Scunthorpe United v Coventry City

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Football League Championship

Scunthorpe United :
Murphy (Lillis 17), Williams, Byrne, Jones, Mirfin, McCann, Woolford, O'Connor, J.Wright, Hayes (Friend 90), Hooper (Thompson 88).
Subs not used:
A.Wright, Togwell, Sparrow, Forte.

Coventry City :
Westwood, Hall (Hussey 66), Cranie, Barnett, Wood, Gunnarsson, Cork, McIndoe (Madine 79), Best, Eastwood, Morrison.
Subs not used:
Konstantopoulos, McPake, Grandison, Clarke, Jeffers.

SULSESC REPORT

by Steve Sumner at Glanford Park

IN 1785, Robert Burns wrote a poem entitled ‘To A Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest, with the Plough’.

A verse from the poem includes the following lines (in a modern translation)

“The best laid schemes of mice and men

Go often askew,

And leave us nothing but grief and pain,

For promised joy!”

Are these lines apt for the following tale?

In June, 2009, the Football League fixture computer decided that on Saturday, December 5, 2009 Scunthorpe United would host Coventry City, the kick-off time set for 3pm.

The best laid plans...

In September when cheap train tickets for December became available, four return journeys were booked for Mal Watson, Matt Gray, Andy Skeels and me. Departing London King’s Cross at 09.05, arriving at Scunthorpe at 11.50, departing Scunthorpe at 18.18, due into London at 21.15. Return ticket cost of £23.10 each. The journey up would start with a chat, a quick read through the paper, finishing of breakfast before the serious matter of playing Black Moria. On Donny station, a quick decision would be made not to dash out to a local pub for a quick pint to fill the 20 minutes between arriving and departing. Upon arrival in Scunny, it is a quick walk to the Lawyer where a pint or two along with the Matchday Special - steak pie, chips and minted mushy peas - would be consumed. A lift down to the ground, perhaps with a detour via the Berkeley, to see the match with an expectation of a goalless draw, then a lift back to the pub, quick drink, back on train, more Black Moria and, finally, home. Sorted.

Go often askew...

In October, the paymasters of the Football League, namely Sky TV, had some decisions to make.

Forthcoming fixtures to be shown on TV had to be selected for November and December. For December 5, the meaningless East Midlands derby between Forest and Leicester did not look exciting enough, nor did the match-up between moneybags QPR and recently relegated Middlesbrough. That left only the mouth-watering fixture between Scunny and Coventry to be moved to a 13.15 start on the Sunday, December 6.

Plans...

Oh great, £23.10 down the drain? Following some hurried emails, phone calls, etc., the following was established.

Mal was not able to go as he had to be at home on the Sunday, Matt, Andy and I would still go up on the Saturday and get a lift back with Neil Wright on the Sunday afternoon. Neil also remembered that Rune, one of the Norwegian Scunny fans, was coming over that weekend. Fortunately Rune was able to amend his travel plans for the weekend. At the beginning of November, Andy came up with the idea of taking in a game on the Saturday afternoon. More negotiations resulted in the plan for Jon Dunn to pick the three of us up at Doncaster from where we would travel to watch Accrington Stanley v Torquay, then back to Scunny for a few beers and a curry. Sorted.

Grief and pain...

On Tuesday, November 17, we received the shocking news that Ian Tremayne, SULSESC chairman for 11 years, was seriously ill in hospital.

On November 25, we received the sad news that Ian had passed away. The funeral for Ian was set for Saturday, Decmber 5.

Plans...

Naturally we wished to attend the funeral so altered our earlier plans.

Jon Dunn was also going to drive from Lincoln to Hainault/Harlow for the funeral, so Andy, Matt and I would travel back to Scunny with Jon after the funeral, possibly taking in a match en route - Histon v Altrincham was mooted.

During the week leading up to the funeral, John Parrott (a recent new member of SULSESC) also arranged to have a lift back with Neil Wright after the game. Neil advised John to meet us in the Lawyer before the game - Al had agreed to open at 11 am on the 6th.

Ian’s funeral in Hainault was well attended. Included in the 200+ friends and family were 16 members of SULSESC and it was very much standing room only at the crematorium.

Ian’s sons, Calum and Liam, told an amusing story Ian often told them about his days at nautical school.

Calum also managed to get the words “wings, sparrow, arse, crow and Grimsby” into his eulogy.

From Ian’s brother Andy, we learnt the amazing news that for the first ten years of his life, Ian was a Grimsby Town fan - he had certainly kept that quiet!

Following the committal, everyone reconvened in the Hare public house in Harlow where a couple of decisions were made. A hastily arranged committee meeting elected Neil Wright as temporary chairman of SULSESC until the next AGM and the four of us travelling to Scunthorpe for the evening decided to give Histon a miss - a good decision as it turned out, the final result being 0-0.

The evening in Scunthorpe was pretty uneventful - a few beers in the Lawyer followed by a curry at Rahmans and, for some, a quick nightcap in the Wetherspoons.

Promised joy(?)...

The purpose of our visit to Scunthorpe was, of course, the match against Coventry (see later observations for the morning’s activities).

Before the game I would have settled for a draw and certainly expected United to concede at least one goal. Scunny tried not to let me down. Following a punt forward from Coventry, Leon Best outsprinted Rob Jones from the halfway line and charged through on Joe Murphy’s goal. Murphy came to meet Best and, with Clinton Morrison in acres of space, a Coventry goal seemed imminent. Best chose to lift the ball into the arms of Murphy.

Next to help out was Grant McCann who was easily robbed near the hosts’ 18-yard area. The ball was swung out to Best on the right hand side, taking Murphy out of the equation. Again it seemed as if Coventry must score but this time Rob Jones got back to repel the first shot. The ball fell kindly back to Best who tried again but Murphy had got back and punched the ball round the post for a corner. Unfortunately Murphy was unable to avoid his left-hand post and was, after a lengthy delay, stretchered off with a knee injury. Josh Lilllis replaced Murphy and was soon called into action, saving with his right boot a low shot from Morrison.

At the other end Martyn Woolford had a header saved by Kieron Westwood. Soon after a ball played in from Scunny’s right was back-heeled on by Paul Hayes for Gary Hooper to run onto and score with a shot to Westwood’s left. 1-0 United.

In the second-half, Paul Hayes had an outstanding opportunity to extend the lead, bearing down on goal in a similar position to Leon Best’s earlier chances. Hayes shot wide and the chance was gone.

In the later stages of the game, Chris Coleman brought on substitute Gary Madine who was to miss two more golden chances for Coventry, the first a shot over the bar from four yards out, the second a header from three yards that went past the outside of Lillis’ left-hand post. In between those misses, a ball in from the left found Freddie Eastwood free in the centre, eight yards out, but his first time shot flew wide to Lillis’ right.

So after seeing four defeats and Scunny failing to score, I finally saw a United goal and a win to boot. The season has started!

Observation of the weekend - how protective are your parents?

Like most of the above, this is not directly related to the football.

My mother

On the Saturday, as Jon Dunn was driving to Scunny, I received a call from my Mum who advised that she was still in the West End Club (a working men’s club in Mary Street) so may not be at home when I arrived.

She wasn’t wrong - Jon dropped me off about 6 pm and I went out again at 8 pm without seeing her. I arrived back from the curry at 11.30 pm and Mum was fast asleep in bed. However she was up early on Sunday morning to make sure I was well fed and watered with a cooked breakfast, two cups of tea and food packed for the journey back to London after the game.

John Parrott’s parents

At the Lawyer, I met John for the first time. Also there was Geoff, John’s father, who had brought John into Scunny (from Scawby) so John could meet up with us before the game.

John had only met the SULSESC crowd twice before - at the Crystal Palace game in September and the Watford game two weeks earlier.

Neil Wright had mentioned to John at the Watford game that he (Neil) may be able to give John a lift back after the game against Coventry if he went. This was confirmed between the two of them by email in the week leading up to the Coventry game.

John is in his mid-thirties, has lived in New Zealand for six years as a married man and now lives in London with his girlfriend (the marriage having ended!).

Despite all this, when telling his mother that he was getting a lift back to London from someone he had only met once and there would be people in the car that he had never met, John’s mother insisted that Geoff come and have a drink us. Is this the first time SULSESC has been vetted by a member’s parents?