Saturday 27th January
Julie joined Joss and I at Euston and we got onto a Northern Line train and changed to the Hammersmith Line at Moorgate for Upton Park. We had fat chips from a chippie with the local team’s players posted on the wall and took a picture outside the turrets of the Boleyn Ground, with Julie in my hat. Our seats were in an almost empty section of Row B, with much of our bodies lower than the pitch.
West Ham started brightly and hit the crossbar but spurred on by the louder travelling fans, Watford pressured and created chances of our own. We had a goal disallowed for offside and a second shot was cleared off the line by a defender’s arm, unseen by the officials. We taunted West Ham’s latest acquisition, Lucas Neill with “Here for the money, you’re only here for the money” after he got a yellow card and generally outsang the home crowd. Just before the break, their keeper, Roy Carroll, made a hsh of a punch and the ball fell to Anthony McNamee, whose scissor kick bounced over the knee of a defender on the line and into the back of the net for his first goal of the season and third ever for the Golden Boys.
I tried to taunt the locals with “2-0 and you lost the cup” but nobody joined in and when they finally found their voice as West Ham had a spell in our half (“I’m forever blowing bubbles”) we just chanted “You’ve only got one song” back at them. During this period, Julie asked if we had a player called “Welling” after I had shouted encouragement to one of our midfielders (“Well in”)… Teddy Sheringham came on and, apropos of Celebrity Big Brother, I began a “Teddy’s girl’s a racist” that did get backing. Watford held out against the introduction of a third striker and frustration was evident in the claret and blue on the pitch. It finished 1-0 to the Golden Boys, our first back-to-back wins of the season and our first win away. We clapped them off and sang the manager’s name.
The Hammers have done a lot of business in the transfer window and injuries ruled out a couple of players today so we’ll have to see if this accomplishment can be repeated in two weeks’ time in the league when their new guys are settled. Clearly, the three points are more important than an F.A. Cup run but as we sang “Que sara, sara, whatever will be, will be, we’re going to Wem-buh-ley” in the street after the game, there could be no doubt that the cup retains its “magic” for many of the fans. Conjuring a win of any sort out can only be good for the players, too. Fingers crossed for a relatively easy home tie in the Monday draw.
No comments:
Post a Comment