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CHARLTON v BORO BLAST FROM THE PAST II 30-10-04
Written by Lillibet M, Photo by Andy Craig
Once upon a time, in a football ground far far away, a young idealistic Boro fan experienced the joy of seeing Boro leave the pitch heady with the euphoria that victory brings.
Since then, live 'highlights' have included a 5-0 massacre at QPR and a paltry draw against Wycombe in the Worthington Cup 2nd round (Gazza plus reserves). Sad, but true. However, this trip to Charlton was filled with anticipation even though few goals were expected if the stats of previous meetings were to be used as any sort of predictive tool.
So it was that the jolly band of supporters met in The Wheatsheaf at Borough (shouldn't that be Boro?) Market. Very distracting place to meet, as there was such a temptation to stock up on shitake mushrooms and pak choi and autumnal culinary delights. However I resisted as the likelihood of these products appearing on the "Not allowed into ground" sign was high. High proportion of Boro fans amongst the punters and in Borough in general it seemed - was it just because of the name? Seems reasonable to me!
A ride on the Boro Express from London Bridge took us to Charlton, minus Wiz who was answering a higher calling. The boarding was quite farcical as the train was about four hundred carriages long yet still raced past our end of the platform resulting in an undignified sprint, scramble and scrum to get on board.
Good job Boro fans are friendly, and thankfully, due to the overcrowding this bunch also had high standards of personal hygiene too! Into the Antigallicon pub to meet up with The James Bassett Column and then onwards to The Valley (note I didn't say "Into The Valley" as that would have been too obvious?)
The Valley is apparently much improved from previous years and is not a bad ground at all. There was plenty of time to observe the immediate surroundings whilst waiting for Packwolf on one of his many trips to the loo - this boy has the bladder of an old woman. His programme was soaking wet by the end of the match - he said someone spilt a drink on it, but that's his version.
Mind you, the signs at the entrance to the South Stand are shockingly illiterate. I kind of get the feeling that no-one from Charlton may have noticed, after reading Headteacher Alan Curbishley's message in the programme. If you are going to include such gems as "goals obviously change games" and "the key thing is results" . then it makes you wonder about the calibre of the Charlton fans (Note to self - New Year's resolution for next year possibly to include being less snobbish?).
Mr Curbishley had told the pupils, sorry fans that he expected them to get behind the team today in an article that sounded much more like an assembly than an inspiring address from the manager, e.g. " It doesn't do any good if you turn on us. you have got to (get behind us) today". Did they listen? Didn't seem much like it as the away contingent of Boro fans gave much more support than the home fans in both volume and duration.
Anyway, the game was thoroughly enjoyable, the sun shone and we were solid all the way through. Fabulous to see a quality Boro side looking confident and in fighting spirit. Downing was looking good, although we were distracted from his performance by one of our party (who shall be nameless, but it was Steve) keeping up a running commentary of "That was the Best Corner in the Universe", "That was the Best Free Kick in the Universe that was", "That was the Best Sock-Pulling-Up in the Universe, you know", etc etc.
A welcome return for Queudrue, who although having some very dodgy moments, balanced it by some fab moves and tackles, including a sliding tackle where he almost did the splits. Gymnastics was the sub-sport of the day as one of the Charlton players gave the hammiest performance of the match by falling over and pretending that he was in the floor event at the Olympics and doing a circular series of forward rolls around the centre circle. Don't know who, sorry - as I'm only a girl I can't possibly be expected to know all the names of the opposing players.
Talking of falling over, I was extremely surprised to see Viduka fall over twice in the space of five minutes, for no good reason. He reminds me of a Volvo - so solid and heavy that he is anchored to the pitch without the need for fancy gadgets such as traction control. Worrying. The midfielders were stars today - controlled and nippy - and we looked in command for most of the match, although it was in fact fairly tight, with more than a few sharp intakes of breath and a fairly tortuous last ten minutes in which a draw could still have been a definite possibility.
But it wasn't and we won. I bet Steve Mc was dead chuffed too, as that is his first win at The Valley. He was sat up in the terraces for the match, but I don't know why, 'cos he spent most of it running up and down the stairs to the pitch and back. Maybe he had got a free pedometer from Walkers and was trying to get to his quota of 10000 steps a day. He should just do what I do and walk to the biscuit tin 1000 times a day.
Shame that our first goal wasn't given to Jimmy - incidentally I saw it in slow-mo on MOTD and I still couldn't work out how it happened, it was so fast - as Steve had him for first goal, and the next round would have been on Ladbrokes, but you can't let small setbacks like this get you down. Unless you're Packwolf of course, who was most distressed about having to have the default score in the Predictions League 'cos he got up too late. A hard life lesson.
So, back to The Antigallicon, with ComeOnBoro.com flyers still pinned to the wall, all happy and tired, to top up the beer levels. Whilst we were there, Zenden walked past us. Well, there was the blond bob with the zig-zag hair grip, the no32 shirt with "Zenden" on the back, the cheeky grin... however in the absence of Steve McClaren in his black overcoat bursting in and saying "Fuck off out of here and get back on the coach", we concluded that the chant would have to be amended to "There's only two Bolo Zendens."
Then it was back on the Boro Express as Packwolf needed to top up his E-numbers. London had a nice warm glow to it after our victory, especially for me after all these years and what anticipation for Lazio five days later.
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