Long distance away games always mean a struggle to get a squad of lads able to travel and play for the supporters team. Just like any other ordinary group of fans, other commitments can get in the way of being able to go. The trip to Crawley was no different, and it was only two or three days before the game that we were sure we’d be able to fulfil the fixture. Usually in these circumstances, a friend of a friend, an old work colleague or the bloke who once sold a dodgy dvd to your uncle has to be roped in. This time, the 9 lads travelling down from Rochdale would be joined in Crawley by acquaintances living in London and Portsmouth. Luke Walsh managed to overcome the serious hamstring injury he picked up 6 days earlier, Travis ‘Sonic’ Roberts managed to get enough pocket money to come, and Jack Leeming finally got permission to go from his mum and dad, and eventually we had a squad together. The only other hitch in preparations came when gaffer Rhys Wolstenholme told us all that we were playing on astroturf – it was only after everyone else asked him to double check that it turned out we would in fact be on grass.
Personally I am not a morning person at all. The only thing I have no problems waking up early for is away trips such as this, but even so, it took quite an effort to leave the house at 5am. Very unusually for this type of occasion, not one of the lads I picked up were still asleep when I got to their house. Everyone was ready on time, and I only make a point of this because it is so rare for this to happen. We met up with the other car load of lads at our traditional meeting point, McDonalds, and after a highly nutritional breakfast, got on the road.
Do you remember that time that there were no hold ups on the M6? Nope, me neither. Even at that time on a Saturday morning, we got caught up in traffic for about half an hour because of a bunch of cones being left out. More time was then added on to the journey because Luke, who didn’t fancy the McDonalds earlier, still had to have his breakfast. I’m a nice man so I allowed him to get his Burger King – unfortunately though it took him and Liam Jennings approximately a year to get themselves a coffee. They didn’t seem to think it was an issue, the bright side was that I later got to charge them full whack for fuel costs after having to put my foot down to make the time up.
Luke did make up for his fannying around at the services by contributing a bit of music. The set list he downloaded from a Benidorm DJ had the car rocking. Liam tried to follow this with some of his dull indie rubbish but even he had to admit it was no match. Then we had a ‘Guess The Year’ quiz, on CDs provided by Rhys. He’d done this for our trip to Bristol Rovers last season and today it was back by popular demand – mostly from me, because I won the quiz last time. The rules were simple: there were groups of 4 songs all from the same year, and you had to name the year that those 4 songs were released. Somehow, the three lads in the back (mostly Luke) were still trying to grasp this concept even as we entered round 2. Our arrival at Hazelwick School in Crawley signalled half time in the game, with Luke somehow in the lead. I was losing, but only because I didn’t play in the last round, because arguing about it caused me to miss the junction I wanted off the M23. I still maintain that song was out in 2011, but whatever, more of this later.
The 11 of us had made it in decent time, and so we got changed and got out onto the pitch for our usual professional warm up. Our lack of goalkeeper meant Rhys had to go in net, because he filled more of it than anyone else. Our back four consisted of Iain Murray, Jack, Jonny Hall and Jamie Albison. The midfield four were Sonic, Ryan Lockett, Liam and Kev Morton. Up front were Luke and John Hill. The thinking was that Crawley were an unknown quantity to us, so it was best to start off as a solid 4-4-2, before switching to our new attacking 3-5-2 system if we felt able. Unfortunately though, London-based Dale fan John suffered a hamstring strain in the first few minutes, leaving Luke as our lone front man. It was an edgy game for a while after that as both teams got to grips with each other.
One of the things we pride ourselves on is the ability to battle and graft as a team, and this was evident as we more than held our own with 10 men, and had three or 4 good chances to take the lead. Luke did well up front on his own. He’s usually used as midfielder, but you wouldn’t have known, as some of his runs were very good. If only he’d understood the offside rule a little better he’d have been in behind their defence a few times. Defensively we were still pretty sound, with Jack being his usual bossy self and Rhys sweeping up anything in behind us with ease that Manuel Neuer would be proud of. We were still quite pleased when half time came though, because conditions were very humid, and some of us struggle a little bit fitness wise.
John bravely took his place back on the pitch for the second half. Given our good performance with 10 men so far, we felt confident at this point. Injury struck again not long after though, with the groin of Jonny Hall unsurprisingly being able to cope with being so stretched. That’s my way of saying he’s a lanky sod. We carried on with our trademark slick, flowing football though, and we still had the edge over our opponents. It was a decent game, if a little scrappy at times, but you always felt that there was quality there that could turn the game at any moment. A deserved goal finally came, although it took a penalty to do so. A cynical challenge left the referee with no choice, and up stepped our team’s eye candy Ryan to slot it away with the swagger you’d expect from such a handsome young devil. Jonny then decided he’d recovered well enough and came back on to bolster our defence.
Shortly after this came the most sickening injury of the lot. Harrowing memories of David Busst, and Anthony Pilkington’s injury that time away at Huddersfield came flooding back. Grimaces and even tears covered the faces of onlookers as Iain Raffert- erm sorry, Murray, bravely jumped up for a header (which he won) and was sent crashing down to earth at a near fatal angle by the Crawley player. Eye witness reports (which no doubt will later be used for the Crimewatch reconstruction) said that his ankle turned one way whilst his knee twisted the other, leaving the shin in two minds before just disintegrating. Apparently it was an ankle which had suffered injury before as well, which probably made it even more painful for him.
Heroically, Iain decided to postpone going to hospital to stay and support the lads. He had to watch on forlornly as the Rochdale defence conceded in his absence. At 1-1 and down to 10 men for the third time, you’d be forgiven for thinking the team would struggle. But this Rochdale outfit is made of sterner stuff. They absorbed whatever Crawley tried to throw at them, and then it happened. Think Fernando Torres in the Champions League semi final at Barcelona. A counter attack was swiftly launched, good work from John Hill released near-namesake Jonny Hall away and in the clear, albeit with most of the opposition half still to cover. Those lanky legs raced away from the defence, and as he reached the area the crowd were frenzied in anticipation. Jonny showed superhuman composure, took a couple of touches, and BANG! A superb finish, The Dale were 2-1 up and from that point they never looked like losing. The game was seen out with determination, and the final whistle brought about delirious celebration from the away following who knew they had witnessed something special.
Dale went on to win 4-0 in the secondary game of the day, but I think we all know which team Jeff Stelling will give the performance of the week award to. It was a fantastic performance though, and the sort of away day that makes all the money and hours spent doing what we love completely worth it.
Time to go home then, although seemingly Rhys wanted to extend his day out even further, as he decided to take the wrong exit off the M25 and spend a bit of time in Reading for no reason at all. It was suggested that two wins in the day merited two stops for KFC but this was shouted down by Luke, which is strange because he’s the greediest one of us all. Just the one stop was had in the end, although time wise this was probably best because it took Iain a few hours to limp from KFC to the toilet and back. I don’t understand why nobody gave him any sympathy.
Going back up the M6 was where the Guess The Year quiz reached its dramatic climax. We’d swapped CDs with Rhys’ car for this eagerly anticipated second half. Now, this may well turn out to be the kind of story that sounds pretty boring if you weren’t there, but I don’t care, I’m going to tell it anyway in all of its glory. I’d launched a comeback, but with two rounds remaining, the score was Luke on 6 and everyone else on 4. My momentum carried me forward though and in a similar fashion to Liverpool’s Champions League win in Istanbul, the final round ended with me and Luke tied for the lead on 6 apiece. We didn’t have 20,000 Scousers there, but if we did, they would have been just as ecstatic. Of course, in that match they did not end at 3-3 and call it a day. A tie break was needed. It was decided that Jack would choose a song at random from Liam’s phone, and then Liam would google the year it was released. The chosen song was Complicated by Avril Lavigne, which does tell you something about them both, but we’ll leave that one. Luke text in his answer, which was completely wrong, before I came in with the incredible shout of 2002. It was correct, and it sparked wild scenes of jubilation. The victory songs were in stark contrast to the glum mood of despair coming from Luke, who knew he had just crumbled under the pressure.
We arrived back in Rochdale just after 9.30pm, although it was nearly an hour after that before I got home due to having to drive Liam all around Rochdale and Shaw to find some house party that he didn’t even want to go to. Nevertheless I was still on a high as I got home: a 2-1 victory in the morning, a 4-0 victory in the afternoon, and STILL, undefeated Guess The Year Champion of the Woooooooorrlldd…