Date of First Visit: 6th April 2018
Bracken Moor Lane, Stocksbridge
Sheffield United U23s 2
Newcastle United U23s 1 (not sure who scored--the floodlights were blindin'!)
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| THE TOON ARE IN THE '2 BLUE' STRIP! |
Premier League Cup 1/4 final
Attendance: 350 (est) (7 NUFC mad sad groundhoppers!)
That's! 'Biffa the Beer', 'Dave from York' and hiz sidekick 'Alex of St George', 'Glennn from Ashington', 'Mal the Inglish Skool Teechaa', Fink(me!) and someone whos name aa cant recall, who woz wearin' a half and half Toon/Sheff U scarf! (now that IZ sad!)
"FROM STOCKPORT TO STOCKSBRIDGE!"
Az luck would have it aa woz off work anyway on the Friday, so this game fitted in porfectly!
(Mee last new groond woz at STOCKport so I suppose it woz appropriate to visit STOCKsbridge next!)
The plan woz to get the train to 'Darlo' (Darlington) where 'Mal the Inglish Skool Teechaa' < (hiz spellin NOT mine!) woz pickin me up in hiz 'jam jar' ootside Hogans Bar next to the station (he lives there--'Darlo' NOT Hogan's!) for the jorney to Stocksbridge Park Steels FC near Sheffield, where Sheff U resorves play!
(PS: managed to grab a quick pint in ;Hogan's before he picked me up!---az yi de!)
I'd done a detailed hand drawn map/maze of how to get there from the M1 to the groond and it looked dead complicated and I woz sure we'd got lost at some point (see map)
However!---and by some miracle,we didnt get lost and arrived at wor destination and withoot havin' to ask anybody the way, at '4 30 bells', some 2 and a half before kick off time!
There woz a clubhoose at the corner of the pitch which woz OPEN!---So az yi de!---in we went! (of course!)
It offered a fantastic view of the pitch and hills beyond and we settled doon for a few 'liquid lubrications' (az Mal woz drivin' it woz lemonade shandys for him!)
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"A VIEW TO DIE FOR!"
(The PINT of beer, NOT the view of the pitch or the hills beyond!)
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It woz soon time to heed inside the groond. We could have watched it from the clubhouse, but we decided to 'slum it' in the tiny main stand, which woz named 'The Jamie Vardy Stand'! after the Lestaa striker, coz he played here for 6 years before he became famous! (And by amazing coincidence wor forst team were playin against him at Lestaa the next day!)
To be honest wor U23s were terrible and went behind after just 3 minutes when Sheffield's Smith shot past Nathan Harker in the Toon goal----and before lang we were wishin it woz full time!
We somehow managed to get an equaliser in the 2nd half when Victor Fernandez crossed the baall and it ended up in the net after their goalie fumbled the baall! (Fernandez or O.G?--we were blinded by the floodlights and couldnt make oot who scored at the far end!)
Mo Sangare then blazed an effort ower the bar and that woz wor last effort on target
Just when it looked az though extra time could be a possiblity the home side retwook the lead through Smith again, when he hit a shot into the top corner of the net with just a few mins left to win the game for them!
It woz then the drive back to 'Darlo' where I caught the train back to 'The Central' (station) and got back at 11 bells!
Next day I woz up at the crack of dawn to heed back to 'The Central' to catch the train to Lestaa for wor Premyaa Leegue game there!
"Its 'Aall go' when yoo follow The Toon!"
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