“Sutton away, C’mon Shaymen” I posted on social media shortly before 6.00am. “Terrible away end, in a terrible ground, in a terrible location, see you there!” came the almost instant reply from the Northowram Shayman. It was dark and miserable outside and still raining, more than 24 hours after it started. The A58 at Chain Bar was flooded, and I just had Pete for company. This is where the real delights of the football season kick in with 237 miles each way, what a way to spend a Saturday.
Mariah Carey was in full voice at our favourite Northamptonshire breakfast stop with all the usual festive trimmings in place. Service was unusually slow though. “All I want before Christmas is a brew” I’m sure she sang at one point as my partner in crime tapped out the beat on the tabletop whilst we waited anxiously. Traffic had been slow due to surface water on the roads, but the journey to Sutton is always notorious around the M25. We were keen to eat but also keen to get to our location, you never want to miss kick off.
Admission was £21.00 in advance, but to give Sutton credit, instead of our usual open corner terracing, they graciously made the adjacent Rec terrace available to us. The terrace is named after the recreation ground that’s located behind the stand. We had the freedom to wander down the side of the pitch from one penalty box to the other on a green carpet that covers the long disused running track that once graced the stadium. Set back from the perimeter fence, we had some covered terracing that seemed built to withstand any nuclear war. The concrete pillars were plentiful and majestic. The stand doubles as a TV gantry and was perhaps built for crowds to cheer on the athletes of yesteryear.
There was chaos at the food hut. You know who paid them a visit and put in a hefty order and that’s when the trouble started. The food hut has been relocated since our last visit, and it’s now a repurposed metal shipping container standing behind a metal stand, and next to a metal perimeter fence. Unfortunately, and much to everyone’s amazement, the Wi-Fi wasn’t working. I don’t know who was most upset, the guy behind the counter with all his food, or Pete with his cash being refused in what is now a cashless ground. Either way up his food was left, cooked and unsold, Pete was going hungry, but the guy promised to have it working in 15 minutes…
The first half wasn’t great; the astute Warley Shayman had already mentioned the disjointed patterns of play before Sutton took the lead. Soon after they were two goals up. Town created but missed a few opportunities to score, and while the home fans sang about their team staying up, we were pleased for half time.
The funniest things are always the one-liners at football matches. You never hear them watching televised games but just a single sentence can make you chuckle all day. This time there was a shout of “Corner!”, and soon others were joining in too. The referee was having none of it, he was insistent that it was a penalty to the Shaymen. We were perhaps all too aware of our recent record from the penalty spot, so a corner may have been more of a benefit… A few moments later, after a decent save from the keeper, another shout to the linesman went up “Told you that should have been a corner!” And with that our chances of a comeback had gone. The drizzle started and it was dark again. The 101 travelling Shaymen were still hopeful, but despite a better second half, that was that.
Driving back and we had the company of the Warley Shayman who entertained us with the tale of the 1967 great train expedition to Ipswich in the FA Cup. A full train chartered for the day with an additional carriage added on the Thursday to accommodate the demand. They were also given a buffet carriage where the Supporters Club of the day were able to make and sell their own sandwiches. Legend has it that the train cost £800 to hire and took a whopping £2500 in receipts. It was so successful that they hired another for an away day at Shrewsbury a few weeks later. This tale was perhaps a good distraction from our current day out, with that wise man’s early morning reply still ringing in my ears.
Next up and it’s another trip to one of our favourites, Boreham Wood. C’mon Shaymen!
Miles on the road: 3806. Goals on the road: 13 Points on our travels 13
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