Bret and I headed up to North London early to ensure we weren't late in meeting the ticket guy. That left us with some time to burn once we got there so we took a stroll by the stadium, went into a pub for a bit and then headed back to meet up with Rick to get our tickets. He walked us down to the Arsenal Tavern just past the old ground and killed a bit more time before heading to the stadium to find our seats.Entering our section and seeing the stands packed and the pre-match atmosphere actually gave me goosebumps. Sure I was a bit disappointed that I wouldn't get to see Henry or van Persie. Also that the match wasn't quite as meaningful since the best Arsenal can do at this point is finish third which still requires a play-in matchup for the Champions League. But regardless, it was a great setting and a beautiful day to watch the lads kick it around and thrash a West Ham club who is almost certain to go down at season's end.
All I needed now was to sit back, sing along and watch the goals come. Though I was totally aware that this would be no easy victory. That Arsenal's unfortunate quest for the perfect goal every match leaves the result in doubt at all times. But surely they'd be more deliberate today facing a weakened side with a backup goalkeeper. Surely...
After watching the Gunners spend virtually the entire half in the West Ham end of the field and waste countless opportunities, disaster struck in the 45th minute when a long, hopeful ball forward caught the Arsenal defense out of position. Lehman came forward, then got caught in no-man's land and Bobby Zamora perfectly lifted the ball over his head and into the open net. AHHH!!!!
The second half was more of the same with West Ham putting 10 men behind the ball and trying to weather the storm. Their goalkeeper had an absolute blinder, parrying a few sure goals from Adebayor and co. In the end, our proximity to the away supporters turned out to be especially grating as their voices boomed with "We've only got one shot, we've only got one shot"...
It didn't hit me till I was walking away from the stadium that I just watched the first-ever loss at the new stadium. Great timing...
Luckily we were to meet up with George and his mates afterward to drink our (okay, my) sorrows away. I was pleasantly surprised to see Big Tony (a George & Dragon legend) standing next to George as I walked in to the Tavern. And my introduction to Gavin began with him coming up and grabbing me from behind and saying, "hey, you're bad luck, aren't ya?" I'm convinced that I'm not a jinx, but I deserved the ribbing.After spending a couple hours at the tavern, Tony decided to stick around and hang out with Bret and me for the rest of the night and head back to Brighton in the morning. So we headed back to our flat, changed and went to a local pub where I proceeded to get to that alarming state of drunkeness where you don't know how bad of shape you are in until you try to walk to the bathroom and it feels like you walked into a fun house with uneven floors and the walls are moving.
The next morning, Tony treated me to breakfast and since we didn't have anything on the schedule for our last day (it being Easter and all), we spent the afternoon in another pub with Tony until he left for the train.
That night it was the sad task of packing and cleaning the flat so we could head out early in the morning. We had no hiccups on the way home, just a long, long flight (or two, in my case). It was good to finally get home and get that euro detergent stank off me as well as sleep in my own bed.
All in all, we had an incredible trip...one that we're already talking about duplicating sometime in the distant future. We had luck (bret/bag making the flight in New York, United tickets coming through and saving us 200 quid, etc.) and we experienced every level of football (United/Arsenal matches, QPR match and a smaller ground, and United/Arse youth club match).
It's strange watching my club or Bret's and seeing footage of the stadium and being able to picture exactly what that looks like and what surrounds the stadium, etc. Puts everything into a greater perspective.Thanks for following along and sorry I wasn't as consistent as I'd hoped on updating this while we were in the midst of our travels.
Cheers,
Matt (and Bret)
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