2 Games, 2 Defeats But Who Cares?

Games 2 + 3 - Cheltenham (Home)

Coming off the back of a 94th minute win away to Aldershot, I couldn't resist travelling up to Spotland to see if we were hitting form. Unfortunately I missed the Aldershot game (For a reason I can't even remember it was so long ago now) but I was up and raring to go for my first home game of the season. Oh how that excitement was robbed of me. Oh how that excitement, and jubilation from the Weekends result, was turned to dissapointment and frustration on a mild Tuesday evening. What to say? Not much... Perhaps the result wasn't deserved, perhaps it was. In all honesty, I couldn't care. We lost the game and it's not something I want to talk about. The WMG was quiet, but still cheap. A lift from my Mum meant there was little to see apart from the game, and even that was limited. Another game, alone. Another poor result. Let's see if things could get better when my man James Black returned for Rotherham 5 days later....

Rotherham Away. Nope. Things just got even worse. Although the day out was certainly more eventful. Where to start? Well James returns to action for his first game of the season. Niku was absent due to it being his birthday - The keeness really has left the awesome 3some who talked only months earlier about 30 games this season. Shame...

So off to Millmoor. Oh no wait, nearly got that wrong. A bit like on the day... I was planning the journey (Using trusty Football Ground Guide followed by National Rail - There's just no other way) to Rotherhams old ground, before realising this wasn't where they played!!! Having got my railcard the day before, my Adult Train fair was down from £15 to £9. Excellent start :D Strangely, the journey up was quiet. We found ourselves catching up on the Summer more than anything. I hadn't seen the main man in a month or so, and I was keen to pass the time by talking him through every piece of Dale news I knew, from signing Chris O'Grady to our minging new Away kit, to the possibility of Keith Hill taking the England job!!! We sat behind a Rotherham fan all the way from Stockport Station. God knows where he came from, and why he travelled all that way every week to watch such rubbish!!!

And rubbish it was... but more on that later. First and next stop was Sheffield. Off we got, 2 seconds later we were at the SuperTram! "SUPERTRAMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!" If at anytime during this blog I vender off into such ridiculous quote's, it's just me and the lads repeating any midely interesting word we here in a loud. high pitched voice whilst waving our arms up and down. Just ignore it, it's a craze that we started last year with Frank Fielding. "FIIIEEELLLLDDDIIIIIIIIIINNNNNGGGGGGGGG" <<<< You see? I get like that sometimes.... So on the Supertram we hop, no clue where we are going. Tickets were barely anything, £2 in fact. Yet James, tight as he is, still tries to get a junior fare!!! At the time of speaking, he is now 16, but Rotherham was 4 days before his birthday, and surprise surprise, passport copy in hand, he's blagging child tickets for the game and the train. Not on the Supertram though. Oooooohhhh no. The rather large ticketwoman wasn't having any of it. "You can get anyone's passport" she claims. She then decides to further lecture us for 15 minute's on how she could walk into the "birth certificate place" and get hold of anyone's passport details if she wanted. She went on to say if she really wanted, she could get the Queens Passport and show us a copy next time we were in Sheffield. From then on we just stopped listening and wanted her to go away, James (still reluctantly) gave her 2 quid. A rather heated bitch session followed. Stupid ticketwoman :/

So we continued. Isn't it funny how when you see a fellow fan at perhaps a Station or walking down, you ALWAYS without fail, see them in the ground. It's bizarre. If I nod at someone or talk to any fan on the way to the match, I will see them later on. It's fact, it really is. Well we followed 2 lads who told us how to get to the Supertram. "SUPERTRAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM" Sorry... Did it again. Anyway, yeah we followed these 2 "lads" and went to the ground together. In the hope they don't read this, the funny part of the story, is that James later told me that one of them wasn't a guy. A shaggy haired, quite chubby Dale fan who I had referred to as "mate" and "pal" when asking and thanking them for directions, was actually a girl. I couldn't believe it. Only when I saw her walking into the girls toilets at the game did I nearly choke on my pie!!! (Which let me point out, was very below par) I didn't feel bad. I didn't feel shame for being so ignorant. I felt so bloody sorry for this lass!!!! At least show some more chest to make sure for christs sake woman!!! (As I offer advice I know that if she's reading this, it's the last thing she wants - Please don't read this. Thanks....)

And onto the game. Incredibly as James haggled for an under 15 ticket, I followed asking for a Student ticket (£10) knowing he wouldn't let me in for Under 15. But the point I made in an earlier post was very much confirmed. The ticket men at the ground couldn't give a toss!!! He looked at me, laughed and gave me a fiver change!!! Sound. Very sound. I was thinking, this very good day could turn out even better. We took our seat, again in front of the lads at the back. Today wasn't a singing day for us either. Neither of us were hyper, Niku was not here to push us on, James just wanted to watch the game. So did I. However, we did hurl quite a bit of warranted abuse at the rather large Rotherham fan. The one man band who stood up and shouted insults at us on his own. Well, at least he tried, which is more than I can say for most of the Home fans that day. 1 song they had, 1 bloody song!!! AND IT WASN'T EVEN A SONG! They just clapped for Christs sake. They just started clapping, it was bizarre and laughable. I felt sorry for the fans, they had left the very homely Milmoor, and moved to a right joke of a ground.

The pitch was terrible, there's no need to go into details. Dale fans don't need to hear it again. Nails, glass, whatever, it was a joke. My comment was actually shown on BBC Sport after the game, and an article I wrote slating Mark Robins (Rotherham Boss) was also quoted on. There was no doubt in my mind Alfie was going to score that day, no doubt. Why we left him free in the box I'll never know, and credit to him, he got a good reception, apart from one bloke at the back calling him Judas. Judas? Come on.... We got good money and he got a better contract. Judas? Not quite... Robins came out afterwards and said that his side dominated the game from start to finish. What game were you watching? The better side, marginally. Rotherham had more of a cutting edge, but we certainly kept the ball better and looked good on what was an awful surface.

Coming away from the game we were dissapointed. The journey back was quiet and un-interupted. James had experienced his first live Dale defeat, and hated it as much as I did. A 20 minute review was enough for us to argue points and get what we wanted off our chests. I still have a bruise from where I punched the glass on the Supertram (No quote necessary) Dissapointing yes. But again, Dale offered a great day out. We hadn't lost our appitate, if anything we had gained it. Keen and raring to go, we started planning for the future. Although our Bury dream was in doubt.... More on that next time.

Final thoughts? Chris O'Grady impressive. Craig Dawson more-so. The now signed on Matthew Flynn provided the height we needed at the back. Although perhaps a quick change around with Nathan Stanton would have provided a more solid Back 4. As good a player Stants is, he can't impose himself in a defence without McArdle, and would no doubt be more suited to Right Back. Buckley dissapointing again, Rundle untrusted, but in Centre Midfield we looked more solid than anywhere else, apart from TK. Knowing we, not the buckets haveTK makes me smile... :D

Up The Dale!!!