Another Long but Hopefully Entertaining Article About my Trip to Barnsley.

My away day started at 12:30 in the afternoon. A whole hour earlier than the time I would leave for a standard 3pm kick-off at Loftus Road. Me and my mate set off for Clapham Junction where we would meet another before getting the train to Shepherds Bush and walk to the ground to catch the coach to take us up the M1.

Now this was our first away day on the coach and not preferring to be safe than sorry we left plenty of time to get ourselves to South Africa Road.

Now when you undergo a long journey especially by road you prepare yourself for the possibility of mind numbing jams on the motorway so maybe you take a book, an ipod, comfy clothes so maybe you can get some sleep and a friend who you get on well enough with that if you do manage to get some sleep you don't wake up having unwittingly used their shoulder as a pillow for the past hour and have to open with the line "er...thanks for the shoulder...buddy."

Now believe it or not the one whose had forty winks is the lucky one in this situation as the now borderline friend has been in an incredibly uncomfortable position for ages but doesn't want to move as they'd wake you up but they really don't want you to start drooling on their shoulder but if you wake them up they'll realise what they've been doing and the horrific small talk will ensue...a vicious circle.

But what you don't expect is to be standing at platform 17 and be told that a signal failure at Willesden Junction has closed the line and that the next train will be at 13:39.
Some quick maths told us that would mean we'd get to the Bush at 13:53 meaning a
mad dash to catch the two o'clock coach.

We decided our best option was the 295, an infuriating bus that I try to avoid at all times however we didn't really have a choice.

What happened next not only proved the existence of God but the fact that he's a QPR fan. As we ran out of the station we saw the 295 turning the corner about to go up the hill past us onto the stop while we're stood stranded on the other side of the road. However just as it was about to pass us the lights changed giving us a green man and the chance to jump on the bus. Judging by the regularity of the bus had we missed that it we would have almost definitely missed the coach

As it happened we actually made the coach with relative ease and the journey up was pretty smooth although we did hit traffic on a number of occasions leading to one person claiming that we’d be lucky to make kick-off. “Doesn’t matter if we’re a minute late” said the man sitting next to me. I’d hold him to that later on.

Another piece of shrewd foreshadowing was my mate posing the question. “As we’re pretty much up (touch wood) would you rather draw 5-5 coming back from 5 down or win 1-0 scoring in the first minute and not having another shot on target?”

As it happened he was spot on with the second as a highly tempered match that started off brilliantly turned into us giving a valiant if not nerve jangling win.

One thing in the match that really impressed was Matt Hill, now it wasn’t his performance as that reminded me of how poor he was for us last season but his reaction to when Taarabt took a wild kick at either air, the ball or him. Now it was quite clear that Barnsley were trying to get him sent off, winding him up at every opportunity and it was working. Had Hill squared up to Taarabt or given him a little push or something I’m of no doubt “Tarbs” would have been gone but instead Hill got a hold of him and restrained him before Derry got to the scene whilst other Barnsley players were sprinting towards the referee protesting for a red in a way Reading would have been proud of.

The rest of the match was dominated by a referee who had a terrible game. They should have had a penalty and Nathan Doyle could have had three yellows and gone but instead got zero. The match in all was never fluent and by no means a classic but a very important win nonetheless.

The journey back was smooth with the promotion season of 03/04 being played on the telly which I was enjoying thoroughly before the stranger beside me fell asleep on my shoulder.
It was uncomfortable but I let him sleep.

 

A good read, thanks
What a sickener missing the coach would've been!

 

Well, it was long ..........

 

GOOD READ my last experience on the supportors coach was having my season ticket and some changed stolen while we watch the game at old trafford...

 

Nicely crafted piece Scotland. Great read, very enjoyable. Thanks.

 

Cheers guys. 100 that sounds like a nightmare. The journey back must have been terrible considering it was most likely someone on the coach who nicked it.