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EGALIO AWAY 21-10-04
Written by Steve Goldby
Boro's first ever game on The Mediterranean sounded like just the ticket and the sunshine of Athens an altogether more attractive proposition than the early reminders of the onset of another London winter.
However come the day of the opening Group E match against Egalio of Athens, I found myself not in an aircraft bound for the ancient historical City but driving up the M1 on my way to a small northern town in Europe that I think you can guess the name of.
BBC Radio Cleveland had invited ComeOnBoro.com to be their afternoon show special guests and provide some punditry for the Egalio game and of course, we were more than happy to oblige. The venue was The Dickens Inn in Southfield Road and as they are also in possession of a big screen, it also sounded like the perfect venue to watch the game.
Due to us both holding ex-pat status, neither myself nor Andy had ever watched a televised Boro game in Boro itself before this one. I have ended up watching most of this season's televised encounters in London pubs with a couple of Boro mates and many more opposition supporters which is not always the ideal situation to spend your leisure time in. But if we will move away from Teesside.
What I liked best about the London arrangement for the Egalio game was that our usual crowd was looking like it was going to have its number considerably boosted due to one of our comrades getting wind of the MSS organized party in The Stage Door in Waterloo. I expected our usual two or three strong party to be in the hundreds for the late afternoon kick off but had to blow the gig out when the call came from the BBC.
So I set off to Teesside at a very early hour and stopped off at York to pick Andy up. Updating the site was not too much of a problem as York has plenty of Internet cafes and I found one in Stonegate and got the morning updates done before Andy had got out of his bed. It is always a big pleasure to go back to Teesside and most times, I can feel the anticipation building as the signposts on the A19 count down the miles to Middlesbrough. This time was no different.
The Dickens Inn is quite a new pub and we immediately liked the decor and the layout. We'd probably be in there quite often if we still resided in our hometown but we don't any more and were consequently strangers on this day. Yet we still felt instantly at home and that was largely due to the warm Teesside welcome afforded to us by the bar staff and BBC Radio Cleveland.
Radio Cleveland's match build up is done really well and presenter Anna Lee and her staff simply rolled up, plugged in and just got on with it in the most professional of manners. It was very impressive to watch. Meanwhile, Paul Kerr and Paul Addison were on hand in Athens to bring the latest team news and full match commentary.
The ComeOnBoro.com interview rolled nicely and our final task was to provide our predictions for the match, which turned out to be hopelessly inaccurate. So that was it, another working day down and time to get on with the serious business of shouting the Boro on to victory.
It will seem like nothing to any readers who are resident in Teesside but believe me, it was a great experience watching Boro in a Middlesbrough pub full of other Boro fans. The Dickens Inn was quite empty up until ten minutes before kick off but filled up nicely as the teams were entering the stadium. What else should we have expected with a five o'clock Thursday afternoon kick off? I was quite surprised at how the Boro fans treated this game. None of the carnival/party celebratory atmosphere that was evident for the Ostrava games was present here. It was almost like we were now used to being in Europe and were playing the match and not the occasion, which is exactly how it should be.
Meanwhile in London... They rolled on into the night after the game had finished and apparently a very good time was had by all. We had to settle for parmos.
Meanwhile on the other side of Athens... bandana'd braggart Alan Shearer gave the Geordies a scantly deserved one nil win when he converted the penalty that was gained after Amoebi did a passable impression of an Olympic diver in the box. During post match interviews, Bellamy was sporting what looked like a nasty bruise on his head and Shearer - with bandana - commented on the intimidating atmosphere during the match. Rather than referring to the placid Greek supporters, Shearer was referring to the presence of his manager as he stalked the touchline and threatened his strike force with another banging together of heads as soon as they left the field. Nice to see discipline has once again being restored at St James' Park.
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