Away Day - Darwen

Fan Blog – Darwen Away – FA Cup, 25-8-18

“Wem-ber-lee, Wember-leeee, we’re the famous Trafford FC and we’re going to Wemberleee….”

One step at a time so we’re going to Darwen first, on TWO buses from the Bird In’Hand in the Saturday lunchtime sunshine, so the fans who’d elected to wear shorts were thus dressed appropriately. The ones wearing thermal jeans not so. You can’t trust the British weather can you?
We headed north in convoy to just south of Blackburn’s Ewood Park district. One of our travellers noted that Lancashire is very well served by the motorway and A-road network, and it is relatively easy to get anywhere in the county…..
40 minutes later we were following our entertainments manager Cappy, who’d chosen a pub in Darwen town centre rather than near the ground because Rovers were at home. It turned out to be a masterstroke from Mr Hi-De-Hi as we set up camp in the large and recently refurbished Millstone pub, which was perfect despite the Male toilets being difficult to locate...
We needed FEMALE toilets on this trip as the ENTIRE staff of barmaids from The First Point Shawe View Arena had come along for the ride. A new song “We’ve got the best lookin’ barmaids in the league!” got an airing!
Darwen’s ground is called The Anchor Stadium. It’s on Anchor Road, near The Anchor Pub, off Anchor Grove, next door to the Anchor Motor Vehicle Garage. Guess what this part of the world is famous for producing…… yep, you guessed it….. paint.

(It’s the HQ of Crown Paints btw)

Because Darwen are NWCL it was only £5 to get in, result – enough money for one extra pint! I had a cheeseburger. No disrespect to Darwen FC and their lovely staff, but if I ever had to eat a Horse-burger, I imagine this is what it would taste like.
Lovely clubhouse though. Nice beer.
We put up our flags and gathered behind the Darwen End goal for the first half. Trafford, resplendent in yellow, were bossing it and had loads of chances but only Langy’s goal put us ahead at half time. Darwen’s keeper was in for some of the usual light-hearted banter (“He’s got banana boots….”) but some of our number felt we got a bit too harsh – he was a young kid. Asking him questions like “what did you get for your GCSE results?” and “What time are you picking up your girlfriend from nursery” were below the belt. So we shut up. To be fair to the kid, he made some excellent saves including a very brave one at Darbo’s feet. We got to talk to him and his mum after the game and we told them in no uncertain terms it was all banter, he’s a good keeper, and his mother should be very proud of him.
2nd half we moved to the other end (after the customary arguments with Mattheus about whether we go under the roof at the side or not). The game got a little nervy – Darwen equalised and the super yellows seemed to have left their mojo in the changing room, so we sent Cojo in there to get it back. Late goals from Darbo and Matty Bryan gave the score a more realistic look, and the boys ran out 4-1 winners. 

After the game, in Darwen’s lovely clubhouse, Supporters Club Secretary Muggsy presented Darius Palma with his “Player of the Day” award…… a ladybird themed water gun which had been purchased for 5 pounds in Darwen town centre earlier that day (new feature of away days, trialled last season at Goole if you remember…) Darius was clearly thrilled.
So after a few more pots of the wet stuff, it was time to head back to the Borough of Trafford. There was a slight incident involving someone’s glasses, an open window, and a member of the SC committee finding said glasses in the middle of the A666. Along with the singing, the journey home was successfully completed via the excellent system of A-roads and motorways in Lancashire, and we were all deposited safely back at The Bird to try and sober up before going home. 

Allez the next round of Le Coupe! (Harold Sakarta)