AWAY THE GAS
BY DARREN STOBBS
This was our first trip on the road since Barrow away, when the Supporters Club, along with many other supporters got near the ground only to find the match was called off, with us only being 40 miles from Barrow.
In fact, knowing there was a good chance of it being called off the day before the match made it all the more frustrating. Setting off early in the morning and getting back home late afternoon, all to no avail.
I do feel more needs to be done to call matches off well in advance, to save people time and a lot of money. Some clubs had the sense of calling off fixtures the afternoon before the matchday.
We set off north again for Salford, leaving The Mem at 8:15am, stopping at Sandbach services for 45 minutes and then arriving at 12:10pm at The Peninsula Stadium. A quiz was on hand for the journey, kindly put together by Dave Rogers.
On the back of Cavegn’s hat trick against Shrewsbury, the challenging quiz was largely covering the hat trick heroics of past players to wear the blue & white quarters. I probably needed a bit more time to answer the quick fire questions! We thank all who contribute towards making our longer journeys go quicker! and we welcome any ideas for future matches.
Knowing that the bar at the ground is for home supporters only, my research indicated that two pubs were both one mile from the ground. The Star Inn and The Friendship. Google maps were on hand to guide us to latter named venue.
I took the lead and decided to take the scenic route through the local nature reserve, promising the others that we weren’t going to get lost! 20 minutes later and we found ourselves at this welcoming pub.
On approaching the pub a pie and a pint was shown at just shy of £16, so we got the impression that it was going to be an expensive venue.
However, ran by a local chain, ‘Joseph Holt’, the local bitter beer was very reasonably priced at £3.90p a pint. We were then trying to fathom out what the pie was going to be for a £12 difference! Needless to say that we were prepared to wait until getting to the ground for some food!
We soon found out the team lineup and after mentioning on the way up about giving Brad Young a chance between the sticks, I was pleased to see that he was given his opportunity.
A fellow Gashead we know, who was travelling from Liverpool, kindly gave a lift back to the ground, which was by now getting busy in the away end.
Queuing for the food outlet, famously ran by ‘Babs’ seen from the Salford City documentaries on TV, the prices looked very fair for a football ground. I chose the chicken nuggets and chips for £5, which was definitely above average in quality for a football ground.
On to the match and throughout large parts of it was lacking in quality, certainly by ourselves and also from Salford. The Ammies got an early goal when a pass through our defence was comfortably finished when one on one with Brad Young.
However, there was clearly no spark in our performance to get back into the match and it was difficult to see where our chance was going to come from. Both goalkeepers were not called into much action throughout.
It was nice to see that ‘Babs’ walked across the front of our stand during the second half thanking everyone for their custom at the food/drink kiosks.
Shaq Forde was my own man of the match and also voted for on the Supporters Club coach. He was involved in a lot of our forward play and always trying to make things happen. However, he was surprisingly subbed on 69 minutes.
For me it was a missed opportunity to take something from the match. Rovers took an impressive 805 fans to this match, will the total attendance of only 3,034.
We then left Salford at 5:05pm and arrived back at The Mem for 8:40pm, after a 15 minute stop at Strensham services.
Now on to, I think, a more difficult test at MK Dons on Tuesday evening.
