Keep 'Em Peeled

My day didn't quite start as I'd hoped - I popped along to the Double Six at Eustion at 7am only to find the place shut - very unusual as it normally opens very early, catering as it does for cab drivers and railway staff - so I had to pop back to Da Vinci's at King's Cross.

And then back to Euston for my train to Brum - I arrived there by 9:30am which allowed time for a quick wander around HMV (wot - no metal section in a Birmingham branch?) before heading to the nearby Wellington.

This place is a bit of a tickers pub - 16 beers on tap, the choice of which are displayed on a TV screen and which you order by number, not name.

(left) DAFTS On Parade

It also opens at 10am which is very useful and allows those local tickers to have a few quick halves before wandering off to the darker corners of the Midlands in search of new beers.

I suspect the place opened even earlier today as it was already quite full when I arrived - a group of drinkers eagerly awaiting a bus to take them to the Winter Ales Festival in Manchester.

Of the beers on offer I managed to try a respectable number - Wye Valley HPA, Blue Monkey Guerrilla, Oakham Citra, Beowulf Hurricane, Church End End Reg and Saltaire White Christmas. Needless to say they were all in excellent nick.

Steve joined me here after taking the bus from Cardiff - he'd texted me to let me know there was a pitch inspection at noon but if the weather outside was any indication, I expected the game to go ahead.

From New Street it is only a 20-minute train ride to Tamworth and on arrival we opted to take a taxi rather than walk the ten minutes or so to the designated pub.

Big mistake. I asked to be taken to the Robert Peel and after a few minutes of driving round the driver said "You do mean the Robert Peel hospital, don't you?". No, the pub, we replied.

After another minute or so he asked if we meant the Robert Peel hotel? Turns out he had never heard of the pub and so he dropped us in the town centre, charging the minimum fare and getting no tip.

Lesson - don't be so lazy!

Thankfully the pub was well worth it when we arrived with a good selection of beers: Oakham Bishop's Farewell, Church End Vicars's Ruin, Marston's Pedigree, Waen Blackberry Stout and Blue Monkey 99 Red Balloons.

Colin was already there - as were Rich Jones and John Gray - and is wasn't long before Tony, Ray, Lance, Brummy T, Trev and Brian all rolled up too.

(right) Gary Shaw joins the DAFTS Brains Trust

Brian saw that they had a pool table and decided we would all contribute £1 and play Killer.

Needless to say most of us were rubbish but it didn't matter as the winner and runner-up donated their winnings to the Youth Development kitty.

We left for the ground with Lance in tow - he'd been insisting he wouldn't go but he just couldn't resist. This would be his first game in about three seasons.

On arrival at the Lamb it was interesting to see that the stands weren't very high at all - the club had previously stated some areas of the pitch didn't get sun but on walking out, the pitch was certainly soft and not nearly as bad as our recent home game against Wimbledon.

There were a few Darlo fans at one end of the main stand but the majority were in the covered terrace behind the goal which Darlo attacked in the first half, playing up a noticeable slope.

Well to be more precise they were kicking that way rather than actually attacking as we had precious few chances at that end. Nathan Modest was beaten to the ball by the keeper and Bridge-Wilkinson went close with a lob that came back off the crossbar.

But for most of the first half, Tamworth were the busier side and kept the pressure on us though Russell had little to actually save but there were plenty of crosses aimed at their very large centre forward that he claimed.

Tamworth were given a great chance to take the lead when a penalty was awarded - I didn't see the incident but there didn't seem to be a lot of protests from our boys.

Russell to the rescue though as he made a great save, palming the ball away after diving to his left, to keep it level at the break.

We had a quick chat with former Villa player, Gary Shaw, who was covering the game for the local press. We all agreed it wasn't a brilliant game.

(left) Players stare at hairy football magnet

In the second half Tommy Wright replaced the on-loan Modest and Darlo started to apply themselves more and eventually took the lead when a Bridge-Wilkinson free-kick was headed home by Liam Hatch.

Second later though Tamworth's large centre-back was deemed to have been elbowed by Wright - the second time in a few minutes this defender had gone down like a sack of spuds -and Tommy was off to get first use of the soap. I didn't have a great view but it looked relatively innocuous judging the reactions of everyone close by.

For a while Darlo kept Tamworth at arm's length but in the last ten minutes Tamworth were applying constant pressure in and around the penalty box and there was a lot of last gasp defending. Gary Smith was replaced by Taylor in an effort to bolster the defence.

Typically we conceded an equaliser in added time - though to be fair Tamworth deserved a point for their efforts but it was a bit of a sickener nonetheless.

Most of our gang had gone back to the local Wetherspoons as soon as the equaliser went in - a few even went before that as they were feeling the cold - so once I was packed up I made my way back the station and onto New Street for a few more bevvies in the warmth of the Wellington and then a sleepy trip back home.