As it turned out Halloween at the new Den was more frightening on the pitch than off it, especially the first half where Ipswitch in their third choice blood red strip looked very fragile at the back.
We decided to take the train and make a day of it meeting up with Max at Euston, he was having a weekender with mates. We went to the British Library to have a look at a photographic exhibition by Michael Katakis which was rather disappointing. After a breakfast in Pret a Manger we made our way to London Bridge where Max had arranged to meet up with the boys in the Old Kings Head. The pub which was down an alley by the railway station had a Police van on standby in the street in case of trouble as well as a couple of Policemen outside. Inside the place was dominated by “blokes” mainly between the ages of 30-50, how I would imagine a scene in one of the many “firm” books and films like “The Football Factory” Sharon was definitely in the minority (I counted 4 women out of about a hundred or so people). I found it quite ironic that the draught beer was served in poly glasses (I’m guessing in case of any agro) but the bottled beer was not, so weapons all round! We had a drink there and made our way to the ground leaving the boys to watch the Chelsea v Arsenal game on the big screen.
I asked one of the policemen for directions to the ground and he suggested the train to South Bermondsey rather than walking and wished us “good luck”! We had a wander around the ground and the atmosphere was quite friendly, I don’t know how it would have been if we were wearing colours?
The main talking point in the week leading up to the match were the revelations about Michael Chopra’s three week stay at the Sporting Chance clinic for his gambling addiction, only being allowed out to play matches. He got a very warm reception from the 1600 plus traveling fans and obviously some ribbing from the home supporters, who despite their numbers (about 10,000 - majority male) created a really lively atmosphere throughout the game.
Ipswich were undone by Liam Feeney’s pace on the right wing from the start and conceded two goals, in the first 10 minutes, the first from Jay Simpson, knocking the ball in after David Stockdale had twice made decent stops, and then Darius Henderson 3 minutes later. At this point it had the spooky feeling of the Southampton game, but fortunately Ipswich weathered the storm despite losing both Lee Bowyer and Ibrahima Sonko to injuries (replaced by Reece Wabara and Ivar Ingimarsson) and were the most relieved to hear the half time whistle.
We looked a lot sharper after the break and were on top for the first time in the game, JET replaced Carlos Edwards after 62 minutes, Jimmy Bullard then scored a good individual goal to get us back in it 3 minutes later. Our hopes of getting something out of the match lasted a mere 7 minutes and were extinguished by my man of the match Feeney who scored after being set up by the impressive Simpson following a mix up between Bullard and Danny Collins. Simpson then added his second goal of the game soon after.
We met Max after the game outside, his mates had seen enough and had vanished 5 minutes before the final whistle - poor form! The away fans are well guarded in a locked cauldron behind the stand along with the supporters coaches and team bus! There is a well fenced-in footpath to the rail station where rival fans can be kept apart. We left Max on the platform with his holdall that I had inherited at the pub, he was heading off in the opposite direction, Sharon wasn’t keen on leaving him in the Lions den but was happy when he rang to say that all the boys had all rondezvued at the Railway pub in Clapham.
Sharon and I decided to walk from London Bridge to Brick Lane (we had decided to have a drink and a curry before going home) it only took about twenty minutes and once there we found “The Vibe Bar” which was done up for Halloween including the bar staff mainly girls who were all in fancy dress! A pint of Grolsh in a poly glass was £4.20! Having said that they had a DJ playing old school Dub on vinyl which was great. We stayed for a couple and then wandered down the “lane” to select a restaurant (there are loads to choose from and they all entice you in with offers of 20-30% off the food or free wine or beer). After buying some spices from the Bangla City supermarket we opted for the Eastern Eye Balti House, as it looked busy inside and we weren’t disappointed. Sharon has this conspiracy theory that all the restaurants in Brick Lane share a communal kitchen which is accessed through underground tunnels, something that we discussed briefly, even trying to find the kitchen in our restaurant! I think that she has been watching too many programmes about the likes of Saddam, Bin Laden and Gadafi having secret bunkers with tunnels.
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| London calling |
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| London Bridge |
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| The Shard |
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