The Joy Of Six

If you'd told us beforehand that we'd have been beaten 6-1, I'm not sure many of us would have been looking forward to the evening out in sunny Brentford. As it happens, it was a cracking night out. From the pints in the City after work, drawing funny looks from the suited and booted locals as we're busy talking about the 'big game' against England while kitted out in our green shirts, to falling over on the bus on the way home, a rather suprising enjoyable evening.

After the aforementioned pints up in town, plus a few cans on the train down to Brentford, we made our way happily to little Griffin Park, home of the mighty League Two Brentford. With no time for a pint with EG in the Griffin beforehand, we opted for a swift one in the club bar, bumping into one or two (literally, just one or two) NI fans outside the ground. By the time we eventually chose our seat (courtesy of some over zealous stewarding who wouldnt let us walk from one empty section of the stand to the other), we hadnt missed anything of significance.

With the average age of the crowd being too young to remember 'that night' back in 2005 when we showed the big boys what it was all about, it was a slightly strange atmosphere. Cries of 'Kenny Shiels Green 'n White Army' rang out from the 6 assembled away fans (including my English mate who joined in for a laugh), echoing round the stadium. The NI bench didnt quite know what to make of it. We certainly outsang our hosts, although being heckled by a group of teenage girls was the high point of our interaction with the home fans. Our 4 man Mexican Wave went down a treat, with the whole stand rising to their feet - we maintain it had nothing to do with the fact that England scored just as we started the wave...

And then in moved the heavies. Well, not exactly, but listening to a steward struggle to explain why we had to remove the 'Say No To The Maze' banner was priceless. They weren't quite sure whether it was racist, sectarian, or just probably controversial (they settled on the latter), but it was almost as if the suits at the IFA were watching us... Sitting in a three quarters empty stadium it all seemed rather appropriate! That aside, the stewarding for an u-17 match with a few hundred fans was certainly in a different league to that experienced at Windsor -I hope someone was taking note...

On the pitch, we were treated to an exciting display by the England youngsters. Our lads did their best against a bigger, slightly sharper side, but were unlucky to lose by such a margin. There were certainly glimpses of some potential stars in the making for OWC. As for England, they were a shining example of young footballers who are playing for their careers, in stark contrast to their more senior colleagues who have already made it. Nothing to do with the presence in the stand of Messers Brooking and Pearce (Stuart, aka Psycho, the u21 manager, not Jonathan, aka that commentator bloke off the tele)... An England side with an attacking streak - I think we were all a little surprised. Our goal did come eventually, but sadly just a consolation. A stroke of good fortune saw an England defender deflect a shot from Chris Curran of Manchester United past his own keeper.

Perhaps the highlight of the evening was our audience with Trevor Brooking. After dutifully signing our programmes, and reminding us that in fact all England's best youngsters were off in some tournament overseas, we took the opportunity to wind him up about how poor his senior team is! His response to our cheeky enquiry of whether he would be going to Austria to watch OWC next year was greeted with an unrepeatable response. Unrepeatable in the sense that none of us quite heard him as he mumbled under his breath as he walked away, but we didnt hang around for him to point us out to Mr Pearce... The players, despite understandably being a little downbeat after the game, had the good grace to humour us and have their picture taken with us. They must have thought we were slightly mad, but one day they'll be old enough to appreciate what affect alcohol has on the brain of a normally sensible footy fan...

After a few jars in the local pub at the corner of the ground, listening to Celtic's penalty shoot out victory, and a chance meeting with Kevin Gallen's brother who apparently used to play for Portadown, it was time to head home. Who would have thought a 6-1 defeat could have been such a laugh.

The remaining games in the tournament saw NI suffer a close 2-1 defeat to Italy, and a bit of a heavier defeat to Turkey (8-0). Good experience nonetheless I'm sure. Unfortunately both these games were afternoon kick offs, so the London contingent of the GAWA all had jobs to go to instead...

John M