. So, "refuelled", we were on our way again and Mark's navigation skills were put to the test (and found somewhat wanting) as he took us the back way into Rochdale, past the ground before we parked up and walked back to the on-site bar for away fans. There was a HUGE queue in the away bar, but we were served and consequently refreshed with plenty of time left to stroll back round to our turnstiles.
This was a big game, and we had corresponding large and vocal away support, approximately 3000 hard-core, we reckoned. Through most of the game we were in control and in the end ran out comfortable 2-0 winners. There were some entertaining moments during the game. The varied and numerous chants included many "Give us a shout!" to many of our players, including poor Westwood who appeared to be trying to concentrate, but waved anyway.
The Stewards were on the whole quite amiable and good, but we had to sigh at their decision to try sitting people down from the back first, rather than the front, meaning that if you obeyed them, you couldn't then see the game until they persuaded the next two rows to sit down! D'oh! Also, one of the stewards trampled all over Martin Taylor's match programme, and they refused to replace it! There were a couple of amusing drunken CUFC fans who (unsuccessfully) tried to charm some female stewards, plus a couple of fans were ejected for minor breaches of regulations, such as persistent standing. Why can't stewards just mix in at the back with fans from the start of the game and enforce rules then? It was interesting to note the signs said that standing was an offence. This isn't correct - it is a breach of their ground regulations, not an offence. I did a lot of research on this subject following The East Stand One incidents.
There was no pitch invasion at the end of the game, and generally good natured celebrations ensued, including the fans giving an inflated trophy to the team. I wandered over to the Rochdale fans nearest us, exchanging handshakes and good luck sentiments for next season.
On the drive back, Dave "entertained" the others with his "jokes".
Championies!! Championies!! Oh-Ae, Oh Ae, Oh Ae! Shetland Ponies! Shetland Ponies! Oh-Ae, Oh Ae, Oh Ae!
The next day we wrote emails to Rochdale demanding a replacement programme for Martin.....
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