There’s nothing worse than being stuck in traffic on the M1 and being surrounded by over-enthusiastic Wigan Athletic fans on all sides. It may be the first time this season they’ve been to a game away from home, but it’s certainly not ours! Time to wind down the windows, pump up the volume get the flags out and let them all know: “We all go where the Shaymen go!” It’s amazing how fast time passes on a long journey when you have a good old sing-song!
“Eight pounds fifty” she said, I thought I had only asked for fish and chips?! Served in a large paper bucket we got a massive portion of chips topped with a battered goldfish. It seemed bizarrely good value but with no chance of even eating half of them, Flagman Pete and ultra-athletic Megaphone Man came to the rescue. Roll on Tuesday; a decent fish and chip shop awaits, right next to Blundell Park.
The Beehive is Barnet’s new home, six miles from Underhill (I wonder if anyone was daft enough to go to the old ground @PeteFCHxTown?) and located in Edgware, the stadium is built within their training ground complex. With a charge of five pounds to park the car, we took the Yorkshire option and parked three centimeters outside the main gate on the road for free. We’re not that daft (unless we’re buying fish and chips of course).
With barcode readers instead of gatemen, it’s all hi-tech; they even give us the use of the away fans bar. We stood to watch Luton Town’s early kick off on the TV and spent the rest of the time wondering which set of supporters had pinched all the tables and chairs from the bar area; whoever did the deed, they had missed a single stool hiding at one end of the room!
The ground is ultra modern and pristine. Terraces at either end made from shiny steel, fantastic for hanging lots of flags too, whilst bright orange seats fill the main stand. It’s as good as any we’ve seen in the league this season and can accommodate 2700 fans.
With the club providing subsidised travel, 284 Shaymen made the trip. It was great to see a vocal core of younger fans making the most of the opportunity especially with the over zealous stewards pouncing on anyone who attempted to take a photo of the game. A quick chorus of “phones out and we’ll film the game” soon highlighted what we thought of the restrictions during a non league game. Anyone know where I can sell some fuzzy phone photos by the way?
The game was fantastic; a cracking save from Matty Glennon in the first few minutes and by half time we were three up and having a party. It’s fair to say we could have scored 10 goals by the end of the game. Home fans leaving with 20 minutes to go, it was one of those days where everything went right and to be fair, Barnet had their chances too.
The journey home was dominated by Megaphone Man worrying about his mad tweet last week. He announced he would buy £50 worth of halftime draw tickets at the Macclesfield game if the Shaymen did the impossible and won at Nuneaton, Barnet and Grimsby. I think he also tweeted today that he’d buy £20 worth if they got at least a point in each of Barnet and Grimsby. I guess none of us thought supporting the Shaymen away from home would be this good. A win on Tuesday night will keep him quiet for a while anyway, ole, ole, ole, ole!!!
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