Norwich v Scunthorpe United

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Football League Championship

Norwich :
Marshall, Otsemobor, Murray, Doherty, Drury, Croft, Russell, Jarvis, Huckerby, Dublin, Cureton (Martin 69)
Subs not used:
Gilks, Brown, Lappin, Strihavka

Scunthorpe United :
Murphy, Byrne (Iriekpen 46), Crosby, Butler, Youga, Taylor, Sparrow, Goodwin, Hurst, Hayes (May 72), Forte (Paterson 86)
Subs not used:
Lillis, Cork

SULSESC REPORT

by Nick Haines at Carrow Road

WHAT I like about Cornwall is that it’s in the middle of nowhere.

Nothing for miles except rocky coastline, rolling surf and golden beaches, even if one of them, Porthemmet, doesn’t exist.

The down side is that it’s a nightmare getting to any United matches.

Day trips are pretty much out of the question. Getting to Colchester is a round trip of 620 miles, with Norwich a further 720. Bob Dook may say that’s small beer. But when I saw that Scunthorpe were away at both within just four days I thought, aha, a five-day pub crawl.

That’s big beer.

After a weekend drinking gallons at Colchester’s Fat Cat I turned my attention to its sister pub with the same name in Norwich. It was, then, a tale of two kitties. Or should that be the Cat and the Canaries? On the Monday night, this Fat Cat had 26 beers on, 14 of them on gravity. So it was with a heavy head that I set off on Tuesday morning for my fifth serious beer session in, er, five days.

I’d just had a Black Dog in the Reindeer when the phone rang – Chris Vaughan, the first of the day’s fellow drinkers. In the Wig and Pen, where my Black Dog was chased down by a Norfolk Terrier and Humpty Dumpty among others, we were joined by Messrs. Whitworth and Tremayne.

And so to the Kings Head for another bewildering array of local ales, followed by a trek through Beirut to the Duke of Wellington and the travel secretary. And then back to civilization, but only after spurning the Lawyer and having a Sheep in the Artichoke. I hope you’re paying attention, I shall be asking questions later.

Finally the official SULSESC meeting place, the Coach and Horses. (Dammit, if this long weekend had been a game of pub cricket….) This pub had its own brewery, and yes, I had organised a piss-up. There was also a cock-up as I had some fellow named Howard’s steak sandwich, had it taken away and got it back again. Well, breakfast was by now a distant memory and it’s better than relying on Delia’s cooking. Speaking of which, those who did try the Norwich pies were impressed, though I’m not sure if there were any takers for a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon at half-time. Sherry trifle, anyone?

After the game came a return to the Coach and Horses. And then the Compleat Angler. We then wandered round and round with the church on our left in search of a pub with a late licence, finally making it back to the Wig and Pen for a final pint. Taxi for all of us!

Sorry, you want to know about the football? Well, the ground was nice. We outsang the Norwich fans, though those in the stand behind the goal made a decent fist of it. Are you sure you want to know about the football?

Okay, it was 0-0, and every bit as good as the scoreline suggests.

For Norwich, Dion Dublin was a great lump up front but caused us a few problems. Darren Huckerby was a great lump on the wing and didn’t, although Cliff Byrne still got himself into trouble and was substituted at half-time to avoid a red card. For some reason we brought Iriekpen on in his place, rather than Jack Cork, who had excelled at right back at Colchester. All that taught us is that Iriekpen isn’t a right back. Sparrow hit the post, and then for Norwich Chris Martin hit a thunderous shot against the post, which is probably still shaking.

We matched Norwich all over the park and did okay without ever really getting hold of the game. If Norwich had been a good side they might have hurt us. But they’re not, so they didn’t, and the talk after the game was of how great it is to be disappointed not to have won at Norwich.

So our two awkward away games in four days ended with four points out of six. And still no early season hangover.