Boxing Day massacre

Bury v Rotherham, tues Dec 26th, Gigg Lane, 0-3

Boxing Day is one of the highlights of any football fans season, especially if away. Having gorged on Turkey, chocolates and Beer/wine, a day out in the country can blow all those cobwebs away and give you a warm, fuzzy feeling. If you win that is. To our delight, Kathy accepted the invitation to tag along on the trip to Bury, leaving Chris and Misty minding the house. I packed a full hamper, for four, with such delights as turkey, stuffing and cranberry sandwiches and quality street, and made up a flask.

See that flask?

 At high noon we were on our way. As usual Rotherham was chilly and wet. Also as usual, the whole of the rest of the country was blanketed with snow so deep that it had almost ground to a halt. Snow that should have been mine.

A bus ‘trapped’ by snow in Sheffield

 Due to the ‘poor conditions’ the Woodhead pass was closed and we had to go via the M62. As is usual, there was an accident on the M62 causing long delays. But Ian’s SatNav, Ingrid, a no nonsense Scandinavian type, managed to find an alternative route via Halifax. We even saw some snow of our own! 

Deep, accident inducing, snow on Saddleworth Moor

Ian struggles to keep the four wheel drive behemoth on the road

Due to the delay we had to eat the picnic in Ian’s astonishingly clean car, but the hamper does have plates and serviettes so all was well. Ingrid led us back to the M62 at the other side of the accident and we carried on as if nothing had happened, soon arriving in the lovely Manchester suburb of Bury. The last time we came, a few years ago, we found a nice parking spot by the cemetery, and lo and behold it was still available this time. Great stuff. ‘Coffee anyone’ I asked, and reached for the flask. The flask that IAN had left on the table in sunny rotherham. Doh! Never mind. We took the short stroll to the ground and were soon taking in the delights of the ladies toilets.

Gigg Lane. I forgot to take a photo myself

We then joined a heinously long queue for hot chocolate, in which I had to admonish some young thugs for pushing in. 

Vicky and Kathy avoid a JCH attempt

We decided to sit just to the left of the goal a few rows up. Not wise as the players were practising their shooting. We had to duck every time JCH had a go. Moore even hit a poor woman in the face and had to jump into the crowd to see if she was ok. How sweet. There was a great following of over 1400, best away following in league 1. Here we all are.

Can you spot me front and centre right behind the net?

Lots of Millers in the cold

Warne had kept the same side that won vs MK Dons, so no place for Keiffer Moore or Richard wood after their bans. Indeed, we were starting to think that maybe Keiffer wouldn’t be such a good investment in the transfer window given that DaBall was coming into form. We kicked off playing the other way and soon found out why Bury Are bottom of the league. After 5 mins DaBall curled a shot into the far corner.

Dayvid Ball, always believing he’ll score

After 10 mins Frecks headed in a corner

Freck ling ton, Freck ling ton

2-0 to the Millers and, even for Rotherham, game effectively over. A few short lines of jingle bells even rang out, much to our annoyance. That was asking for trouble. The first half followed the pattern of us attacking and them defending, with but a few forays. All good. We had a slight worry when Williams* did a bad tackle and got booked, but thankfully not sent off. Ian blamed Mattock**. I turned to vicky a bit later and said, ‘I think Warne should sub Williams for Newell at half time.’ ‘That’s what kathy said a few minutes ago’, she replied. That’s my girl! Half time came and we were feeling pretty pleased, but worried, all at the same time. 

Second half we were shooting towards the Millers fans. Bury had clearly had a good roasting from their new manager at half time and tried to step it up a bit, but our defence, with Semi And Vaulkes in good form again handled everything. Towell got injured and had to walk around the pitch in front of the Millers fans to great applause and badge grabbing***. Warne sent on wood and moved Vaulkes forward. He promptly robbed a bury player just outside the area and, at the crowds suggestion, had a shot that swerved right into the top corner. 3-0 And cue the Vaulkes Flip right in front of us. Game over. 

Your defence is terrified, Will vaulkes on fire

It was a joyous last few minutes, the crowd cheering and dancing about. Keiffer Moore came on but couldn’t add to the tally and it didn’t matter. The final whistle went and the Millers had run out 3-0 winners. Yet another Boxing Day massacre

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way. Oh what fun it is to see, the Millers win alwayaay.

Man of the match

Ian - Vaulkes

Jackie - DaBall, cos I said he’d come good

Vicky - Vaulkes, the flip and song just edged it.

Kathy - Rodak, cos I like him

Toilet watch

Cleanish but water was Freezing. 5/10

* The Marcus marshall conundrum

** The quinisential MMC. If Ian ever, ever calls him Joe the world as we know it will end.

***This means that a player loves the club, or that a loan player wants an extension