On our first date, I told Katy a little white lie that she has never let me forget. "I don't know why people get so worked up over sport" said I. 19 years of me getting worked up over sport later, I don't think I got away with it.
Yesterday was one of those cases in point as to just why Football, and Exeter City in particular, is under my skin. The penultimate fixture of the regular season saw City head to already promoted Doncaster knowing a win would guarantee a place in the playoffs to win promotion to League One. A decent group of City fans, including two of our Norwegian supporters who'd flown in for the match, assembled at Kings Cross. We boarded our train, I managed to miss out on bagging a "card school" seat, ready for the off.
Or so we thought. Due to a track failure our train was cancelled, and we were all to board the train a couple of platforms down. Cue a mad scramble, and the realisation it would be standing room only all the way. At least we were moving anyway. At least we were until we reached Grantham, near the scene of the track failure. We were held in the station for ages, the driver announcing we had to wait for FIVE Southbound trains to pass through. We pulled out, then a short distance later came to a stop again, this time for an hour or so. The Leeds fans sharing the gangway with me were starting to really fret about their chances of making kick off, while I was more concerned that our pub time in Doncaster would be curtailed.
We eventually got going, and got into Doncaster around 1:20pm, just an hour and a half or so late. Still, at least there was still time for a couple of pints - as I said to the Leeds fans you need *some* beer inside you to be able to watch City! Onto the ground, a very tidy modern affair, quite sparsely populated especially considering a home win could see them win the division title.
So, the game itself. With so much at stake it was a cagey opening, but we sensed an opportunity when we won a free kick 30 yards out. "Oh, ******* hell" said the chap sat next to me as we appeared to faff around with the kick, but we'd not reckoned on our centre back, Jordan Moore-Taylor, almost bursting the net to send us delirious.
It was written in the stars that one-time City favourite turned Doncaster legend James Coppinger, would score, and so it was a few minutes later when Moore-Taylor missed a header leaving Copps to fire home from close range. Grrrrr.
Into the second half and we took the lead again. Our Jamaican international, Joel Grant, waltzed through the defence but found his shot blocked. As we tried to force the ball into the net a Doncaster hand deflected the ball away, the referee pointed to the penalty spot. To general confusion, as striker Reuben Reid has been on penalty duty lately, Ryan Harley stepped up. Saved! Rebound...saved! Top scorer David Wheeler then took over and forced the ball home. The look of relief on Harley's face when he embraced Wheeler said it all.
What then followed was "attack vs defence" as Doncaster tried to draw level once more. We made a couple of substitutions to shore things up, and for the second successive game one of the subs, Liam McAlinden, scored to put the game beyond doubt. Our highly coveted forward Ollie Watkins took advantage of a defender dawdling to rob him and burst through on goal. With only the keeper to beat, Watkins squared it to McAlinden who tapped in. If we were delirious after goals one and two, new superlatives would have to be invented at this point. This was a knockout blow for Doncaster, who seemed to give up and we closed out the game easily.
As the players came over to celebrate with the fans, news emerged that not only were we guaranteed a playoff spot, we were guaranteed fifth place barring a 10-0 defeat at home to sixth-placed Carlisle next week. To think that when we played Leyton Orient on November 22nd we were bottom of the league, what an amazing turnaround.
Fortunately the journey back wasn't so eventful, and I got back, having made the discovery that the recently opened Caribbean place in Hounslow, Jerk Vibes, does the best curry goat ever, in time to watch it all again on Channel 5.
If you could bottle the Football awayday experience, bar the train problems on the way up this was it. Great company, some good beer, City even laid on a superb match for us - usually it's a great day out spoiled by the couple of hours in between. Katy still doesn't get it, but never mind!
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