Sunday, 09th March 2014
Sixth Round Proper
Hull City v Sunderland AFC
KC Stadium
Hull
HU3 6HU
K.O. 2.00pm
Half time 0-0
Final score 3-0
1-0 Curtis Davies 68
mins
2-0 David Meyler 72
mins
3-0 Matty Fryatt 77
mins
Attendance 20,047 (away 3,877)
Miles travelled approximately 380
So, here we again, it’s the 6th Round, the
quarter finals, and the powers that be have decided that we will have one game
on the Saturday and three on Sunday.
Arsenal v Everton ITV
Sport Saturday KO 12.45pm
Sheffield United v Charlton Athletic BT Sport Sunday KO 12.00pm
Hull City v Sunderland ITV
Sport Sunday KO 2.00pm
Manchester City v Wigan Athletic BT Sport Sunday KO 4.00pm
You won’t know this but the first train
out of London to Sheffield had an arrival time of 12.32pm while the first train
out of London to Hull had an arrival time of 1.37pm (which would give me a
massive 23 minutes to get from Hull Station to the KC Stadium) while the first
train out of Sunderland to Hull had an arrival time of 1.05pm giving them 55
minutes to do the same journey.
I will leave it up to you to draw your own
conclusions has to how we football fans are treated.
4AM! AGAIN! Chocolate biscuits and a Pot
Noodle for breakfast sometimes all you need is MSG and I’m not talking about
Madison Square Gardens – which ironically isn’t square or a garden and I should
know cause I’ve been there – or the Michael Schenker Group – who frankly you
should be listening to now instead of reading this rubbish.
By 05.30 I’m on my way and driving up the
A1. Oh look “Black Cat Roundabout”, it’s a sign, it’s a sign, it’s a
road sign… Ha! Ha! Ha! No man or road junction is an island except maybe this
one.
There was almost no one else on the road. The sunrise was
absolutely jaw dropping. RAF bases flashed by and before I knew it I’d missed
the junction for the Humber Bridge, which meant going into Hull the long way
around, which meant I travelled into Hull along the north bank of the Humber
estuary and under that bridge.
As I drove into Hull and under that bridge the sun blazed
down. The calm waters glinted in the rising haze. The place oozed with the
sense money, lots of money, you could feel it, it felt just like London or
Liverpool, I knew I was driving into somewhere special, somewhere that was
comfortable with its place, its history, its time, to the left of me was
industry, in front, then above, then behind me was that bridge, while to my
right the water disappeared into the distance, then “Killing Joke” Love Like Blood came on the CD player
and it hit me like a sack of shit.
http://youtu.be/TnpwuRlXbhk (I’ll leave it up to you to find the lyrics).
I sailed into an empty Hull, people walking dogs to and from
the paper shop, joggers, traffic lights stopping traffic that wasn’t there, the
KC Stadium looked so cool as it leered out of the wasteland to my right. I
parked the car in that massive car park in Walton Street and the stewards let
me in for free.
Now, because of the lack of traffic I actually parked up at
08.45am. So, erm… nothing to do but kill SIX HOURS in Hull on a Sunday morning.
Taking full advantage of a bright blue sky and an empty Hull
I set off towards the ground to do the photo thing. The KC Stadium is set in
the middle of parkland. It is the future. Children’s play areas. Modern Sports
halls. Massive open parkland. I think back to Walsall and how we could have had
something similar to this instead of building that stupid awful shopping mall
next door which now stands half empty. What a waste. One day all football
grounds will look like this. I was warming up to Hull and the KC Stadium very
quickly… as was the weather...
As I stood there taking a photo of an open gateway into the
stadium a steward said to me, “Would you like to come and take a proper
photo?” You know the rest… Ha! Ha! Ha!
The sprinkler system painted rainbows all over the pitch, one, two, three, all
that was missing was Zippy, a pink hippo and a six foot talking bear.
I said my thanks and continued on my way. As I made my way
around to the other end, I saw another open gate and the very same thing
happened again. All I thought about was taking photos of an empty ground from
the other end. As I stood there taking a photo I became aware of someone
walking towards me in my view finder that had stepped from the stands.
This person and the steward spoke while I continued taking
photos before expecting to be thrown out. The person in question then walked
over and introduced himself. I told James my story and before I’d even got
close to finishing he said, “I’ll take you in the dressing rooms so you can get
some photos”.
What happened next happened so quickly that 24 hours later
as I type this up, it is all still a bit of a blur. James had 3,000 bright
orange clackers to place out for the game. He took hold of the stewards 2 way
radio and tried to contact another member of staff. He then led me in the
opposite direction to where he should have been working taking me down a
corridor into an office space where Hull City staff were busily working away on
today’s game.
James introduced me to Ben. Ben then took me on a guided
tour of the ground. Straight back out onto the pitch and around to the dug
outs, “Sit there and I’ll take your photo” said Ben, as I sat on the bench
while holding the ITV microphone, CLICK! “Stand there and I’ll take your photo
with Hull in the back ground” He continued, as I stood on the side of the pitch
with the home end behind me, CLICK!
Ben is a walking talking history of Hull City FC who gave up
one dream job to do this. Through this door, out of that door, into that room,
exit a different one, who, why, what, where, when, my head was spinning, more
photos of me in places I probably shouldn’t be, CLICK! CLICK! and CLICK! again…
Of all the days to be having a bad hair
day (I shall pause while you all insert your own punch lines to your own jokes…
Finished? May I continue? You’re very kind…). If it’s good enough for Kevin
Keegan then its good enough for me.
I kept trying to think of smart questions to ask while all
the time trying to remember where I’d been and what I was being told. I just
wanted to lie down in a dark room… hahaha…
All too soon Ben and myself were saying our goodbyes. We
exchanged contact details and went our separate ways.
At this point you need to understand something. When I first
bumped into James and when I was introduced to Ben, neither one of them knew
anything about this blog. They did what they did because they thought it was
the right thing to do. It was an instinctive reaction. It wasn’t until towards
the end of my time with Ben that I mentioned this blog and how anything said to
me stays with me and doesn’t go in here.
We did have a good chat about Matty Fryatt. I was really
looking forward to seeing him play again. He is an Ex Walsall Youth player
coming through the ranks. We always knew he was too good for us. He holds the
record for the fastest Walsall goal, he holds the same record at Leicester City
whom we sold him to. Ironically enough, I’m sure he made his Walsall home debut
against Sunderland coming off the bench – we lost. As much as I’d to see him
play at Wembley, today I’m a Sunderland fan.
All the people I mentioned Matty Fryatt to only said
positive things about him, which was nice. Seems you can take the player out of
Walsall FC but…
With my head still spinning and laughing like a drain I went
off into town to do the post card thing.
Oh God. I forgot to mention, the phone boxes in Hull are
white. I think Dr Who has taken the threat of nuclear war a little bit too far
by painting them in anti-flash white, unless it’s someone with a Vulcan Bomber
fixation.
As for the city centre, Hull is a classic case of the
buildings that survived the blitz are beautiful while the buildings that
replaced them should ironically be blown up. Still, it’s not as bad as
Coventry. I spent a good 90 minutes in the city centre.
Did you know that the English Civil War started in Hull?
Neither did I. It was at Beverley Gate, I went there, it’s in the town centre.
A quick trip into McDonalds for coffee and to catch up with
Chris and Keith via texts before making my way back to the ground.
By now it was stupidly warm, to warm for a coat.
A quick visit to the club shop where I managed to buy
everything that I went in for, now that was a surprise.
I dumped everything in the car and slapped on some expensive
stink, Brut 33. If it’s good enough for Kevin Keegan then its good enough for
me (anybody got any Dentyne?).
Here are some other things you probably didn’t know about
today’s game. Apart from the thousands of clackers that were being placed on
the seats to help create noise and atmosphere, “Subway” were supplying free
subs in all parts of the ground where it was possible to do so, while the
“Beverley Brass Band” were performing outside the main reception and damn good
they are too. While finally Hull had priced the tickets as follows.
Adults £20
OAP’s and 16-22 year olds £15
Under 16’s £5
Under 10’s £1
Into the Dugout Bar to meet up with Keith before making our
way into the ground. Considering he’s in a bright orange shirt with all of his
sponsor details on it, he’s a bloody hard bloke to find. We had another chat
about his fund raising and how some of the donations he’s got from clubs have
already been snapped up. www.justgiving.com/keith-raymond/
By now it was really warm, it wasn’t hot, but
we were in danger of needing sun tan lotion. The sun was all over our end and
we spent most of the game shielding our eyes from the sun.
The atmosphere inside the ground was
electric. We were in the 7th row towards the corner near the Hull
fans and it was great. The noise. The songs. The banter. If only I could
understand what they were saying and singing…
The game kicked off and it moved at a
cracking pace. Neither team really took control of the game. Lots of shouting
without really saying anything, if that makes sense.
Sunderland for whatever reason decided that
shots were a bad idea and walking the ball into the net was a better one. I’ve
never really understood why teams do that. I cannot tell you how many times I
heard Sunderland fans shout “shoot”. It was almost like a running joke and it
continued for the whole of the first half.
While down at our end Hull completely stuffed
it up when Fryatt the Walsall donkey reject missed an absolute sitter. Six
yards out, a glancing header, and he put it wide. It was a let off for
Sunderland.
The game was a good honest 50/50 tussle. With
nothing special happening apart from the occasional dodgy decision from the
Ref, a bit of play acting from a Hull player and Matty “the donkey” Fryatt missing that sitter.
Then it happened, PENALTY! Larsson took the
standing leg of Aluko as he tried to spin the other way. It was such an easy
foul to win and give away. A classic case of sucker punched. A lesson for every
young footballer to study.
Aluko then gave a second lesson for every
young footballer to study with a truly shameful penalty. Am I being unkind to
Ustari who saved the penalty? It takes two to tango, but it helps if at least
one of them is wearing a dress. Stand on a chair, jump off, flap your arms
really quickly. Did you fly to The Moon? I promise you got closer to The Moon
than Aluko got to scoring. TAXI!
The rest of the first half continued to its
natural and neutral conclusion. Sunderland still wouldn’t shoot and Matty
Fryatt was the only real threat from Hull.
The second half continued where the first had
left off. We all baked in the heat. The noise level made its way to eleven and
both teams promised more than they delivered.
On a positive, I’ve got next Tuesday and
Wednesday off so bring on the replay.
Sunderland really do keep the ball well. They
pass it well. Good off the ball the movement. Pass it and move and then it all
grinds to a halt and they start moving sideways and then backwards, it’s just
like watching England and that was their un-doing. They have no one up front
willing to take on the defence and no one willing to shot. Maybe they should
get some Americans up front, they’re good at blindly shooting at anything.
On 68 minutes Hull finally broke the dead
lock. They won a nothing free kick almost in the corner, over came the cross
where it was met by Curtis Davies who headed the ball back in the direction
from where it came and into the corner. A classic finish. Three sides of the
ground simply erupted. I hadn’t realised just what this has meant to Hull.
Four minutes later and they did it again.
Hull caught Sunderland on the break. Cattermole had the chance to snuff out the
threat but somehow managed to completely stuff up the tackle on Meyler, which
left Meyler with a straight run on goal from just inside the Sunderland half.
Hysteria. Pure and simple hysteria. Everyone
in the ground knew it was over.
Five minutes later and Sunderland imploded
along with Cattermole who for whatever reason decided to pass the ball direct
to Fryatt, this wasn’t just a bad back pass this was a direct pass, he might
have well have chipped his own keeper. The Ex Walsall Youth goal scoring
machine Fryatt kept his cool and passed the ball past the advancing keeper,
just like I always knew he could… WHAT!?
If Cattermole can play in the 6th
Round of the FA Cup then so can my goldfish. He will either come back and play
a blinder for the rest of the season or that is his career over.
Stewards and Police started to form a Day-Glo
barrier around the pitch. You have to admire their stupidity. Do they really
believe that they are ever going to stop a pitch invasion. Let them have their
moment of glory. Let them run on the pitch and sing and dance and simply soak
up the moment. They have just got through to an FA Cup Semi Final at Wembley
(don’t get me started on that…). They are 90 minutes from the FA Cup Final.
I made my way to the back row of the stand to
take more photos of an empty stadium and a full pitch. Suddenly there was a
massive roar that came from inside the stadium somewhere. The kind of roar you
get after a minutes silence. It was the roar of the waking of a giant beast. It
was the Cup draw. Thousands of Hull fans had stood watching the draw live on
the TV screens in the concourses.
Hull City v Sheffield United.
Manchester City/Wigan Athletic v Arsenal.
HA! HA! HA!
You could almost hear the sighs of despair
from the FA. But this is EXACTLY what the FA Cup means to US, the football fan.
A chance for our little unglamorous team to get to Wembley and win the FA Cup.
I found myself out side taking photos,
soaking up the vibe, Police surrounded the Sunderland coaches and eventually
they would get their escort away from Hull. I slowly made my way back to the
car. Hull players were outside signing anything thrust at them. Sunderland
staff loaded the coach with the bags I’d watched them place in the dressing
room earlier. The car park was almost empty and I finally made my way home at 5pm.
I made sure I went over the Humber Bridge.
Bloody hell fire, it’s not until you get close up to it that you realise just
how big it is, OR HIGH! The only two facts I know about the bridge is that when
it was built it was the longest single span bridge on the planet and because of
that the two towers are pointing in different directions because of the
curvature of the Earth.
A nice and easy trip home with a sunset that
would make Turner weep with joy. In fact if Turner panted that sunset you would
have to study it at school before being dragged off to a museum somewhere to
look at it, presuming some businessman hadn’t bought it for the price of a
hospital wing before hanging it in a room where no one can look at it. WHAT!?
I got home, parked the car, kettle, TV, porn
machine, then it hit me. How the hell am I going to get a ticket for the Semi
Final?
While in other news. St Margaretsbury won 2-0
and are also in the Charity Shield Final. Hemel won 1-4 away and are still the
best team in Europe. Sutton Utd won 1-2 away and are in 3rd. While
Kidderminster continue to get it wrong, 0-0 away, sack the new manager,
Chairman quits, acting Chairman also not happy and have slid down the table to
10th.
STOP PRESS!
As I was finishing this off last night I was
made aware of a story that had been posted on the Walsall FC web site.
WPC Julie Skidmore lost here battle with
Cancer. She was the local “Bobby” walking around the pitch on match days at
Fellows Park in the 80’s. She was well fit and even if she was a copper, you
would. I don’t know anyone of mates that didn’t secretly fancy her.
Here is link to a charity walk that has been
set up, from Walsall FC to Port Vale FC.
Here is a link to a page on “Up The
Saddlers”. If you ever need to know why some Coppers aren’t just Coppers then
here it is.
I’m not asking you or telling you to donate
because times are hard and money is tight, but I am expecting you to read the posts. I promise it will make you smile.
Noggin xx
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