Here's a great game you can have with unsuspecting away fans. Firstly, print on your tickets 'Please sit in your allocated seat'. Then tell half the fans who enter that actually they can sit wherever they like. Only tell half of them 'cos otherwise the game isn't nearly as much fun. Cordon off just enough of the stand so that there aren't quite enough seats for the amount of tickets you've sold. Finally play some loud music, most of it featuring Cheryl Cole, and intersperse it with farting noises as your sound system slowly packs up. Stand back and watch the ensuing chaos. No-one wins but its great fun.
Welcome to the world of Glanford Park. Actually, apart from this organised chaos its a great little ground. It seems really old fashioned considering it was built in 1988 with some pillars in the way and the seats all crammed close together. But its got more character in one row of seats than some of the new grounds have in their entirety. I'd happily go back time and again. Its also got those rare vital elements that make the matchday experience hassle free. Its very easy to find being just off the end of the M181, it has bags of parking and there are plenty of food options nearby.
The game was quite difficult to follow as the seat I ended up with after musical chairs was directly behind the goal so I saw 90% of the game through the mesh of the net. For the whole game we looked far more dangerous than they did and definitely deserved all three points. Our defence got caught out once by the sort of slick move we're so good at pulling off to go one down. However the only surprise when Danny Graham got the equaliser was how long it had taken us to find the net. He looked so pleased to have got on the scoresheet and those of us in the front rows got to celebrate with him which was nice.
The ref had had an odd game pleasing neither set of fans. However, having seen Cleverley's not so clever challenge I think he was probably right to show the red card. What he definitely got wrong was not to show the Scunthorpe player red as well for the two punches he then threw at Tom as they got back up from the challenge. He was too busy enjoying the theatrics of immediately pulling out his red card to notice that a common assault was going on two feet in front of him.
Even with ten we looked better than them and when Eustace headed us into the lead with just minutes left our end went mad. I never thought I'd use these words in the same sentence but John's celebration was one of the campest I've ever seen by a footballer. I probably wouldn't say that to his face though.
It was the man in black who'd have the last word giving a penalty in dying throws of the game when the ball was kicked into Jay DeMerits face. Even behind the mesh it was apparent this wasn't a deliberate handball and 9 times out of 10 a corner would've been the result. Not for Mr.Theatrics however and although Loach went the right way he couldn't reach the spotkick. There was time for one final bit of controversy as the penalty taker tried to prevent Loach getting the ball out of the goal quickly which resulted in our goalkeeper being floored. Yet, he was the one who got a yellow card.
Both this and the punches on Cleverley can clearly be seen on The Football League Show. It would be nice to think some retrospective action might be taken but I'm sure this would be a pointless waste of a thought.
