Today was the day of the much-anticipated Saints v Ajax match and for once I was up early at 7.30, awaking to the sound of the front door closing as Dad left to take Mum to the station. (She was catching the train to London to meet up with friends.) Once Dad had returned we both walked round the road for a paper and some sweeties, then watched a bit of Open Championship golf on TV.
Ernest arrived early and once Lydia was ready we were able to set off for town by 11.20. We parked in the Marlands and our first stop was M&S to buy some lunch, which we ate together on the benches outside the shop. I had virtually the same luch as last week (croissants, crisps, cookies) and it was just as yummy as before!
Being a Saturday, town was very busy, but we had about an hour before we had to start thinking about making our way to the stadium. So, after Ernest had talked Lydia round, we all trooped up to the sports shop as I wanted to show Ern where I had bought my 7 iron and cheaty chipper. He ended up buying a ball-collecting device, while I spotted some tennis balls on sale for 39p each. I have been on the lookout for these to use at the family picnic as we are running a bit short and Kaye/Ern are bound to lose a few, so I seized the opportunity and got five of them!
After this I split from Ern and L and had a mosy round a few shops, mainly browsing electrical goods with wishful thinking. By this point the crowds were becoming a bit suffocating and I was glad when it was time to reconvene at 1.15. We made our way back to the car and, once Ern had panicked over losing the parking ticket before finding it again and then forgetting to pay(!!), we drove to Ocean Village. I had done my research which suggested this to be a good place to park and I was proved right as the walk to the stadium from here took less than quarter of an hour, even though the route was in no way what you would call scenic!
Ern bought a programme then we skirted round to the megastore to find Matt and Will, who were already waiting. Will had kindly offered me his nearly new Saints shirt for a bargain £10 (they are usually £40 from the shop), so money and shirt swapped hands and after a quick look in the megastore we made our way through the turnstiles.
I nipped to the gents to don my new shirt, which fitted rather well, then Matt and Will departed for block 33, while me, L and Ern headed for our seats in row FF of block 32, 816 to 818. The pre-match entertainment centred around the dawn of a new era for the Saints, with the recent takeover of the club by wealthy Swiss businessman Markus Leibherr, as well as the appointment of new manager Alan Pardew yesterday morning, a rare opportunity for Southampton fans to celebrate. Both received standing ovations just before kick off and many Swiss flags were in evidence among the bumper 20,000+ spectators - not bad for a pre season friendly!
The match itself was largely dominated by Ajax, although Saints made a game of it in the first half, taking the lead after quarter of an hour before being pegged back by what seemed a rather dubious penalty, the score at half-time being 1-1. In the second half, however, Ajax showed why they are one of the top teams in the Dutch league with a dominant and classy display, taking the lead early in the half before grabbing two more in the final 10 minutes to give a final scoreline of 1-4. No disgrace to Saints, who had done well to keep them at bay for the majority of the match, however it was Ajax's captain and not Saints' Kelvin Davis who lifted the Ted Bates trophy to a somewhat muted and dignified round of applause at the end of the match.
Matt and Will decided to leave quickly but the rest of us stayed behind taking a few photos until there was hardly anyone left inside the ground. Upon making our way out we discovered that it was raining and also rather cold, which therefore necessitated a brisk return to the car.
The traffic coming out of town was horrendous, but this presented us with an excellent opportunity to beep, wave and generally wind other people up as we battled our way through the ever-merging lanes. The pinnacle of this experience was forcing a women passenger into hysterics by attempting to 'hide' behind the tennis balls I had bought earlier, eventually causing her to jovially mouth 'you're mad!' as I attempted to use them as replacement ears!
We made it through after nearly an hour and decided to treat ourselves by stopping off at the chippy on the way home. I ate mine upstairs while Lydia and Ernest watched Doctor Who and Dad arrived home having had his cricket match rained off midway through the game.
I spent the remainder of the evening on my PC, looking through and editing photos from the day and reading the first reports and reaction from the match on the internet. Also broke out an old season review and some of my Saints shirts which I used to wear incessantly in my early teens!
It has been a tiring but enjoyable footy-filled day. Church tomorrow, then hopefully a relaxing afternoon...if I'm lucky! See you later chaps!
No comments:
Post a Comment