Posted 'high noon bells' Munday 2nd August 2021
"COVID 19 'HEED'-ACHE!"
Havin just got back from Burton (See match report below) and after dumping mee owerneet bag back yem and gettin some scran, it woz soon time to heed for 'The Nags Heed' on Gatesheed high Street before heedin for Gatesheed stadium where 'The Heed' were takin on wor U23/Academy X1 side in a friendly!
Gettin a ticket for the game woz a nightmare az there were nee pay gates on the day and so a'd ended up booking online on mee phone durin the half time break at Burton the neet before!
Gatesheed had billed this game az a Newcasil X1, to try and sell more tickets, but the fact that they were charging £15 for adults and a tenner for zimmerframe-ites(like me!) and sprogs, woz way ower the top and DOUBLE the zimmerframe-ites(OAP) price for The Toon's friendly game v Nohrich next Saturday!!
Anyway! I approached the turnstiles, but they were shut and a steward told me that the turnstiles wornt open til 1 hour before kick off! (It woz 1:30 bells') He aalso told me that the bar wasn't open and there woz nee food on sale az they didn't want queues inside the concourses, because of Covid restrictions!
Strange that AALL the previous friendlies had their food outlets open, az well az the bars!?
I decided a change of plan and heeded to 'The Schooner' bar next to the Tyne doon the road!
It woz packed and there woz a QUEUE to get drinks at the bar!!!
Aa stopped there til near KO time and heeded back to the groond where mee phone woz scanned to get in!
A'd arranged to meet 'Glennn from Ashington' and 'Blondie Alan the Morris Dancer' inside and sat beside them, leavin a 1 seat gap between us, az there woz plenty of room!
We could see two female stewards pointing at us and sure enough one came up and told Glennn that he woz sitting in a seat withoot a Gatesheed sticker on it and that wasn't allowed!
She told him to move to the seat next to me which had one, which meant that there woz nee social distancing between us!
Pure ridiculous nonsense if yoo ask me!!!
And then the beer went through me, so I heeded to the 'tool shed' for a 'gypsies kiss'! On mee way doon the stairs a woman steward stopped me and asked me where aa woz gannin' "The toilet!" aa said---and she said: "Your supposed to use the portaloos next to the runnin track, but az you are near the toilets inside, you can go there!" ("EH!"?)
Anyway!---The game kicked off and az expected wor team woz full of young guns, which the home side took advantage of from the word go! £15 for an adult ticket to watch wor youth team!---a complete con and rip off by Gatesheed FC! (The most expensive of wor pre season games!)
Not suprizingly 'The Heedbangers' with several former Toon players in their side includin captain Mike Williamson, took the lead from ex Toon player Adam Campbell in the 12th minute and doubled it in the 30th minute through another former Magpie, Greg Olley!
It woz aall Gatesheed, but we managed to hold oot til half time with just a 2-0 deficit!
NUFC came oot of the block in the 2nd period and scored within 3 minutes of the restart, when Dylan Stephenson fired home to bring us back into the game!
It didn't last lang though and 'The Heedbangers' went 3-1 up through a goal from yet another former Toon player, Cedwyn Scott who scored from a through baall!
It woz 4-1 to the home side 10 minutes after their 3rd when Paul Blackett's shot foond the corner of the net, much to the delight of 'The Heed Army' and despair of 'The Toon Army'!
It could and should have been more to the home side, but thankfully there were nee more goals conceded!---In total NUFC used aall 22 players available, many of them teenagers and it woz the heaviest defeat for a Toon side v Gatesheed that aa can remember!
Attendance: 833 (200 or so Toon fans)(100 in the far stand from us and approx 100 in the main stand)
*If they had charged, say a tenner for adults and a fiver for concessions and had a pay gate, a 4 figure crowd would have most likely torned up!
Taalk aboot shootin' yoursel in the foot!
Or shud that be: shootin' yoursel in the 'HEED'!?
๐ฅถ๐ซ
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