The FA Cup. Part 15.

Saturday, 25^th January 2014

Fourth Round Proper

Sunderland AFC v Kidderminster Harriers

The Stadium of Light

Sunderland

SR5 1SU

K.O. 3.00pm

Half time 1-0

Final score 1-0

1-0 Charis Mavrias  04 mins

Attendance 25,081 (away 3,873)

Miles travelled approximately 600

AND THEN THERE WAS ONE!

As soon as I got home after the Peterborough replay I went straight to bed and stole 5 hours of sleep from somewhere before going off to do another 15 hour shift. I got home on Wednesday and sent (the lovely) Helen McDonald an E Mail asking about buying a Sunderland ticket. By the time I’d got home on the Thursday there was a reply from (the lovely) Helen McDonald telling me that she had put a ticket in the post and by the time I’d got home on the Friday I was the proud owner of a ticket.

The only negative about it being Sunderland was that there was two. The first was the distance. Drive or train? I went off to play with time tables to see if it was possible before seeing about staying in Cumbria to see my daughter. The second was the fact it was Sunderland. I’d done Sunderland in the League Cup with Walsall in 1999 and we had been treated so badly by the staff that I’ve had a pathological hate of Sunderland ever since. I would quite happily have dragged the place into the North Sea and sunk it.

So there you have it. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to going back to Sunderland.

To add an extra twist to the coming events Sunderland had managed to beat Man Utd in the League Cup Semi Final, but only after Extra Time and penalties. This threw up two possibilities. The first was would Sunderland be exhausted and would that mean team changes? The second was would Sunderland experience the game after the Lord Mayors Show?

While all of that was going on Sunderland had decided that the price for the Rd4 tickets would be £10.00 I wasn’t expecting that and it was a nice touch from a club that didn’t have to do it. If that wasn’t enough the Kidderminster Chairman had said that they would subsidise the travel to Sunderland but only for the first TWENTY coaches making it possible to travel to Sunderland for £10.00

Here were two football clubs who were doing their best to bring the FA Cup to as many people as they could. I’d lost my heart to Kidderminster months ago but I was now starting to soften up to Sunderland.

On paper, this should be a walk over. Frankly, it didn’t matter. They could be losing 37-0 at half time. Kidderminster’s Cup Final was a week last Tuesday and they had won. Today’s game was the home coming parade if you like. Today was the cash cow that they truly deserved. I only hope that they drop the price for their next home game in the hope of keeping hold of some of the people that went to Sunderland.

It was also the first time that both teams had ever met.

My alarm went off at 04.30 by 06.00 I was leaving and I was on the first train out at 06.20 and everything was going well until the train in front of us broke down which meant our train got diverted via Seven Sisters. I dived off at Seven Sisters and tubed it into Kings Cross arriving at 07.10

WOW! Kings Cross looks fantastic, now it’s finished. It used to be a horrible place. Now it’s a bright, vibrant place, a pleasure to be in. Whoever it was that redesigned the station should be knighted.

With an hour to kill, I went off to get coffee. Bloody hell fire the approach to Kings Cross was better than the inside. Two Knighthoods please. Straight into McDonalds, food, drink, and a seat by the window.

I love London and I love London in the morning. I love how she quietly purrs like a kitten. This is another reason why I love my job. I often feel like one of those Oompa Loompas. No one sees us, we just do our jobs so that people can get on with their lives. Now I could sit and watch other people do what I do.

As I stared out of the window I started to think of all the miles that I’d travelled and all of the people that I’d meet over the last six months. Especially the people. Gary and Richard at St Margaretsbury, Tony at Hemel Hempstead, Leon from BT Sport, (the lovely) Helen McDonald at Kidderminster and everyone else that I only got to spend one game with and I started to lose it, my bottom lip started to go and I got embarrassingly emotional. I then thought about my daughter and how I was going to be so close to seeing her while actually not seeing her… GAME OVER! Complete breakdown. Still it will look good on CCTV somewhere.

08.11, my train left on time and I got some sleep until “Bing Bong”, a freight train in front of us between Doncaster and York had broken down, we were now going to go the long way around putting 40 minutes on our journey time giving me an ETA of 12.30

The train got mobbed at York as loads of City fans made their way up to Hartlepool. They had sold out their allocation taking over a thousand fans. The train manager wish them well on their journey but said that she hopped they lose because she was a Hartlepool season ticket holder… We all just fell about the place.

The north east coast line looked stunning as we slowly made our way to Sunderland. Bright blue skies. Calm sea. Ships in the distance. Well worth getting up at 4am to see.

We pulled into Sunderland at 12.15, late and yet still early. God what a dump and I thought Walsall was bad. THIS is a city? Still the natives were very friendly, “No bother”, and just how cold was it… It was just like Cumbria but without the rain.

I do the post card thing and walk to the ground. Just how high is that bridge… GULP! I loved that sign from The Samaritans, just how bad is it being a Sunderland fan? The walk from the station to the ground took about 15 minutes and included stopping to take far too many photos.

I continued to do my now usual thing of walking around the ground taking photos of everything and anything, whether it moved or not and then it happened… Remember that running joke that Leon and myself have about, “at some point the hospitality will stop… “

As I stood taking a photo of an open gateway looking onto the pitch a steward asked me what I was doing. I told him my story. He told me that this wasn’t his normal section, he was covering for someone, whose son was getting married that morning. He then got another steward to watch the gate before taking me inside an empty Stadium of Light. He led me to the edge of the pitch saying, “Don’t go past the barrier”, and let me take as many photos as I wanted… Ha! Ha! Ha! STICKY MY PANTS!!!

I couldn’t believe it, I was so awe struck with the attitude of the steward and the massive cathedral like void in front of me that my head just span. I felt very small stood there, my legs suddenly felt very heavy. It was kind of like that opening scene from Star Wars when Darth Vader’s ships slowly moves in over the top of the audience. GULP! AGAIN!

Please note that I have deliberately not named the steward in case I get him into trouble. I did thank him by name. The beers are on me.

As I went out of one door and around the corner I bumped into Leon who was doing the same in the opposite direction. He hadn’t seen me inside the ground but the Sunderland staff member with him had and I thanked him for his tolerance of my silliness he just said, “No bother”, with a big grin on his face.

Leon and myself made our way to main entrance to wait for the Kidderminster team coach that was due at 13.30 I ran around like a headless chicken trying to take even more photos before that rain arrived and we could see it coming from over the horizon and it wasn’t looking good.

GOD! It was cold…

Kidderminster arrived with an escort from the Mounted Police which was very impressive. Gash came back out later to pose for photos which personally I thought was a lovely touch.

Kidderminster fans arrived in force. It and they looked stunning. Cameras swooped on them like birds of prey. Images taken and banked that might just pay big money should Kidderminster win.

Leon and myself walked around the stadium shooting video and taking photos, mixing with fans, soaking up the atmosphere, swopping plans and ideas. More on that later. Maybe…

The rain arrived. Rain comes in little round spots and not buckets… right? Next time I’ll just go and jump into the river, I’d be a lot drier. You’ve never seen so many people move so quickly in your life. People shattered in all directions. I was already making my way to the club shop where by the time I’d arrived they were mopping the floor.

While all of that was going on I got news off Nick that he was in the Wild Boar pub in Houghton-Le-Spring. I later found out that one of the two coaches that had travelled up and left without them while they were in the supermarket next door stocking up on health food, salad and fruit. Well part of that sentence is correct. Eventually they got to the ground thanks to the second coach taking pity on them while others were still in the pub leaving them to make their own way to the ground.

By now I’d had enough. Everything I tried to buy from the shop had sold out. I was soaking wet. I was hungry. I was cold. I was going inside.

How many steps? Still the quotes that they have on the walls made me smile and by the time I’d reached to top I was giggling like a school girl and warming up nicely from the exercise.

Where was everyone? The Kiddi end was filling up nicely while there was an obvious lack of Sunderland fans. I made my way to the top far corner to take a photo of the opposite corner where I’d taken a photo from earlier on, if that makes any sense.

I wondered around the away end meeting people, taking photos. The more I wondered around taking photos and meeting people the more the lack of Sunderland fans stuck out. To make things worse, the Sunderland fans that were there weren’t really adding anything to the experience or atmosphere.

Kick off arrived. Cameras clicked. More images banked. More of that stupid corporate, let’s all be friends, hand shaking nonsense, that is forced upon everyone, before players dive and cheat and spit and swear.

The first half got under way with both teams kicking the wrong way. It wasn’t until half way through the second half that I realised that it was because the “Away End” has been moved to where it is now, meaning Sunderland had both ends while we were stuck in the upper tier.

Kidderminster looked fantastic in that purple kit. That was as good as it got.

The game was one way traffic. The Kiddi fans were still making one hell of a racket. Sunderland fans might as well have stayed at home, most of them had. Sunderland had a shot cleared off the line, this was backs to the wall stuff and then on 4 minutes instead of clearing the ball into Row Z Gowling made a lovely little pass in his own area to Mavrias who calmly placed the ball in the bottom corner “One - Nil”. *SIGH*

Then on 9 minutes Gash found himself with ball. Was it a bad back pass? Was it good anticipation? Either way, it didn’t really matter, he dug the ball out from under his feet and managed to get a shot off. The ball slithered under the keeper and we all thought this is it… and it was… the ball span the wrong way and two Sunderland defenders where there to mop up any possibility of a goal. GAME OVER!

This led to me sending the text of the day, “GASH is a TW*T”. Cruel. Harsh. Funny.

The rest of the first half flew by which was strange considering that it was so one sided. It really was men against boys. The Gulf between the two teams was massive. I’d seen this a few times in the FA Cup. Eventually one team plays against another team that are truly in a different class and its all that they can do to hold their shape.

Kidderminster had got a game plan and they stuck to it. The only problem is, if the team you’re playing against is that good, then holding your shape takes all of your energy. It tests your discipline not only at an individual level but at a team level.

Half time arrived a lot sooner than it should have. I went off in search of Nick. Just how bonkers is that. All the beer on one floor. All the food on another floor. Toilets on all three… erm… or was it four…  The away end is like that 3D chess board that they use in Star Trek. I went in one door and I came out of another… in a different part of the ground. I did eventually find Nick or did he find me either way it was a week next Tuesday.

I also found a TV, Notts County 0 Walsall 3 … SEE I TOLD YOU SOMETHING WEIRD WAS GOING ON!!

The second half continued in the same vain as the first. Sunderland couldn’t break down the Kidderminster defence while Kidderminster couldn’t produce enough energy to push through the Sunderland midfield. Sunderland where left to long range shots while Kidderminster tried to go direct to Gash up front but with no one there to support him it was always a wasted ball.

It wasn’t until after Kidderminster made a double substitution on 70 minutes that things started to happen and for the last 10 minutes Kidderminster really went for it and the game opened up. The only problem with Kidderminster going for it is that Sunderland picked them of and vice versa. Doing this from the opening minute would have made for a much better game, it would also have meant that Kidderminster lost by a cricket score.

As it was Sunderland won 1-0 and that’s all that people will see in the record books.

After the final whistle all the players grouped together along with the officials and congratulated each other. I think they all understood the effort that Kidderminster had put in who in return, I think, understood the politics of what Sunderland had done with fielding a completely changed team from the Semi Final winning team.

Everyone walked away a winner.

It took ages to get out of the ground and down all of those steps. Once out it was an easy 15 minute walk back to the station, which was nice because I was booked on the 17.29

The train left on time and I’m happy to say that all of my prejudices about Sunderland were put to bed. Everyone I met simply could not have been more helpful or welcoming and secretly I’m looking forward to going back. Next time I’ll do it properly. 

The train was calm, relaxed, uneventful, until Hartlepool.

Firstly a young kid and his Dad got off the train in a full Kidderminster strip including his football boots (the young kid was wearing the kit – not his Dad).

Secondly all of those York City fans I’d met earlier in the day got back on the train with a very heavy BT Police escort. Chaos. Total mayhem. Standing room only. I’ve never seen so much beer in my life. The old women next to me tried to convert some of their “lads” to God… You couldn’t make it up, I don’t think she understood what the hell was going on but trying to convince a load of lads to follow the way of the Lord was a sight to be seen. I can’t remember the last time I’ve laughed so much or so hard. Gentlemen, wherever you are, thank you.

About 6 Kidderminster fans got off at Kings Cross. I eventually got home at 11pm. I put the TV on just in time to see the highlights of the game. I’m impressed that they found enough footage to show.

Today had been a great day. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Kidderminster fans will talk about this Cup run forever. In 10, 20, 50, 100 years and more, when Kidderminster play in the Cup, when they get another Cup run, when they buy their match day programme, they’ll read about what I’ve just witnessed. I was there.

Where were you?

AND THEN THERE WAS NONE!

Noggin xx