Lincoln City 2 – 1 Tranmere Rovers
What a great day yesterday. Picked Jose up from the station at 11am. Hung around at home for a bit and went to buy bread and cheese from Waitrose. Then at around 13.15 we set off downtown. Meeting Anne at the railway station at 2pm to go and watch Lincoln v Tranmere.
We were there far too early so bought a cup of tea and a sausage roll from the caff under the stand. I was dressed for an Arctic winter and immediately began to sweat buckets in the heat of the caff. We had to retire to seats in the stand and remove layers.
We ended up sat near the halfway line. Good seats and had 30 – 40 minutes of build up. John was down the far end standing with the the hardcore. In fact he couldn’t get a seat so stood on the steps.
Football
Look after the ball it’s the only one we have
Packed stands
The total euphoria of the crowd when we score first
Chants of we are top of the league, we are top of the league, we are top of the league, we are top of the league
Sense of outrage when the ref gives a penalty
Concern when they equalise
Emotional intensity
Swear words – would you take the kids?
Very mature crowd – agewise – not so languagewise
Centre forward substitution and the replacement scores within minutes
5 minutes of nervous added time with at least two bookings for time wasting
The crowd streamed out of the ground highly satisfied with going top of the league with their last game before Christmas
By the end of the game I had all my layers back on. We streamed out of the ground with the crowds. Joe and I stopped for a beer at the Jolly Brewer and made it home by about 6pm. Bit if a chill, change and out to the Brittains for their most excellent annual Christmas bash. Martin is renowned for his pulled pork and roast gammon.
A few match reports:
Theirs
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/lincoln-2-1-tranmere-rovers-12336828
Neutral
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38272960
Ours
http://www.redimps.co.uk/news/article/2016-17/lincoln-city-v-tranmere-rovers-3473250.aspx
Some vids: