Down Amongst The Dead Men

Despite the weather forecast it was turning into a really nice day as we left Da Vincis and caught the usual 8:30am train north.

But it didn't take long for the day to take a nasty turn - we lingered at the platform in Peterborough for about ten minutes and were told there were signal problems ahead between Grantham and Newark.  Then came the news that our train was cancelled!

Martin hadn't even noticed as he was too engrossed working out his bets for the day but we dutifully de-trained and waited for more news.  I feared the worse, worried my drinking would be severely curtailed, and was looking to give it up as a bad job and head back to London.

I called Liz - at home today - and asked her to check online - buses were being sent to take us north so we walked over towards the main entrance. As we did so, the tannoy announced the 9am departure from KX on platform 3 would take us onwards.  We were just above it so were in a great position to get on before everyone else and bagged a couple of seats.

We eventually left 45 minutes behind schedule but the journey from then on was peaceful - save for a noisy baby in front of us - and it was noon as we arrived.  A brief visit to the covered market - family sized quiche and fruit pie for the journey back today - and then into the Quaker.

A veritable feast of DAFTS (and partners) today on duty today - Trev, Brian, John & Bev, Steve & Cath - but my chair had been kept free - thanks guys. Later Sandy (Mrs Trev) and then Lesley joined us.

Pickford collects

Steve Wilkinson, another exile from Darlo, had also made the journey but since he is now safely retired, he'd come up the night before and missed all the fun this morning.

A fairly disappointing choice of beers were on offer with nothing that stood out.  Steve - who'd come up with Cath the night before - told me that there was Taylor's Ram Tam up in Number Twenty-2.  That was enough for me and I moved on.

Unfortunately the Ram Tam had gone by the time I got there but they had Titanic Iceberg, Titanic 1912 (underwhelming),  Brakspears Bitter & Kelham Island Bete Noir Stout.

The massed ranks of DAFTS all took taxis to the ground but we were a bit late getting there and hadn't time to get my 50/50 tickets.  At press reception I bumped into my uncle Ray from Catterick who is still helping his mate Eric.

Down on the pitch, injuries had forced a bit of a reshuffle after Kris Taylor injured himself in training - something behind his knee went pop according to his tweet - and I feared that would leave us up against it today, even against the worst team in the division.

However we didn't start too badly and started to pass the ball around and even exerted some pressure on their defence.  John McReady slipped through the central defenders to give himself a great chance but the keeper got a foot to his shot.

Bath had some decent possession of their own but failed to force Pickford into any major exertion other than to collect the odd high ball.

And then Haydn Hollis bolstered lingering hopes when he put Darlington ahead on 34 minutes.

The centre-back found himself in the penalty area after going forward for an Aaron Brown free-kick. It was not cleared, Adam Rundle played the ball back into the penalty area where Hollis, on loan from Notts County, took a touch before turning and shooting past Glyn Garner.

That was one of the few notable moments during a moderate first half lacking in any real incident.

Haydn Hollis shoots and scores

That there was so little quality on show was no surprise given that the game was between the teams positioned 22nd and 24th in the Conference.

But Darlington had clearly been the better side, improving as the half wore on against the part-time opposition.

The second half was similar, though neither keeper seriously tested for lengthy spells, but what appeared to be a match-clinching second goal came on 81 minutes.

It was a smart strike too, Adam Rundle volleying home from inside the penalty area after meeting a cross by teenage winger Danny Lambert.

Lambert had just come on as substitute, replacing Neil Wainwright who was carrying a calf strain as was Paul Arnison who returned to the side at right-back.

The two-goal cushion meant victory looked assured and, with relegation rivals Newport and AFC Telford unable to win, the fight against the drop looked likely to continue.

But within two minutes of Rundle’s goal, Bath pulled one back through Alex Russell.

The ball fell kindly to him outside the penalty area and he connected well with a lob that drifted over Jordan Pickford’s head.

The goal rocked Darlington and invigorated Bath who sensed blood and they got it in the dying minutes.

Murray dribbled towards the back-peddling defence, cut inside from the left and delivered a low strike beyond Pickford to salvage a draw and sink Darlington.

That Murray celebrated the goal by running across with the width of the pitch to goad some home supporters appeared wholly unnecessary, and hardly the conduct expected of an experienced player.

Adam Rundle celebrates
Darlo's second goal

But his reaction was not among Darlington’s major concerns on a very sad day for the football club as they dropped into the Conference North for the first time in our history.

 

As is often the case with such results, everyone felt like we'd been beaten as we trooped along Newsham Road.

 

It was all a bit subdued on the way home and we just got stuck into our pastries and pondered the future games next season (including the lack of southern games).

 

We were back at King's Cross for a respectable time and we found the place was full of Liverpool fans celebrating their semi-final win over Everton. Thankfully there were none to be send around the Euston Tap when I got there.

I settled in for the rest of the night with some excellent beers - De Molen Vur &Vlam, Bristol dry-hopped Independence and,Californian, Summer Wine Teleporter and finally a collaboration from Steel City and Arbor Ales called DCLXVI which came in at 6.66%. 

Also enjoying a few beers was the Masterchef 2011 winner - Tim - who used to work at the Tap.  A little worse for wear on this occasion.  He and the staff were enjoying grass-based liqueur cocktails with a half-piny lager chaser - very odd.

As I left I handed the remnants of our pies to the staff who were feeling a bit peckish.  I headed off and caught one of the last tubes homeward. Unfortunately I slept beyond my stop and woke up at Barking with no further tubes running. Thankfully there was a bus outside to take me not far from my doorstep. Phew!

Bank Holiday Massacre

Finally it seems as if I'm free of engineering work on the tube - certainly for the rest of the season and hopefully until the Olympics and beyond.

Martin met me at Da Vincis - thankfully open on a bank holiday - and for once made the day of the female waitress by ordering a breakfast rather than his usual "just tea".

A peaceful trip north though on the way we got a text from Liz confirming that Rotherham had - as rumoured earlier in the week - taken on Steve Evans as manager.  That will be popular.

Ultimate embarrassment  as Louis scores

We had to remember to get off at Newark, rather than head for Darlo, where we had a short wait for the connecting train for the 30-min journey to Lincoln.

We had time for a quick peruse around Waterstones before hiking up to the other end of the High Street where the Golden Eagle had opened at the very reasonable time of 11am.

This pub was the original DAFTS Pub of the Season quite a few years ago and it hasn't changed much in the intervening years.  It is still part of the Castle Rock chain and this is reflected in the beers at the bar: Castle Rock Harvest Pale, Sparrow and Hebridean plus a couple fo Batemans - XB and Eggs-B, plus RSX from Red Squrrel.

Maybe I wasn't in the mood but the beers didn't seem brilliant - the normally reliable Harvest Pale wasn't as crisp and refreshing as it should be - in fact it tasted a little malty - and the others didn't appeal much more.

Still there was a big pot of chilli at the bar which Pete Stockill tucked into.  We were joined by Brian as well but that was the extent of the DAFTSness today.

Martin wandered off to the bookies and then Pete and I headed off early-ish to the ground - the weather wasn't brilliant but wasn't as wet as forecast. Fingers crossed it wouldn't get worse.

In the ground I met up with the Lincoln photographers - Graham and Andrew - a real nice pair who always look after you and it was good to catch up with them again.  We discussed our respective clubs and like us Lincoln are not in a happy place - crowds are down and the football is poor with no sign of improvement or investment.

Red card for Paul Johnson

Both clubs today needed a win to stand any chance of avoiding relegation, although Lincoln were in a much healthier position whereas Darlo were doomed unless there was a miracle of biblical proportions.

It seemed that the Lincoln players were more aware of this than the Quakers and other than for a short spell at the start of the game, Darlo were on the back foot throughout.

Lincoln had a couple of chances but only wayward finishing and a good tackle from Johnson kept the scores level.

McReady was working hard in midfield whilst Bowman and Broughton beavered away but got very little out of the Lincoln defence.  The referee seemed to think it was Christmas and not Easter judging by the number of free kicks he gave to their central defenders, with Gowling falling to the ground repeatedly.

Lincoln's early pressure paid off when Pickford parried a well-hit free kick only for Lincoln MOTM Lloyd to tap the ball home.

It wasn't long before the home team doubled their lead after a cross came in and the Darlo defence were beaten to the ball by Taylor who headed in.

And then from a similar move, former Darlo player and journeyman superior, Jefferson Louis, headed the ball past Pickford to make it three-nil. If only he'd shown this much gumption when he'd been with us.

Wainy - what am I doing here?

Neil Wainwright - playing at right-back but never looking comfortable - failed to cut out a ball which allowed Lloyd to break free and shoot - it took a deflection off Johnson and gave Pickford no chance. Four-nil!

And then to top off the first half, Johnson was adjudged to have fouled Louis on the edge of the box and the ref continued his Santa act and duly produced the red card. As if Lincoln needed any further advantage!

Wainwright failed to come out for the second half as Paul Arnison came on and Kris Taylor moved back to replace Johnson.  The balance was better and Darlington started to keep possession and move forward with purpose but the home keeper was rarely threatened.

Lincoln continued to make chances and Pickford made a couple of excellent saves and it seemed we might keep it scoreless for the second half.  And then that man Louis hit the post with a shot before scoring his second with a simple header form close range.

There was a late shout for a Darlo penalty when it seemed Rundle's shot was blocked but there was to be nothing for us today.  Poor old Lidds was pulling out what little hair he had left and you had to feel for him.

The referee blew for time and thankfully that was it so that the Darlo fans - just over 170 hardy souls - were spared further pain.  They had been supportive throughout with plenty of gallows humour and they clapped the players off, seemingly to their embarrassment.

It seemed the other results were such that it looked as if relegation would be confirmed but it transpired that the west of England had a lot more rain than us - the Telford -v- Tamworth game had been abandoned and so our fate was on hold for another week.

Although we were booked to leave Lincoln after 6pm, I persuaded Martin to leave on an earlier train to Newark Castle station.   As we alighted there, the heavens opened but thankfully it was short-lived.

We wandered through the town and headed for Northgate station. As we did I made sure we went a certain way so that we could call into the DAFTS-renowned Appleton Gate Fish Bar.  Haddock and chips was the order of the day.

We tucked into it in one of the waiting rooms - envious (or maybe nasty) glances from fellow passengers - it was only when we left we saw the sign saying "Hot Food Not To Be Eaten In Here". Oops!

Our train was on time though not surprisingly it was standing room only unless you had a reservation. After a nice cuppa and a little snooze, it wasn't long before we were back at Kings Cross.

It would have been nice to drown our sorrows with a few beers at the Euston Tap but with it being back to work the next day, we just headed off home.

Craig Liddle doing never gives up

Hope Begins To Ebb Away

At this time of year I usually head home for a long weekend – it is my Mum’s birthday and there is usually the Spring Thing beer festival.  This year my visit coincided with the Darlo Tykes race night which was raising funds to buy shares in Darlo 1883. 

As I arrived at the Working Men’s club, there was already a healthy crowd raring to go, including some good folk who’d travelled from Darlo, including Rich and Andy.  Rich, like me, was a bit non-plussed by the beer on offer – smooth flow or Newcastle Brown.

Once the racing started I was a winner on the first race and then it all went downhill.  My chum Richard joined us and he proceeded to win his first three races before retiring unbeaten with a smug expression on his face.

Paul Johnson on-loan from Pools

We left before the end and headed to the nearby Tithe Bar as we were desperate for some good beer but it was great to hear that over £1400 was raised – well done to Geoff, Steve, Rich and all the others who made this a very enjoyable and profitable evening.

Next day there was the faintest semblance of a Newcastle Brown fuzzy headiness – all those nasty chemicals no doubt - but by the time I’d walked to the station my head was almost clear.  There were a few train spotter-types around and I soon saw why when I noticed a plume of smoke south of the station.  A minute later the City Of Truro thundered through on its way north. A nice start to the day.

Once in Darlington, first stop was Alfie’s for breakfast in the covered market – excellent as always and with a great vantage point from which to watch everyone going about their business.  After that I had a wander round the shops, popped into Taylors for pies and then arrived at the Quaker dead on opening time – first one in!

And on the bar we had: High House Farm Auld Hemp and 5th Anniversary, Storr Peerless (lager), Naylors Aire Valley Bitter, Hadrian & Border Ouseburn Porter, Jarrow Red Ellen, York Terrier, Wensleydale German (lager) plus a rugby beer, Belhaven Grand Slam, which I ignored out of principle.

The two lagers were not too bad at all and so I stuck to them once I'd done the rounds of the other new beers.

And then up at Number Twenty-2 we had another great range - Hexhamshire Whapweasel, Scottish Borders Dark Horse, Little Valley Pontius Hebdenus, Marston English Pale Ale, Hill House Farm Nel's Best, Hambleton Bitter and the usual house beers.  I couldn't get through most of these but the Whapweasel and Pontius Hebdenus stood out for me.

And then to the main business of the day - our match against Ebbsfleet who'd we played off the park just a few weeks ago with what we had hoped was a revivial of our fortunes. Instead we have a pale imitation of the side that won three pints that day. 

Pickford collects

As ever we're almost down to bare bones and we've had to bring in a young lad – Paul Johnson - on loan from Hartlepool who will partner Kris Taylor in the centre of the defence.

The new pairing were quite busy in the first half but seemed to be holding up well but at the other end Darlington had little to offer with Ryan Bowman not really making keeper Cronin work too hard.

The first half was far from memorable apart from when a woeful shot - or backpass - came straight at yours truly but  I'm pleased to report that I was able to calmly head it away. One of the few things to get a cheer at that point in the game.  I'm wasted on my stool, you know. 

Darlington came out for the second half as if they'd had a rollocking but any positive movement was cancelled out within minutes as the new central pairing failed to pick up Enver-Marum who hit home from close range.

And two minutes later the Kentish men had doubled their lead after more lax defending allowed Ughu to slot home from just inside the box. 

Darlington rallied a little but it was powder-puff stuff and other than Bowman hitting the woodwork, we never looked like pulling a goal back.  Too many players seemed out of sorts and the end of the game couldn't come quick enough for the fans.

After such a performance I was glad I only had the ten minute trip back to Northallerton.  I met Martin at the station and then we were joined again by Drewe Broughton who was once again on the train back south.

Drewe made no attempt to hide his frustration at the result and was at a loss for the apparent communal off-day.   

During my brief stint on the train we chatted about his fitness business -- used by many lower division pros when they're getting fitness back after injuries.   You can see that it is something he really enjoys which is probably just as well as his time with us must be very frustrating. It is certainly is for us...

You Can Lead A Cat To Water...

We should be on our way to Newport but they're still involved in the FA Trophy - was it only a year ago we were playing Gateshead in the semis? - and our game in south Wales has now been rescheduled to a Tuesday night in April.

Obviously this leaves a few of us with time to fill and as we all know, nature abhors a Saturday without a lunchtime session so for me I head into town and the Euston Tap for noon opening - no prizes for originality there.

Let's face it, no one needs photos of me having a drink in a pub so in an effort to plug the entertainment gap here is a clip of Devin, our male Abbysinian, having a paddle.

We're told cats hate water but if we don't get into a drawn bath pretty toute suite then we'll find him getting in and wandering round.

All very amusing until he decides he has had enough, jumps out and pads his wet feet all around the house.

We're now on the hunt for a few aquatic toys (e.g. rubber duck) that might encourage him to be more active so who knows where this all might end? Water polo for cats?

Don't worry, dear reader, you'll be the first to know of any new development..

Hatters Leave Quakers Pointless

A relaxing journey north with little of excitement until we pulled into York where there were masses of train enthusiasts - all here to see the magnificent 70000 Brittania which was under steam and on it's way to Carlisle via Settle.

After explaining to Martin for the umpteenth time that I wouldn't be calling into Taylors for pies - the long queues eat into the lunchtime session - I tried out a different butcher in the covered market today in order to find something more interesting for him.  Talk about high maintenance!

Trev was tucking into his first pint as I arrived at the Quaker.  A very interesting range at the bar: Salopian Lemon Dream, Jarrow McConnells Stout, Hadrian and Border Ouseburn Porter, Houston Gemini and Tartan Terror, Bristol Virtue, Black Hole Asteroid, Wylam Shot Pit and Consiton Thurstein Pilsener.

I managed to try most of them and unsually for me I decided to concentrate on the more maltier beers from Scottish brewer, Houston - the Tartan Terror especially, a dark ale but well balanced so that it was very easy drinking.

As the session went on we were joined by John B, John & Bev and then Brian.  No Tony today as he was busy down at the Arena.

There was also a rare sighting of Darlo exile, Steve Wilkinson, who I'd not seen since the youth cup tie against Arsenal at Underhill last season.

Although he'd gone against his normal Eeyore-ish nature and bought himself a season ticket, this was actually his first home game of the season. Still it was good to see him and to see that he is back on the ale trail with his mate Paul, I hope we see more of him.  We need his enthusiasm and sunny disposition!


Wainy back in a Darlo shirt

There was also another rare sighting - Brummy Tony was in town for his first home game of the season too and was bragging about his record.

As I got chatting to Steve, a collective decision was made to stay in the Quaker and not venture up to Number Twenty-2.  Suited me, I was happy to stay and drink more of the Tartan Terror.

We picked up a cab from the rank by the covered market - I almost ruined things by leaving my bag of pies in the boot but the driver was quick to spot them.  Worth his £1 tip!

Predictably we were back to the usual sort of crowds before the recent dramatic events raised our profile and my crowd prediction was 2,500.  Slightly optimistic as it turns out - the crowd was about 2,200 - but I don't think it was a great surprise to most of us.

One new face in the squad as we become the 22nd club for veteran striker, Drewe Broughton. He was very popular with Rotherham fans and Liz has often said he'd come to us and sure enough here he is.

We also have a not-so-new face as Neil Wainwright has come back to help out - if he's as prolific on the pitch as he is on Twitter then we should be in for a treat.

Stockport are down the bottom of the diviosn but have been on quite a (relatively) decent run of late and they certainly look the more likely candidates as the game settled down.

They made the home defence work hard with Broughton spending as much time amongst the back four as he did leading the line.

Stockport made a few opportunities for themselves, especially the tall Tom Elliot who was profligate throughout, and Jordan Pickford was beaten only for the ball to bounce back to safety off the bar. 

Wainwright was working hard but finding it difficult to get into the game - Broughton was working their defence but was often outnumbered whilst youngsters McReady and Bowman showed some good touches but with no end product.  Very frustrating.


Ryan Bowman racing down the wing



Going in at half-time with the score at nil-nil was the best we could have expected from the first-half performance and I'm sure we were hoping Lidds would sort things out at half-time.



But there was little change in the way there was going and Stockport continued to press and were rewarded when the referee awarded a penalty as he adjudged Rob Ramshaw of tripping a Stockport player as a melee of players tried to control the ball in the box.

It looked harsh from my position - dead in line but at the other end of the pitch - but it was no surprise as we'd had nothing out of the ref so far.

The ref booked Ramshaw - his second yellow and so he was off - it looked harsh as at worst it seemed to be a mis-timed tackle and not something deserving of a booking.

From then on, Darlington never looked like getting back on equal terms - especially when Wainwright was replaced by Keltie who was booked for a poor challenge just seconds after entering the pitch.  Broughton missed a decent half-chance from a Brown corner but that was about it. Another defeat.

A very disappointing result, especially the manner of the performance - the new faces were far from match sharp and should improve but we will start to run out of games soon.

Martin had beaten me back to Bank Top station - no doubt he had a lift from Claude - and he and Trev were deep into post-mortem about the game.

Drewe Broughton jumps for joy
after joining Darlo

Drewe Broughton then turned up in his new DFC tracksuit so we had a natter with him.  A real friendly bloke, he told us Lidds had been in touch to see if he'd be interested in joining us. 

Drewe had stopped playing as he now coaches some of the youth teams at Luton but having read about our situation he decided to come up and try to help out.

As our train came in, we went to our designated seats but found they'd been double booked.  The train was fairly empty so we found seats in anothe carriage and it was only then I'd noticed we'd got the wrong train - we were on the 17:59, we were booked on the 18:59!

Having been advised to always speak to the conductor if we had an issue, I went to find him and he was happy to let us travel.  Phew!

After pulling into King's Cross, we popped along to the Euston Tap where the staff were urging me to try the Magic Rock Dark Arts.  I did.  Very nice too.

Other beers worthy of note was the Red Willow Fruitless - a superb beer - and the De Molen Vuur and Vlam IPA.  Martin had a pint of the Marble Manchester Best and a Timmermans Peach Lambic.

Tke London Millers were just over the way in the Doric Arch as it was their annual raffle draw.  I was going to join them but the beer choice there is Fullers only so they came to me. Despite buying a few books of tickets on behalf of DAFTS we'd not won a thing.  Just not our day, I suppose...

Steel City Weekend

The away fixture at Alfreton proved to be a great excuse for the first DAFTS weekender of the season after a few of us decided to spend a couple of days in Sheffield, currently the top place in the country for pubs with top quality cask ale. 

On Friday afternoon we all made our way to the Steel City and gathered at the Hillsborough Hotel - Tony and Ray had arrived early - even finding time for a lunchtime beer with DAFTS local boy Brian in his lunch hour - and they were on their way to the nearby New Barrack Tavern as Steve and I arrived.

After checking in and dropping off our stuff into our rooms, we popped into the bar and started on the beers. One of the key features of the Hillsborough Hotel is that it has it's own brewery - Crown Brewery - and they had several of their beers on when we arrived - their regular session ale HPA as well as stronger brews, Brooklyn Heights and January Sail.


Steve, Ray and Tony on the tram

 Eventually Tony and Ray returned before Brian joined us after he'd finished work - we had a few more before heading off on the tram down to Shalesmoor. 

Our destination was the Bottom Wellie - formerly Cask & Cutler, but now called the Wellington and known locally as the Bottom Wellie (the Hillsborough Hotel was formerly called the Wellington and is the Upper Wellie - though nobody calls it that - confused?).

More good beers here - predominantly from Little Ale Cart, a small brewery in the back of the pub, which are always seem to be to my taste.  We had a few pints before hunger pangs got the better of us and, leaving Brian to go home for some beauty sleep, we take the tram back to Hillsborough for a cracking curry at the Bangla Cottage. We make it back to hotel at midnight and caught last orders for a final pint.

A relaxed start to the matchday - a full english breakast in the bar with Ray complaining he was suffering from the curry - far too much detail fella - and then the tram down to the station.  Ray, Steve and I headed off to Alfreton leaving Tony to wait for Brian and John B.

The weather was not good - steady rain and high winds - and it didn't make the slow climb to the centre of Alfreton any more pleasant but eventually we arrived at the Lord Alfred where Trev was waiting to buy us a beer.

The pub is very Wetherspoons-like - a lot of people eating food and having tea/coffee - but it didn't have that depressing JDW vibe.  The first pint - Blue Monkey's 99 Red Baboons - was on the turn, Steve changed his but I was partway through and had almost got a taste for it so struggled on.

The other beers were in finer fettle - obvious choices such as Doom Bar and Fullers London Pride were ignored in favour of brews from micros such as Blue Monkey (BG Sips) and Abbeydale.

Tony and John B, then Brian and finally Colin turned up.  Colin was accompanied by another local, Chris Freer, who is really a Forest fan but spent several seasons following us and now spends his time in the non-league - see his excellent blog here.

By now the weather had brightened up and I wandered off early down to the ground and got myself some excellent chips and gravy.  The rest of the menu looked well tasty too.

There was a fairly decent turn-out of Darlo fans, most stood on one half of the open terrace whilst Martin, Chris, Pete and a few others were seated in a small section of a stand. 

Ryan Bowman puts Darlo in the lead


The Quakers started the game quite brightly, passing the wall around well, but Paul Arnison and Kris Taylor were nonetheless quite busy in defence - even John McReady was spending more time in his own half helping out that we'd have liked.

But it was Alfreton who went closest after Jordna Pickford did well to save when an Alfreton player was put through on goal.

The home keeper also had to be busy, making some crucial interventions, saving a good effort from MB-W and then tipping over an excellent shot from Taylor.

Darlington were reduced to shooting as the home side had a central defence of giants and any ball that was hoisted up to Ryan Bowman was headed back with interest.  Too much to expect of him on his own.

But it was Bowman who managed to put Darlo after about half an hour when the Alfreton keeper parried a Rundle shot into his path, leaving him the easy task of tapping the ball into the back of the net.

Any hopes that this would be the catalyst to the Quakers exerting more control over the game were soon dashed as Pickford was faced with another one-on-one but this time he was beaten and it was all level.
Alfreton then looked as if they would go into the lead but Darlo held out until the half-time whistle.

Today's ref was the piggy-faced Richard Clark although I shouldn't be so cruel as after taking charge of our recent home game with Fleetwood, he donated his match-fee on the cause.  Well done, Sir!

It seemed as if he was still looking kindly on us when he sent off home player Alfreton’s Anton Brown. He had already been booked for one trip and was duly off for an early bath when he did much the same to McReady.


Pickford saves

The heavens started to darken and so we were in the midst of a hail storm, eventually becoming wetter, and most of the away fans tried to find cover in the small away section of the stand.  Eventually a covered portion of the open end was opened for the Darlo fans.  I, of course, had no such luxury!

The conditions soon passed, but not before Bridge-Wilkinson tested Lowson with a dipping and swerving effort and at the other end Pickford almost caught out by Arnold at a free-kick, but he pushed the ball over.

And then just before the hour Alfreton took the lead for the first time in the game, and it came after a poor Pickford kick.

Alfreton swiftly attacked and Jarman fired in a shot from the corner of the penalty area and Clayton was on hand to tap home to make it 2-1.

But within 60 seconds Quakers were handed a boost when Alfreton had a man sent off. Brown finally saw red, long after he should have done, and again it was for a trip on Ramshaw.

But ten minutes later, despite the numerical advantage, the game was as good as over for Darlington when Arnold added a second to make it 3-1.

From then on it was mainly a matter of damage limitation as we continued to get very little joy upfront - as the game wore on the football got worse for us.  I was never a fan but I had hoped that Clark Keltie might offer some support at this level but he looked woeful though no doubt he is lacking in match practice.

Despite the performance the Darlo fans warmly applauded the players who looked quite sheepish as they in turn applauded the fans. No doubt they would get a slightly frostier time from Lidds once they were back in the dressing room.

We made our way from the ground to the station but had to wait about half an hour for our connection back to Sheffield.  Time for more inquests among the Darlo fans waiting for trains but I did my best to abstain.

On arriving back in Sheffield we decided against wandering round the pubs in the city centre and simply decided to return to Shalesmoor.

First stop was the Kelham Island Tavern - twice winner of CAMRA PotY - a good range of beer but I can't say I'm keen on the place personally.  We have just one pint and move onto the nearby Fat Cat - matchday residence for the London Millers, if only for the rest of this season.

We found places to sit in the former smoking room and the conversation revolves around all sorts, including my OCD approach to hanging out washing.  You had to be there I suppose.

After leaving the Fat Cat, we headed off for food - we walked past the recently re-opened Shakespeare on Gibraltar Street and to the 7 Spices Balti. Quite a cavernous place and not too busy - the food was very good and the service quite prompt - a good way to finish off the weekend.


DAFTS HQ for the weekend

Field Mill or Amsterdam? No contest...

Although Mansfield isn't the most glamorous place to visit, it was always a great excuse to pop into the VAT and Fiddle near Nottingham station.

But not this season as Liz and I decided to miss our respective games and make a long weekend of it in Amsterdam.  Well, actually I did as I wanted to see one of the bands I like, A Pale Horse Named Death -  You've probably seen the t-shirts - but Liz was more than happy with the idea.

View from the apartment

We'd got in touch with our chums Ken and Vlad and rented one of their apartments on the edge of the Joordaan district.

The place came with all mod cons and a lovely view over the back gardens.  Plenty of birdwatching potential here too - jays, parakeets and woodpeckers in addition to the normal garden bird life.

The weather though was rather on the chilly side and within a few hours it had started to snow heavily - as predicted by hysterical newsreaders back home. No such fuss here thankfully.

We've not seen full-blown snow there before but it really made the place look good.  It had obviously been cold for a while as the canals were frozen hard and the canal boats sounded like ice-breakers as they made their first trips of the day.

Before going to the gig we called in at De Zotte - one of our regular haunts though not for the beer (although they sport a large selection of Belgian beers) but the food - I love their Belgian blue-steak whereas Liz can't get enough of their Belgian Trappist savoury cheesecake.

APHND were playing at the nearby Melgweg - Milky Way - a long established cultural venue where we'd seen a few gigs.  I'd arranged to meet Big John Duncan, former guitarist in the Blood Uncles and Goodbye Mr Mackenzie (and once a guitar tech for Nirvana) in the restaurant there. 

BJD works at the Melkweg these days but unfortunately he'd pulled something in his back and he'd called ahead with his apologies. I think Liz was secretly pleased as she knew we'd just end up talking about Be Bop Deluxe. Still the restaurant was very pleasant and sociable and they had Ij Natte in bottles too.

The gig itself was excellent - a decent crowd of just over 200 - not bad for what is a new band albeit one with strong ties to Type O Negative.  I'd seen them the previous week in London but the sound here was much better.

Frozen canals

Given the cold weather we restricted our leisure activities to the odd wander round the shops until it was time to visit the bars.

This mainly meant the Arendnests as it is our favourite - and is why our apartment was round the corner - but we also found time to visit their sister bar, the Beer Temple.

Food wise we were also spoilt for choice - we were on the Herenstraat with a host of great restaurants that we'd tried in the past. 

This time we went to Seasons where we love their Dutch pea soup and as for the fillet steak with a rosti cooked in bacon fat - beautiful.  With three courses for €28, it is great value.

Our one extravagance was a visit to Cafe Graves - a classic restaurant in the French style we've visited before - they offer a set menu where you don't get to choose your dishes but you let them know the kind of thing you don't like and they'll then select some of their dishes for you.  It works too.

You can also go for what they call the arrangment where you can have a different wine with each course - complete a full explanation of the wine itself - something I've scoffed at in the past as it does seem a bit poncey but again it works and really enhances the experience.

With four courses and the arrangement, the cost is about €65 each - worth every euro.

As ever we had a great time even if it was just for a few days.  If you've never been to Amsterdam before then what on earth are you waiting for?

This post has not been sponsored by the Dutch Tourist Board...