Talking (and Playing) Bull

Now I may be tempting fate but after years of miserable journeys on the West Coast main line they really have improved and today was no exception - on time arrivals at both ends of the trip with minimal fuss and bother. Even the electronic reservations were working.

My only gripe is the Virgin rolling stock - rather claustrophobic, too much like an airplane fuselage and useless for luggage any bigger than a briefcase. And the fact that they have a shop instead of a buffet and trolley service. And no at-seat service for we posh-types in first class - I mean, really!

The train pulled into Stoke at about 10:30am and after a short wait, I took the Crewe train to Longport station, just five minutes along the line. From here it's then a good 20-odd minute walk into Burslem - just enough to build up a thirst.

Since the Bulls Head would not be open until 11:30am, I decided to try one of the other pubs first.

(left) The Leopard - no swearing and no hats indoors please!

It was going to be the Post Office Vaults but it had a big sign saying "Home Fans Only". I probably would have been OK for a drink there since it was just after 11am and I wasn't wearing anything Darlescent.

However I decided to wander a bit further back along the street and try the Leopard instead.

This a very pleasant Enterpise Inns pub - a listed building no less - with an excellent choice of beers on tap: Tom Woods Shropshire Lass, Northern Valiant Knight, Coach House Toffee Bitter, Wincle Undertaker,
Wentworth Stout and Lymestone Foundation Stone.

That's a pretty fine list and of those that I tried - the Shropshire Lass and the Valiant Knight - both were in excellent condition.

Despite the Titanic website saying the Bulls Head opened at noon, it tends to open 11:30am on matchdays and today was no exception. They even had a barbecue on for us. How darn friendly is that?

I got myself a pint of Anchor and went to find the landlord, Bob Crumpton, to let him know that the Bulls Head was the winner of the DAFTS Pub of the Year award for last season. Thankfully he didn't go all Gwenneth Paltrow on me and we arranged to present it when a few more DAFTS had turned up.

(right) Landlord Bob accepts award from Colin - Jim and Steve look on

Colin and Lance were next to arrive - followed shortly by Steve and Fred Iceton. The pub started to get a bit busier so we got the presentation over with - Colin doing the honours as he was the only one in a Darlo shirt.

The Bulls Head had been up against some stiff opposition for the award but apart from the superb range of beers on offer - in addition to the Titanic range they carry several guest beers from various independents such as Bollington Vale - Bob is very proactive in attracting away fans to the pub, often advertising in opposition fans pubs in the lead-up to games - we could do with more landlords like Bob.

We were joined by those other good pub hunters - John and Richie - as well as Loidlanders Chris (comeondarlo) and Simon (bolshy) who'd wisely followed their Uncle Ted's advice on finding a pub.

(left) Blue Bros - John, Richie and Fred

Colin was in full nerd-mode today - not only did his bag contain the GBG 2009, he'd brought along the Definitive Darlington and a copy of a Farewell to Feethams. Lance then told us that he'd been to our first ever Division 4 game in 1958 when we drew 0-0.

Colin checked Frank Tweddle's tome which suggested our first Division 4 game was two years earlier in 1956.

Not one to have his little grey cells maligned, Lance pointed out that there were no southern teams in the fixture list until 1958. Looks like Frank got this one wrong.

We bumped into Andy McCormack, editor of the local fanzine, Derek I'm Gutted, who was selling the latest issue in the pub. It's always good to see a traditional hold-in-the-hand fanzine still being produced and as ever they're a labour of love. It's a good read too.

It's an oft-muttered maxim that in the life of DAFTS, a great lunchtime session is followed by a crap match - and today was a real example of that.

We never looked to be in this game at all - new signing Porritt was a huge disappointment whereas poor old Windass looked like a pensioner out there ,playing too deep to be useful and too slow to be up front. But they were not alone - there were few acceptable performances out there.

We rarely put any pressure on the Vale defence and we were probably lucky to be only a goal down. What made it worse was that Vale were clearly a poor team and any sort of cohesive display from us would have put them on the back foot.

And then we're offered a chance of salvation as Dowson was caught in the box. Deja penalty!

Unlike many others sat near me, I did think it was a penalty. It was clear from the replay on Saturday night that the defender's leg had caught Dowson - not deliberate but still clumsy - and that's good enough for a penalty.

What was not good enough was Gary Smith's spot kick attempt which was more akin to launching Sputnik into orbit - very reminiscent of Big Bad Baldie Bazza Conlon's effort against Peterborough several seasons ago where his effort ended up in the South Park. Quite spookily Bazza scored a two-yard tap in (what else?) for Grimsby today to leave us stranded at the bottom of the division.

Thankfully the new found timeliness meant Virgin got us back to Euston for 7:30pm. I was met by Brian Elsey who preferred the Ashes Test to a visit to the Potteries. We had a few pints in the Head of Steam (Landlord and Pale Rider) and then home for the lowlights...

Time To Draw A Vale

Probably the one redeeming feature of a train journey from Euston is it allows me to sample the delights of the Double Six where I can have a great breakfast and listen to the cabbies yakking like only cabbies can. I know it's stereotypical but it is true - they do talk bollocks.

I was worried that I might get caught up in the frantic hordes heading to Manchester for the early kick-off - some team in red versus some other team in red - but I found that I was on a slow train to Crewe and it was quite a relaxing journey, especially being in first class (it was cheap).

Arriving at Stoke I bumped into various other DAFTS - including Howard and Martin who had set off after me but had overtaken my train at some point. Martin had left the rail tickets for their trip at home - not the first time he's done that this season unfortunately - and as he didn't have time to go back, he had to buy new ones to get them both to Stoke. At almost £100 he was not a happy chappy.

From Stoke we took the short trip by train to Longport and then had a mini-route march to the Bulls Head pub in Burslem. Along the way we lost Tony, Ray and Lance - or rather they lost us as we sprinted to the pub, arriving just a few minutes after opening.

However we'd been beaten to the pub by Paul and Mary - a couple of Leicester City fans who also follow Darlo - and who Steve and I had last met down in Exeter.

The Bulls Head is the brewery tap for the Titanic Brewery and as the sign outside says, it welcomes away fans. I've been a fan of their beers for several years as they rarely disappoint - and so we took full advantage of the wide range on offer - Steerage, Anchor, Iceberg and New World plus some more of the McConnell Stout from Thornbridge that we sampled in Number Twenty-2 last weekend.

Interestingly they have their own stout on keg - it would have been nice to have the cask version again as it's an addictive pint - but apparently if they have it on keg it means that they don't need to stock Guinness - and who can blame them? At least they'll be spared the St Paddy's day tat that they hand out in a few days time.

Once again we were taxing pints at £1 a pint and most people were more than willing to contribute - predictably the conversation was mainly centred around the club's chances of survival and the recent decline in form. No wonder we're driven to drink.

From the Bull's Head, we walked passed a shop called What Women Want. Neil couldn't resist the photo opportunity.

It's just a short walk to Vale Park - a new ground for me this season - and on arrival I bumped into Geoff, one of the leading lights of the Darlo Tykes, who proceeded to take £20 off me for some raffle tickets. Not everyone would get away with this but Geoff and I grew up together and we started going to see Darlo with each other in the 70s.

On the pitch, the early signs looked good as Darlo played the ball around well. And after about half an hour it looked like our luck had changed as Danny Carlton put us in front. However just before the break, the defence dithered and allowed Vale to equalise with a bit of a jammy deflected shot.

In the second half Vale came more into the game and took the lead - I thought Oakes might have done better but that may be unkind. I missed their third goal as I'd gone to the loo in the hope I might miss us scoring - well, it worked against Macclesfield last week. There was a goal but it was simply the final nail in our coffin for this particular game.

We got a taxi back to Stoke railway station and after some pleading with the train conductor, I was allowed to catch an earlier train and travel back with Martin, Howard and Chris. A pleasant journey too - the Manure fans on board were suitably subdued- and with only one stop we were back in Euston by 7:30pm.

Still time for a couple of beers at the Doric Arch to mull over the day's events - then after Howard and Martin left I got talking to some well-oiled Wolves fans before being rescued by the London Millers who had just returned from their victory at Rochdale. They were extolling the virtues of the Baum, a pub I aim to visit when we play there next month.