Fleetwood Town vs Rotherham United, 5th August 2017 2-0
If you don't follow football you have no idea what the eve of the new season is like. It's like Christmas and your birthday all rolled into one. Three long months with only a few friendlies and a woman's euros to console you rises your excitement level to critical. And no matter what happened the season before you have shiny new hope, confidence even.
Season 17-18 kicked off for the Millers with a day at the seaside. No wonder then that the tickets were like gold dust. Many a plan was made involving a night out in Blackpool, made even better by the fact that Sheffield Weds were themselves away at nearby Preston, and their fans were also planning a night out in the Venice of the North. Many a plan was dashed when we only receive 900 tickets for Fleetwood's Highbury (not That Highbury!) stadium. Season ticket holders only went on sale at 9am, and were sold out about 11. At home with a cup of tea I watched events unfold on twitter, and around 10.30 decided to purchase on line. Easy peasy job done, I finished my cuppa the proud owner of three Golden tickets.
The day dawned bright and sunny, and we rushed downstairs for Ian to open his presents, it really was his birthday!
Ian's shiny new camera bag cover/shower cap
By 10:07 we were on our way to our first awayday of the season.
Us at 10.06
Chris at 10.06
Traffic was slow (who wants to go on holiday to Blackpool?) and we rolled into town around 12.45. I would say Fleetwood is a sleepy seaside town, but that makes it seem more exciting than it actually is. We parked right on the Esplanade (no parking fees in Fleetwood) and wandered around looking for a chippie. We eventually found the hub of entertainment, a chip shop and an amusement arcade, just around a bend
Fleetwoods golden 30 yards
Fish and chips for dinner, followed by an ice cream, what more can you ask for. A bit of heat maybe, it was freezing on that boardwalk.
Next for the amusements, we strolled next door and threw away a bagful of 2p pieces.
Vicky in her element
Me and ian on the beach
All day long we hadn't spotted a single football fan, it was almost as if ian was on a saga holiday (vicky and I being too young for one of course). We strolled back along the promenade, where the beach was surprisingly nice. no Coronado or Laguna of course, but clean and sandy, and headed inland for Highbury. 20mins later we arrived at some houses, and behind one of them was the stadium. The capacity is about 4000 and it looks it. It's really quaint and homely though, the sort of place we missed while lording it it the championship. We took our places on a barrier to the right of the goal, just like old times on the Tivoli and Millmoor.
And just like old times an inebriated man and his even more inebriated wife came to stand right behind us.
At 14:55 the team came out of the tunnel and the excitement rose to fever pitch.
A section of our fans had used the close season wisely by inventing songs for what seemed like every single player. We had visions of them having a weekly meeting in the bus station's Cafe Rendezvous to discuss progress. It seems Jamie Proctor has a magic hat. Every players name was cheered voiciferously as the noise levels rose. At 3pm the little Hitler in black blew his whistle and the 2917-2018 EFL season began. As in the 2016-2017 season the first 15 minutes went well, and indeed we thought we had scored but after 20mins the blind linesman signalled for offside. It was too far away for us to see but it should have stood.
Offside???!!!????
I was a bit worried about the press of bodies behind causing the husband wife drunken combo to press up against me and crush me to the barrier, as on the Tivoli, but I don't think they noticed. They did notice that we started to play less well, and the wife started slurring,y screeching in my ear what I assume were meant to be encouraging comments but sounded like 'gerafffuup' and 'coomurgghh'.
On 16 minutes our 2017-2018 season started to take a turn for the worse as Joe Mattock disappeared into thin air and keeper O'Donnell formed a perfect arch leaving McAleny to slot the ball home underneath him. 1-0 Fleetwood. The early season optimism vanished as quickly as Joe Mattock as we were all transported back 12 months to the dark days. The drunken couples slurs started to turn ugly, as the screeching increased in volume. Jamie Proctor lost his magic hat. The back three looked like they had never met, Joe Mattock having elected not to return. We limped along to halftime with barely a foray into the Fleetwood half. Things improved a little then as Drunk and drunker shuffled off, presumably to find a toilet, and didn't return leaving it blessedly quiet on the away terrace, apart from the mutterings of the doom mongers
Misty at half time
The second half started similarly to the first and we began to think that we could come back. We are Rotherham United after all, and up until two seasons ago we had a never say die attitude. Sadly we now appear to have a we'll never get back into this attitude and as Emmanuel twirled around in the centre of the park (why is the right back even there?) before giving the ball away, we were all resigned to what happened next. Mr McAleny took advantage of the missing right back and beat O'Donnell at the near post. 2-0 Fleetwood. That was that. We posed no real threat even when Ibra and Bale were introduced, neither player looking anything like they had against Barnsley, and Fleetwood ran out easy winners.
As the fans despondently left for their big night out at the Bier Keller, we reflected on the game. It wasn't all bad. It was the first game of a long hard season. Fleetwood were in the play offs last year so are by no means a pushover. And we had a good 20mins each half. But some of that early season optimism has already leaked away.
Next up, the big Caraboa Cup game vs Lincoln on Tuesday night.
Toilet watch
I didn't partake myself but Vicky was delighted. Nice clean toilets with hot water and soap. Better than a lot of those in the championship.
8/10, but only because she doesn't want to leave herself nowhere to go.
Man of the match
Ian-Will Vaulkes
Jackie - Jon Taylor
Vicky- will vaulkes
Sounds like a good day apart from the football.
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