Away Day - Droylsden League Cup 4.12.18

THE MONTH of Christmas kicked off with our Heroes at home (v Droylsden) followed immediately by the Supporters Club Curry Night. Squeeze into that a Man United match, add the Wilder Fury fight at 4am, and Saturday 1^st to Sunday 2^nd of December was a real test…..

So by Tuesday, with doghouses still occupied and livers still filtering the alcohol, it was proving hard to find a decent number of fit and capable Trafford Army members to make the journey to Droylsden.
There were certainly no buses heading to the East, so I climbed into a car which contained just one other person plus a load of junk for the Tip. Sniffer was that other person and he was my driver. I, like god, was his co-pilot, and off we set round the M60 Orbital in an anti-clockwise direction (wondering if we drive fast enough, would we overtake time and thus travel back in time? One for another time…...)
We decided “en route” (as they say in France) that tonight would be “dry”. One of us was driving anyway, so the other one would espouse this sacrifice and go sober too. And besides, our livers deserved it after the escapades of just 2-3 days ago.
On arrival, we paid our 8 quid. You always hand over a tenner don’t you? They always take your two quid change don’t they? You always end up with a programme you don’t read, or raffle tickets that don’t win, don’t you…..? Yes, you do.
And after parting with 20 quid between us…… Foxxy told us we were on the guest list! Someone was supposed to have informed us of this before we came in. Thanks M.B……..
The second thing we had decided “en route” (as they say in the French speaking parts of Canada) was to take up a vantage point alongside the action for this game. Get a new angle on the mighty Trafford machine. We stood by the perimeter wall just to one side of the half way line, with Foxxxxxy and Adey on one side of us, the Trafford dugout on the other, and the SC flag in front, draped over the wall.
And so to the game. We had our SEVENTH keeper of the season between the sticks – Danny Whiting from Cheadle Town. The young lad made a quality save early on to reassure everyone he was more than capable of doing the job, and upon this confidence Trafford started building a great team performance. Amongst many quality individual endeavours, Matty Bryan was incredible – pace and sharpness up and down the left flank, it was like having a left back, left midfield AND left winger all wearing No.3. His crosses were excellent and chances were being created with frightening regularity (frightening for Droylsden). The Yellow Machine should have been 2-0 up by the half hour mark. BUT as so often happens in the funny old game of football, Droylsden’s No.11 Caddick swept home a cross against the run of play to put The Bloods 1-0 at half time.
I always love half time entertainment – you know, cheerleaders, penalty shootouts, inflatable chickens, Burnsy / Langy / Jimmy smashing shots against the roof of the Pigeon End stand……
Very early in the second half, Trafford left back Matty Bryan won the ball and fed left midfielder Matty Bryan. Composed, he sent a sniper accurate ball down the flank for winger Matty Bryan, who sprinted onto it faster than Matty Bryan, then sent a cross over which flew into the back of the net for an equaliser. Well done to the Trafford striker Matty Bryan!
The Referee then started getting on our nerves, him being an “egg”. Rydings-Rydings was pushed in the back, but the man in black shellsuit (geddit?) gave nothing. Play immediately hatched into a Droylsden half chance that hit the post and the ball was laid on a plate to be slotted home to make it make it 2-1. The Liner then joined in the “let’s-annoy-Trafford” theme by flagging everything in yellow offside. GPO vans, road cones, grit bins, lemons, bananas, little chicks….. and a Matty Bryan equaliser. The boys were still creating chances and to be fair to Droy, they were very much in the game too. Burnsy had come on as a sub for Danny Wilkins, and the Skipper slid a chance into the back of the net to make it 2-2, YESSSSS!
Trafford were pressing for the winner in the final moments. The excitement was unbearable. Foxxxxxxxxxxy dropped his pen over the wall and onto the pitch. Gibbo rescued it for him though, just as it went to Penners…….
We then saw something never seen before – A Burns penalty MISS! He hit the POST! Droylsden scored their first so they were in the driving seat. Harry Winter netted for Trafford, then our Agency Keep Danny SAVED the next Droy spotshot!!! Trafford in the driving seat now, Droylsden following on….. We kept scoring…… Darius, Ben, Matty……. so did they….. We then saw something never seen before – A Langford penalty SCORED! (we hadn’t been confident, watching his half time shots!) and so it continued…… Declan, Ally Brown, Ross….. all scored….. and so did they. It was 7-7 when Droylsden’s Dylan Smith stepped up….. and Danny Whiting made his 2^nd penalty save of the night to send Trafford through to the Quarter Finals! Allez Allez Allez!
Me and Sniffer finished our cups of tea, Harry Winter shook our hands & said “thanks for coming lads” (TOP man!) and we said our farewells and headed back round the M60 in a clockwise direction, arriving home before we’d left...

(Blog by Emmett Brown)