Away Day - Leek Town 02.03.19

Trafford were coming off three consecutive home losses without having scored a goal. Our opponents were Leek Town, who had drawn twice and won three (including a 3-0 away win over Trafford), in their last five games. The odds were looking very unlikely but some of us still travelled down on the club coach in force hoping for another Trafford miracle. The new ‘no drinking on the coach on the way there’ rule, which is probably the most sensible thing to do, was still very unpopular amongst us youngens, meaning that we had to find somewhere to drink before the game in the middle of Leek. This meant we were standing around in the decently cold weather for quite a while which caused Josh to accidently play a song. It’s a rule within our group of schooligans that when you play a song you have to make a chant out of it. This was successful when we made Matty Bryans ‘running, running running’ song at Clitheroe. So we began the lyrics of ‘Take me on a trip to see the Trafford play, Burnley to the Chasetown to the Colwyn Bay, I really want to, travel with you’ to Estelle’s American Boy but we couldn’t think of a last line so it went right out the window. The older ones made their way to a pub as apparently the pubs were really nice in Leek… What would I know?

The ground looked bigger than most the grounds that you’d find in the Evostik North West, with a main seating stand and sheds around all the other sides, which was good news to us because it meant that it was easier to make noise. We made our way into the ground at about 2PM, getting in for free as we were under 16 which we were unaware about. All three of us crowded into the end Trafford were shooting at in the first half and put all the flags up, we should get paid for this… Someone at a home game a few weeks ago said ‘one day we’ll end up with more flags than fans’, which was laughed off but it was true for about half an hour before the rest of the younger ones joined us, they payed £5 each to get in despite being under 16 and stating they were under 16 on the door. So either Leek charge what they want, whenever they want or one of the blokes on the turnstiles doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing. We began to start getting worried as Trafford walked out as there were still only six of us behind the goal. Has Cappy overdosed on booze? Was Paul Faulkner kidnapped in the slums of Leek? ‘Malcy Rock an’ Roll’ joined us very shortly after that and we were then joined by the rest of the ultras which was a big relief which started us off singing our usual ‘Trafford FC, Trafford FC, Trafford FC, Trafford FC’. 

Not much was happening in the game itself. We recognised all five of the new players were playing, Kamar Moncrieffe standing out due to his superb work ethic and pace down the left. Liam Ellis was playing out wide due to new striker Adam Farrell starting. Aside from the game, we noticed two stewards walking very aggressively past us and talking on their walky-talkies, they positioned themselves in the stand besides us staring at us very impressively. I felt like a celebrity or something. Another steward then made his way towards us so I wanted to test something. I took a sip out of my can which caused a mass outrage around the ground, the stewards charged round like we had just threw a chip at the goalkeeper or something. The steward then informed us about the stadium laws, no alcohol in the site of a pitch which somewhat takes the non-league feeling out of the game. He said that Leek Town have ‘Premier League laws’ which is fair enough and me and Josh were escorted out of the ground. We positioned ourselves on a hill outside the ground so that we could still see the game where we shared a laugh with the steward. In this time our opposition scored and Liam Ellis scored a header if I remember correctly resulting in me and Josh very eagerly making our way back into the ground. We realised that this was a great opportunity to air our new, very overdue, Liam Ellis song which goes a bit like ‘when I see him up top, I know we’re gonna score, I just can’t get enough, I just can’t get enough, if we need a goal or two he’ll score us three or four, I just can’t get enough, I just can’t get enough, he slips and slides and he’s really tough, oh I just can’t seem to get enough of you, du du du du du du du du du du LIAM ELLIS’. Quite the song if you ask me. Trafford probably looked the better side in the first half, I may be biased but I think that’s acceptable after some of the things we were hearing back in Manchester about the radio commentary… 

The second half started and after about 10 minutes Liam Ellis scored his second to put Trafford ahead, sending our end into a big mess of bodies. Most of us couldn’t believe what we were seeing but we still belted out Liam’s new song. Trafford were definitely looking the better of the two sides, solid at the back and productive up front. Kamar Moncrieffe continued to tear Leek a new one and on around the 70th minute a corner was put in and Kiel/Keil/Neil O’Brien superbly headed it across goal for Moncrieffe to put it away; making it 3-1. After a lot of singing, confetti throwing (god knows why) and a bit of hanging on towards the end, the final whistle was blown. Mint. Tom Baker huddled all of the players and staff around the centre circle and every last one of them came over at the end and thanked us. The team spirit was absolutely superb. We got onto the coach after about half an hour in the clubhouse where most of the other Trafford ultras departed us, either in cars or on the train to Stoke to celebrate the massive win. The coach journey home was a very happy one where all the new lads did their initiation songs: Wonderwall and Three Little Birds was sang if I remember correctly. 

We got back to the Shawe View in great spirit, an immense win from Trafford after a few, tough last few weeks. Tom Baker and his army pulled off a great turnaround. It just goes to show, if you stick by your man and keep the trust he will put everything into the club and this day was a great example of that. We've had to say some tough goodbyes to some players but they were all replaced with fresh, young lads. The future is looking bright, whites. Cheers for a great day Trafford. Onwards and upwards.

Liam M.