Lacking Sparkle

A pretty uneventful start to the day - all clear on the tube and the usual hearty breakfast repast in Da Vincis.

And a fairly quiet trip on the train up too until we were joined by a couple of women at Doncaster.  We almost started off on the wrong foot as Martin thought one was after his seat and was getting ready for an argument.

Debutant Scott Harison

However once we'd got it sorted, we got chatting and found they were Scunthorpe fans without a game and off to York for a girly weekend.  Cue a mutual moan about how our respective teams were underperforming. 

On arrival in Darlo there was a brief detour to the covered market for some grub and then onto the Quaker - John W, Brian and Trev were already in place. Tony and Neil then joined us.
The selection at the bar included Tyne Bank - Monument Bitter and Cherry Stout, Mithril Pilgrim Fathers, York Brewery Terrier and Humbug, Hadrian & Border Enlightenment, Abbeydale Deception (which went off as I tried to get some) and Woodlands Oak Beauty.

I can't say that any of them were outstanding with probably the Humbug being the pick of the bunch but it was a low bar so it wasn't too hard to be best.

It was a totally different story up at Number Twenty-2 though - Bradfields Farmers Stout, and Brown Cow, Hawkshead Windemere Pale, Goose Eye Barm Pott, Mithril Flower Power and Lancaster Lancaster Red being the guests on offer.

The Windemere Pale and Barm Pott were excellent - and much to my surprise the Farmers Stout was also a really good beer.  I've never been impressed by Bradfield beers in the past but this made me think again.
We were joined in the pub by John Bell who'd brought along a few guests - his mum, wife Annette and their new puppy Sparkle. 

It was Sparkle's first visit to a pub and boy was she excited.  She was relatively well behaved and some of the regulars were pleased to meet her.  A bit tiring for John though as he tried to keep her under control - don't think we'll see her back for a while!

It was also nice to meet Annette after....ahem....hearing so much about her from John.  I think it is safe to say we were all expecting someone totally different!

Down at the Arena I checked in and made my way pitchside - I was beginning to wish I'd put another layer on as it was getting pretty damned cold.  I'd vowed not to make this mistake after our previous home game saw me freeze to death. 

The cold hadn't put too many people off as we had a fairly decent crowd of almost 1700 with about 50 away fans making their way north.

With a shortage of players, the game would see a debut for one of the youth team, defender Scott Harrison in as Spike Lee was put up front, as well as a first appearance for Adam Reach, on-loan from the Boro.

It was a pretty drab first-half with very little of note to report - Dale Hopson fired wide early on but we had very few clear cut attempts at goal although we did keep possession well. I spent most of the half trying to keep warm.

A rare shot for Darlo
 from Adam Rundle

To make things worse, Jamie Chandler limped off just before half-time and we lost that cutting edge in midfield.

In the second half the visitors made the most of Chandler's absence and started to show a bit of interest in the game.  This culminated in them hitting the post twice in quick succession after Russell was well beaten.

At the other end, Darlo were restricted to shooting from distance but this shouldn't be surprising as Forest Green have an excellent away record.  Clearly they are used to parking the bus after losing just one away game so far this season.

Sub Sanchez-Munoz came on as a sub but failed to make an impact and the game continued to make little impression and by now I was getting really cold and was longing for the final whistle.  When it came, the score was still 0-0 and was qute frankly a waste of everyones time.

A hassle-free journey home meant this was quite a forgettable day so far as the football was concerned - thank goodness for the excellent beer in N22 and the antics of Sparkle!