Blackburn Rovers Academy 2 Bangor City 2
The day started with a good deal of anticipation, Bangor were going to play in Ewood Park, little old Bangor. My lift arrived and by the time I got into the car it was confirmed that we were in fact going to Blackburn's training ground instead. On the up side I've never been to that part of the country anyway.
After Eifion and I walked to the nearest village we found this part of the world to very picturesque and the people friendly too. What didn't help was the extreme temperature.
We got back to the training ground to see our fears about the amount of player departures to be unfounded as most of the players were still there. As the match started there were some players that we couldn't identify, but that's the fun of pre-season. Bangor did well in the first half and took the lead. However Blackburn equalised as their one first teamer, Jamel Johnson looked very skillful. The teperature was too hard to resist but Robert the Kit Man assured us drinks were available from him at half time.
At half time our quest for Robert started, he had dissappeared, then he reappeared so we followed as he went into the training complex. Unfortunately the door was locked. God I was thirsty. After 10 minutes of waiting he reappeared and told to go past the changing rooms, turn left and there we would find our quarry. Perfect, heaven!!! Except that every door was locked and a member of Blackburn's backroom staff appeared and showed us out. We were directed to the nearby Pub, £1.75 for a J2O!!!!! Bloody Jet Set prices, I blame Savage, I swore at his parking space and left it at that.
The search for refreshment meant we missed the second Bangor goal. One of the Blackburn trainees watching let it slip that Clayton was meant to be going to Blackburn to coach, so an old rumour was confirmed. You could hear the Cockney tones of Glyn Hodges, the ex-Wales midfielder, with Jenny Jackett and Pat Van Den Hauwe there too, were there any Welsh accents in the 1980s dressing room? The match finished 2-2 but I don't remember any details as heat stroke took over.
After the match the Bangor players all had Ice Baths, the sight of Clayton just in his underwear will stay with me forever, what a man!!! Anyway the difference between supporting Bangor and the Premier League teams was shown when I halped to clean the dugout with Eifion, how many Liverpool fans can say they did that, eh?
The ride home might have given me tinnitus.
Now the real stuff
