Chelsea v SAFC

Picked up at 6.30am by my older brother in his driving school car fully blazoned with the L signs, when we picked Miller up I was thinking if his neighbours were up at that time of the morning they would be thinking "bit early for a driving lesson"
Anyway met up with the Miller men - aka Ash, Chris and Dave and we headed down to the smoke on the 7.12am train having first of all had a brief discussion with a SAFC legend Gary Bennett - man did he look cool or what! First cans were open before we passed Tursdale - plenty of loyal supporters on the train all in good humour and plenty of cans - the kid in front of me should have kept off the egg sarnies though!
Arrived in the smoke on time feeling pretty refreshed after 4 cans of cider Miller had 6 of stella so we were in the mood to have a good day. We followed Millers instructions and headed for Parsons Green underground station never even thought of any terrorists that may have been loose in the underground just goes to show you that 4 cans can do.
We found the White Horse pub next to Parsons Green just as it was opening some of the beer was questionable but I stayed on the Strongbow. There was a good mixture of SAFC and Chelsea in the boozer and outside in the beer garden so the crack was good with plenty of banter. Dave even managed to soak Ash and his newly found boyfriend who were both keeping out of a downpour under an umbrella - no match for a flood of water from the canopy over the other tables that Dave decided needed release of water. So after another 5 pints of cider and other beers it was off to the ground that was only about 10 minutes walk away. Miller and yours truly did a usual pitstop on the way for the now customary piss in the street. The ground outside looked magnificent hotel, shops etc all surrounding the main stadium. Inside our view was good being on the second tier and nothing in front to hinder the view - okay we may have been seeing 44 men on the pitch due to the drink but we were hoping to enjoy the game.
First half was okay we played okay but still lack the service and quality up front, Elliott is wasted on the right should be playing in the centre just off Stead or someone else. The two debutants Hoyte and Bassila played very well and I am sure that within a few games they will be great assets to the side. Second half and still doing okay but an injury to Stubbs meant a re-shuffle and this was not good as Stubbs had been a rock in the first half. Anyway as you may have read and seen over the weekend a mistake meant Chelsea went one up and you can't give them a goal like we did and expect to come back with no quality or attempts up front. Okay the keeper should have saved the shot but did Chelsea deserve to go one up - what did you think bloggers. Then the final goal came with a cross from Duff and putting up Drogba against Julio for a header - take your bets to who was going to win - a great header down to the left of the keeper 2:0 game over.
On leaving the ground at the end we could not get on the underground for the queues so we headed again for the nearest boozer this time we were abit out numbered but no problems and some more good banter - even had a Chelsea fan who was a Michael Proctor look alike - can't remember how many we had in this boozer but we needed to get out as it was approaching 6.30pm and we needed to get to Kings X for the train at 7.30pm, a few comments from late Chelsea fans to Ash like watch it mate you are in our manor now seemed to go over our heads as we just made it to Kings X. Miller and Chris did a detour to an off license to pick up some more re-freshments while Ash and me helped ourselves to a free buffet from GNER and picked sandwiches etc - nice touch of GNER but still think leaving the trolley full of sanwiches etc unmanned and in the aisle between carriages was a bit too inviting!
Anyway had a few more ciders lost count of the amount of Stella Miller had bought - warned off by the Transport police at least once - one even spoke to Mrs Gilligan on my mobile and informed her that he was the policeman that was going to arrest her husband. They eventually got off at York without any arrests - must have been the singing of 10 German bombers that calmed them down. Arrived at Durham 10.25pm said our goodbyes and dropped Miller off at the Avenue pub at Shincliffe - how he does it I don't know. As for me - well I went straight home, took the dogs out and fell asleep until Mrs Gilligan came in from Coxa club looking tanned from her hols but not amused that I did not make it for a drink - I was full to the brim of drink and had a canny day out. Thank you very much Miller men it was smashing!
Sorry no photos as I forgot my camera. Miller how many cans / pints did we finally end up having?

Jim Gilling
Coxhoe Mackems on Tour 2005
FTM