Northern Lights, Camera, Action

I'd originally intended to stay at home and watch the York game on TV having finally decided to sign up with Premier Sports but Martin offered me a lift and it seemed too good an opportunity to miss as it's been quite a while since we last played at Bootham Crescent.

So I started and finished work early and headed off up the Piccadilly line to Uxbridge where Martin was waiting for me. He was certainly in a chatty mood - so much so that he missed the turning for the A1 so we went via the M11 instead.

It was a frustrating journey - there seemed to be an inordinate amount of lorries which seemed intent on blocking the outside lane. Plus it was pissing it down - I was beginning to think the sofa may have been the place to be after all.

(left) Brigantes - first pub of the day

We finally arrived in York about 4:30pm and after parking up close to the ground we headed into the centre of York to find the first pub on my list for the day.

The Brigantes Bar (and Brasserie) is a new venue for me - part of the Market Town Taverns chain which has an outlet in Northallerton - a good selection of local ales from the likes of Rooster, York Bewery and Leeds. Martin is pleased to see that his favourite - York Guzzler - is on so he opts for that. Just a quick pint though as there a few I want to wander round today.

Next stop is the Ackhorne - slightly off the beaten track and one I've been to several times in previous visits. There are a few Geordie lads who start chatting to us but again just a quick pint before we move on.

The Blue Bell on Fossgate is another new venue for me but is a long standing favourite for those that know their pubs in York. A small twin-roomed pub with with not a lot of room in either - we had a good pint of Ossett Silver in the front bar and soon got chatting to some locals.

As we moved on, Martin headed to the game whilst I went to find the Pivni (formerly Pivo) bar. This seemed to be another small-ish bar but it is actually spread over three floors in a modern-but-traditional way.

(right) The Blue Bell - small but perfectly formed

This is the sister pub to the Sheffield Tap - a bar that the London Millers rave about - and the forthcoming Euston Tap.

It has a wide choice of continental and US beers plus Thornbridge and Brewdog beers on tap. John Bell meet me here for a quick pint but I left him to have a last swift one as I needed to go to the ground and get my press ticket.

Given that the game was being televised, there was none of the razzmatazz one associates when Sky cover a game. A few miserable looking cameramen and the odd effects mic by the pitch were the only signs we were on the box.

There was certainly an excellent turn-out of Darlo fans - over 700 from a crowd of 3,100 - and they were in good voice.

The rain had stopped as we kicked off and I settled down on my stool in one corner in front of the away end.

There was not a lot to choose between the sides tonight - the Quakers were not brilliant at keeping possession, often losing the ball far too easily, but the defence was solid.

We didn't seem to get the rub of the green with the referee ignoring valid pleas from Hatch as he was repeatedly knocked off the ball but being only too pleased to give free-kicks when the hulking mass of Rankine fell over like a blouse as soon as he was touched.

Following his improved performance as a sub at the weekend Curtis Main was trying to make things happen up-front and shot narrowly wide but chances were limited for both sides though Russell was probably the busier of the keepers.

(left) Curtis Main battles to keep possession

At half-time, York and Darlo old boy Marco Gabbiadini made an appearance on the pitch. If we only had someone of his stature this season to put away the chances we created in previous games. Hopefully we'll have more news of Gabba in the next week or so.

In the second half, York started to gain the upper hand but the tide turned once the lack-lustre Hatch was replaced by Michael Smith and Darlo seemed to string a few moves together.

John McReady was later thrown on as a sub but as the game faded out into a draw, the only incident of note was the sending off of Paul Arnison after he was given a second yellow. I supposed we shouldn't be surprised as there have been lots of red cards in our games recently and eventually one was bound to be for one of our players.

According to John W who was watching the game in a pub in Camden, the TV pundits gave the man of the match award to Darlo old boy, David McGurk, which is probably a back-handed compliment to our forward line.

After the game, Chris joined Martin and I for the journey back to London as he needed to come and help with the preparations for his forthcoming wedding (on a match day too - tsk tsk).

The start of the journey was quite chatty but after a while I drifted off only to wake up to find Chris had also dropped off - not a surprise for anyone who knows him - and we were approaching west London.

It was 1:30am - far too late to get a tube home and I don't do night buses - so Martin dropped me off in my office where I started work a little bit earlier than usual.

(above) A good turn-out of Darlo fans