Away game to forget

[DTS]

Is there an away game which you wished you hadn't gone to, or one that you can't believe that you actually went to the bother of going to?

For me I can't believe that I went to Burnley on 31st December 1994 in the Peter Taylor era and it was not a classic season, it had started with a 3-1 defeat and other memorable defeats that I had seen were 4-1 at Stoke and 5-0 at Port Vale.

Hope springs eternal and the young DTS and I woke early and looked out of the window at the snow, the media wasn't then as now but reports came in of matches being called off all over the place. We lived in Leicester at the time and you would think that it would be easier than from London but that was not the case and involved changes at Birmingham and Preston and the connection time tight to get back that night. So should we go? We looked at each other and of course we were going to go.

We made our way to the station and bought train tickets (no super advance tickets then). and made the cross country journey to New Street in a noisy two carriage train. No further news at Birmingham if the Burnley match was on so we continued to Preston. At Preston it was very bleak but asking locals about the game being on or off no-one seemed to have heard of Burnley. So we continued to Burnley station and frankly I put the chance of it being played at about 10%.

We arrived at Burnley and thought I would see people in claret and blue scarves either going towards or away from the ground but in all honesty it was virtually deserted so we made our way to Turf Moor. On arriving at the away turnstiles still there was no news if the game was on or off so we just waited sheltering where we could from the snow/sleet still coming down. Eventually the news broke the game was on and we made our way on to the away terracing.

There weren't many shrimpers there, most had more sense but then the might Blues came on the pitch, or to be more precise the mighty green and navy half shirts. We were wearing Burnleys rather fetching away kit, obviously we thought no point in sending the kit because it was bound to be off.

What better way to spend new years eve than watching this fixture we continued our excellent run of bad form by losing 5-1 with Roger Willis scoring our lone goal. It was a long way home after that, helped at first by the company of a few Shrimpers but a mad dash at Birmingham New Street saw us change platforms with seconds to spare and we were home in time to see the New Year in. Was it worth it..........................

So what's yours?

I seem to recall there was a superb fireworks display just south of Preston which we watched from the train so for me the trip was ok.

Also I think you were to tight to pay for a taxi home so you also failed to add that we walked home through down town Leicester which at the time (and no doubt still is) was a a total toilet.

 

[Shrimpers are Magic]

Brentford in the FA Cup replay a few years back. Thank Christ the keeper was good or it'd be ten nil instead of two or whatever it was. First match on my own, the commotion at the home game made the bus ride interesting, even if it was only three stops, and it was bloody freezing to boot.

I did like the guy yelling to bring back the jazz on the way out though.

It was Paul Smith - you're allowed to say the name honestly! It was 2-1 with Barry Corr scoring in front of the away end.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Surely you mean Darlington away 2002?

Your company wasn't that bad.

It was Paul Smith - you're allowed to say the name honestly! It was 2-1 with Barry Corr scoring in front of the away end.

It couldn't have been Corr scoring. He wouldn't be able to cut it against a top League One side.

 

[Dazzaref]

Aug 1987. Took my then new girlfriend to Gillingham away. Lost 8-1. Now my Wife, she has spent the last 28 trying to stop me going as she thinks I'm crazy. She has a point!

 

[Agent Lomas]

Macclesfield away - 2010/11 - 0-0 - most interesting thing about that day out was probably when the stewards took my banner to hang up in the standing area behind the goal, that wasn't open. They hung it upside down. :stunned:

 

[Vinny the Shrimper]

7 nil at Sunderland on a cold night in November!

 

[DoDTS]

I seem to recall there was a superb fireworks display just south of Preston which we watched from the train so for me the trip was ok.

Also I think you were to tight to pay for a taxi home so you also failed to add that we walked home through down town Leicester which at the time (and no doubt still is) was a a total toilet.

Leave off Dave, I paid for the journey, admission, food, drink, football stickers etc and then you moan about a little stroll:tease:

I was teaching you the value of money!!!!!

 

[madaboutblues]

Bristol Rovers away 2008/2009. I was on the TZ fun bus and the traffic was murder. We came off the motorway and ended up going through Bath, got stuck behind someone driving at 20 miles an hour on the country lanes and finally got to Bristol at about 2.45pm only to realise that the coach driver had taken us to Bristol City's ground :'( We got to Bristol Rovers at 3.20 to find we were already 2-0 down. One bloke refused to get off the coach! We ended up losing 4-2 but to this day I insist we drew 2-2 as those were the only goals I saw :thumbsup:

 

[wakes123]

Sheffield Wednesday away in 2007 - lost 3-2 in the last minute to a handball that was never a handball, and the coach broke down on the motorway on the way back and got home well into the early hours!

Still the positives were it was nice to visit Hillsborough for the first time and the atmosphere was great, so I'm glad I went it's just an annoying away game that sticks in my mind.

 

[Bobby dazzler]

Grimsby away early 90's I think - got all the way there on supporters coach only for it to be called off for water logged pitch.

As memory serves not only did it get called off for being waterlogged but next time it was cancelled for being Fog Bound.

I drove up to the third attempt which was before Christmas and there were a small handful of us to witness us getting thrashed. Memories fading but I remember several penalties in the game against us.

 

[SonicShrimper]

It was Paul Smith - you're allowed to say the name honestly! It was 2-1 with Barry Corr scoring in front of the away end.

The keeper? Honestly didn't remember his name.

 

[dshrimp]

Grimsby away,( I think during the fry days) I was in a box with about a dozen Grimsby fans) we got stuffed about 4or 5 nil. Terrible afternoon and crap journey back .

 

[jassyfa1]

Derby a league cup game, after drawing 1-1 down here, I took my new XR2 to Derby and got there early. After being offered out for a fight with a Derby supporter at 5pm and watching the Southend aggro boys kick it off with the Derby boys before kick off I spent the entire match being spat at sworn at by the home supporters while the team lost 7-0.
To make matters worst the car broke down the next day.

 

[Angell Delight]

One that sticks in my mind is MK Donkeys away when they played at the Hockey Stadium. Ferking freezing and we lost.

Oh my God that was the coldest I've ever been in my life, never mind just at football! We took the lead from a Goat scuff and they turned it round to win 2-1, their winning goal was also at least 3 yards offside. Minimum. I didn't care that much, I just wanted the referee to blow up early as I could feel my toes dropping off in my shoes......

As for away games to forget my first ever 2 away trips were interesting to say the least - a 5-0 win at Aldershot and a 5-0 defeat at Gillingham! I'd rather forget the latter....

 

[The Big Shrimp]

Crystal Palace in the League Cup & losing 8-0 (I think - I try to block it out!) Ian Wright chinned one of our players & nobody in black saw it, apparently!! Never liked either Palace or Wright after that!!

Morecambe last year too, I had tickets for Spamalot that night & missed for that awful day! I even managed to leave two people behind whilst "running" a TZ coach!

 

[Voice of Reason]

Came home from dominion republic day before m.k. Dons,really thought I would freeze to death that day.

 

[Magnum PI]

Oh man... Worst Southend performance I ever saw. Embarrassing. Had eclipsed this from my mind.

 

[A Century United]

Saturday February 17th 2007.... Having beaten QPR 5-0 live on the box on my birthday in the preceding game, I packed the car with food and sleepy boys at three in the morning and full of hope headed for Inverness and the A9 South. It was a wet windy night, but not wet enough to explain why the back end started skipping around like a Finnish rally car. I stopped to investigate - fuel pipe had split, and half a tank of diesel was gone, I had been driving on "slicks". A quick bodge, plus a more thorough repair in Inverness, and we made it to Sunderland with no further excitement.

I made a point of putting £10 on Sunderland to win with the bookie in the away end as a hedge against possible disappointment, and then watched a team of complete impostors (must have been, there was absolutely no resemblance between that performance and the one I had watched on TV) trail 3-0 by half time. A defiant chant of "4-3, we're gonna win 4-3" was met with a ripple of laughter by the Sunderland fans, and that was as good as it got. 10 minutes from the end I took my betting slip to the window, to find that the ******* had packed up and gone. A visit to the home end bookie proved futile, as he couldn't pay out until his absent colleague's paperwork had been reconciled. I had to wait a fortnight and then finally get paid at the branch in Inverness - bloody useless, and yes William Hill, I'm looking at you.

We set off home and at two in the morning, with just 32 miles of a 730 mile round trip left, a deer decided to throw itself from the dark recesses of a wood directly into my path. The car was still sort of driveable, and we made it home but it was three weeks and £1500 in repair bills before I got it back again.

Not my finest away trip, and I've had some grim ones.

 

[Uncle Leo]

Not my finest away trip, and I've had some grim ones.

Sorry to hear that ACU. That particular trip, despite the result, was one of my all-time favourites until we got back to Newcastle after the game. Matt the Shrimp received a phone call saying his father-in-law had been taken very ill at a game up in Scotland and he had to speed off to be with his in-laws. Happily, his father-in-law made a recovery thanks to Airdrieonians getting a new defibrillator at their stadium earlier that week!

So it ended ok, but suffice to say the long trip home was rather than glummer than it might have been :sad:

 

[A Century United]

Sorry to hear that ACU. That particular trip, despite the result, was one of my all-time favourites until we got back to Newcastle after the game. Matt the Shrimp received a phone call saying his father-in-law had been taken very ill at a game up in Scotland and he had to speed off to be with his in-laws. Happily, his father-in-law made a recovery thanks to Airdrieonians getting a new defibrillator at their stadium earlier that week!

So it ended ok, but suffice to say the long trip home was rather than glummer than it might have been :sad:

I remember that, though I couldn't have told you that it was that long ago :stunned:. To digress further, I recently signed a petition that seems to have persuaded Ryan Air to carry defibs on all their flights now, and also a few years ago a chap in a bar on the Isle of Skye took a heart attack and by great good fortune the ambulance, which was normally based 45 minutes away, was passing the door and their defibrillator saved his life. He has now started a charity which is installing defibrillators in all the West Coast villages, and paying for courses in how to use them. Should be mandatory at all public venues IMHO.