Away Day Review - Eastlands - 17/5/11

Journey

a simple hour's jaunt up the M6 then into Manchester (though rush-hour added 15 minutes to the run along the Princess Parkway and into the urban wasteland that is Sports City (Eastlands). 8/10

Parking

2 (official) + 1 (unofficial) SCFC coaches made for "cat-swinging" space in the coach park; car parking was in abundance @ £6 on local car parks (via the ubiquitous dayglo-clad arm-swinging locals !). Lap of honour by home side afterwards allowed a swift getaway as 44,900 deluded Shameless rejects celebrated their first silverware for 35 years (that wasn't deemed "handling stolen property" by the courts !). 8/10

Atmosphere

with a sparse 200 Stokies amongst the 45,103 crowd, there was a distinct lack of atmosphere. The patronising playing of Delilah (via the tannoy) and subsequent renditions of "Who put the ball in the Potters' net, repeat, repeat, Ya Ya Ya Ya Toure" didn't depress the Stokies' resolve to belt out the standards, albeit in a lack lustre fashion when 3-0 down. The best reposte was "what you gonna do when the oil runs out ?" 5/10

Pie & Pints

usual Holland's fayre and standard beer offering was satisfactory if uninspiring. Soft drinks @ £3.50 bordered on Wembley pricing ! 6/10

Performance& Result

When I say that Salif Diao was one of our better performing players, after Wilko and Tommy Sorensen, you can get the drift of TP's end of season team selection. To say he surrendered before kick-off, with his second-string team selection, is the understatement of the season; a team selection not reflective of our league position, FA Cup runners-up status or the £38 ticket price charged by the arabs ! As a winger-led team, we needed 2 x wingers playing especially when there wasn't a plan B ! 4/10