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Worth a post on its own I think. What a great day out, great result, and a great way to share my last day with family and friends before heading up North.
We were (all 4 of us) picked up from Sheffield by Dave (my nephew), Charlie and Ollie (my great nephews), and met up with John (Dave's brother) and his family (Diane, Jake and Max) at The Spread Eagle in Stokesley for lunch (not very good) and real ale (had better). Then we headed down to park near the famous transporter bridge in Middlesbrough, and a freezing walk to the ground. The Riverside is an impressive stadium: modern, good facilities, good views all round. The really impressive thing though, was the stadium's biggest ever away following - seven thousand Barrow fans had made the journey across for our biggest match since, well, Wembley in 1990 I suppose. The noise was tremendous, the support non-stop, the singing of "If Downing plays for England so can I" hilarious.
We went a goal down after 20 minutes, but then Walker put a glorious chance wide and Pearson hit the post. 1-0 at half time. Second half, playing towards our end, Barrow struggled and if our keeper hadn't been on top form we could have leaked 5 or 6. As it was, a second goal for Boro came around the hour. I began to hope that we could just get a shot on target, or even a corner.
But then the unbelievable happened. We won a corner. Boyd swung it over, McNulty headed back across, and Jason Walker leaped like a horny salmon to head home by the post. We had scored, we had actually scored against a premier league club! The last 10 minutes were one way traffic towards the Boro goal, and we had a couple of half chances to equalise. But it wasn't to be. Still, we exceeded my wildest expectations, and can hold our heads high.
Back home in plenty of time to see the highlights on the TV. Ahh, a great day!
We were (all 4 of us) picked up from Sheffield by Dave (my nephew), Charlie and Ollie (my great nephews), and met up with John (Dave's brother) and his family (Diane, Jake and Max) at The Spread Eagle in Stokesley for lunch (not very good) and real ale (had better). Then we headed down to park near the famous transporter bridge in Middlesbrough, and a freezing walk to the ground. The Riverside is an impressive stadium: modern, good facilities, good views all round. The really impressive thing though, was the stadium's biggest ever away following - seven thousand Barrow fans had made the journey across for our biggest match since, well, Wembley in 1990 I suppose. The noise was tremendous, the support non-stop, the singing of "If Downing plays for England so can I" hilarious.
We went a goal down after 20 minutes, but then Walker put a glorious chance wide and Pearson hit the post. 1-0 at half time. Second half, playing towards our end, Barrow struggled and if our keeper hadn't been on top form we could have leaked 5 or 6. As it was, a second goal for Boro came around the hour. I began to hope that we could just get a shot on target, or even a corner.
But then the unbelievable happened. We won a corner. Boyd swung it over, McNulty headed back across, and Jason Walker leaped like a horny salmon to head home by the post. We had scored, we had actually scored against a premier league club! The last 10 minutes were one way traffic towards the Boro goal, and we had a couple of half chances to equalise. But it wasn't to be. Still, we exceeded my wildest expectations, and can hold our heads high.
Back home in plenty of time to see the highlights on the TV. Ahh, a great day!
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