(Possibly the rarity of being able to do this on the same day as a match thanks to a 12pm kick off)
Norwich. The days before this match have been nothing but a lack of sleep. All for good reason. A very amazing family friend had his younger sister get married. Having had the pleasure of meeting her husband to be near the beginning of our season I already knew he was beloved Liverpool fan. Yesterday made that even better. Most of his immediate family are match going Reds too. Awesomeness. After the wedding yesterday that drive home already had me with a smile on my face.
Soon many will ask “Where were you when Borini helped us?”. Me? Listening to Talksport. Stan Collymore and that sodding commentary with added “Sports Yapper” (I detest it if you don’t get the sentiment) and my wife helping the tension.
"What does this score mean?" she asked
“Just pray score stays like this or they lose"
Pray my dear wife pray. You've been a bastion of support this season allowing your beloved husband to march off into the trenches of away days and home matches. You've let me wonder into those kind of places that we dare not mention at times for jinxing it. First place, second place, back down to fifth and an assault to the top of the table. Me, along with many others, thank you Mrs Kaur.
I digress. Sunderland...well, Agent Borini didn’t let us down
Once finally home and Match of the Day done to point of where I cared I went to sleep at 11pm. I say sleep but it wasn’t really. A huge fear of the alarm had consumed me. Check. Double check. Wake up. 2.55 am. Relief. Wake up again. 3.30am. More relief
Wake up for 3rd time. Alarm went off. As did I. Like Usain Bolt minus the Manc allegiance like a rocket out of bed and into the shower. Readied and prepped the journey began by train. Well a minicab for the 6.55am from Esher to Waterloo. Minicab driver hated Chelsea. My kind of man! Seeing some very drunk and worse for wear people that early in the morning is a bit of a new thing for me but once that was overcome via the Jubilee line and other changes made to get to Liverpool Street and see the awaiting Reds for the 8.30am to Norwich and possible glory.
Oh, met Chivasino too for another away day And ABJ. And others. This part of the train was nearly a RAWK get-together. I don’t know everyone so that might be far fetched but having also seen Pata aka Sash in real life it felt like it! Sharing stories of “where were you when Borini…?” and the away ladder joys and pains we soon settled into the excitement that was Norwich City. Delia. Aviva. Peterborough
Diss.
That’s a train station… not an “in” joke!
We arrive and start the sorting of meeting/greeting and ticket collecting. My ears pricked up whilst walking the wrong way around Carrow Road to the entry turnstiles. Burger van man is blasting out a serious tune. 2nd time this week of hearing it and it’s got me in a real groove of thinking of what is ahead
“Ain't nothin' gonna to break my stride
Nobody's gonna slow me down, oh-no
I got to keep on movin'
Ain't nothin' gonna break my stride
I'm running and I won't touch ground
Oh-no, I got to keep on movin' “
Bring it on Delia. Bring. It. On.
First halfI’m 5-6 rows away from the front. This is awesome. This is the first goal. Ball. Flanagan? Ball. Coutinho to Sterling. Pass? No he runs. Runs. Ooh hang on hit it.
Hittttttt iiiiiiiiitttttttttt gooooaaaaallllllllllll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ah what a goal?! Just hit and from my angle that flew in. Almost as fast as him running to hug Brendan. I want to hug Brendan too. I want hug everyone
Then more pass pass pass and a Suarez shot. Blocked. And repeated. Allen. Ooooh. Ruddy has it
And repeated again. And Suarez and goal. Goal. Goal. Goal. Goal. Goal. Goal. 2-0. I don’t know how to contain myself and I’m not sure the two ladies and their young daughters to my left know either. It’s ok. The others around me do. Just follow suit. Jump, go batshit crazy and sing and hug
Lots and lots of hugs!
2-0. Ten mins gone. Delia must be praying for pie sales at half time because there isn’t going to be any Premier League money here next year.
Coutinho on ball in middle looking sublime at times. Raheem too. I’m may eating humble pie at this rate though as we are now weathering a bit of Norwich comeback.
Joe Allen everywhere. Joe Allen is now on the floor holding his ankle. Snodgrassed. Horrible tackle. He’ll argue the ball but last time I looked Joe’s shins don’t resemble a football. In a moment so reminiscent of that little pretentious shit that is Fabio and QPR (think him being launched towards stands) we have a Steven Gerrard revenge attempt moment. In that move though he bares more than his soul thanks to shorts riding up!
Steady ladies, steady! We are half an hour or so in. We need a third goal. Plenty of time for showing yer cheeks later!!!
We soak up the pressure. We nearly make something of it too but alas not enough via Coutinho before the break. Close but not cigar. The whistle blows. We breathe out and rest our hearts. Hope everyone got the Justice banner surfing the crowd too. Lovely sentiment in it for Maggie
First Half Musings• Snodgrass. Hunchback of Notre Dame. How the hell does his neck protrude like that? Posture lessons for Robert please.
• Joe Allen. Oh Joe… like a terrier at the ankles of everything possible. I hope those watching can see what I am seeing. IF there is ever a first half man of the match take a bow my son. Take it… and the bottle of champers they give too!
• Skrtel awesome. Great blocks and headers. Just when you think they are in… they are out.
• Johnson on and off today. Which one will he be come the end? I love you but you make me worry Glen.
• We might not be back here for some seasons. That can only be good news in the grand scheme of things.
• What the hell are these mascots? Canary I get but Spotosaurus and this bloody raccoon looking thing? Racoon FFS!!!
• We don't do 2-0. This could be an interesting half coming up :-)
• Is this favour repaid to Sunderland?
• Do the players also think about what needs getting from B&Q for tomorrow to fix around the house?
Second halfFabio Fantastico. Fabio Magnifico. Ole Ole. Ole Ole. Catchy catchy song. Don’t even know if I’ve got this the right way round. Who cares? Thank you Fabio Borini.
Back to the match. Suarez. Coutinho. Sterling ohhhhhh. Close. That would have been some goal
Minute later. I heart Martin Skrtel. He’s been amazing all day. How he has changed. Where once we were worried and now we are empowered.
Mistake. Goal. 2-1. We’ll score 3 or 4. Don’t panic. He’s caught so many of these today why not this one. Ah balls. FFS!!!!!
Don’t panic.
Nooo. Panic. We have to. We need nerves. We need to not be complacent. Oh why does it have to be this way? Please no. It doesn’t have to be this way. We are ok. We must be calm.
Oh fuck calm. FFS. Please get the third. Until then we sing. We sing. We can forget anything and concentrate on the goal in hand by singing. Ahhh… singing. This is better. Sing more Mr Singh…. Sing more!
So for all that think we are calm as can be away from home we aren’t. Our nerves and the teams nerves are all one huge transmission of impulses from highs to lows right now.
It’s ok. We have Martin. We have Sakho. We have a team.
Sterling. Johnson. Ovelap. Suarez. So close. We needed a wake up call. We can do this. We can’t though if Sterling isn’t pushing up
The next half hour is going to be long. So so long. This shouldn’t be like this. Ohhh. Hang on. Suaaaahhhhrehhhhzzzzz. Bloody hell that was close.
Will Norwich please exit our half? Shit pass by Johnson.
Interception. Sterling. Run. Running. Slowing. Moving. He is Sterling. He is 3-1. This is bedlam.
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The mums and the 2 young girls. 8/9. Loving it. And singing. Helps the nerves
Some recovery there by Suarez too. Leroy Fer was close to calf though so that has got to have hurt. Good that he is up and running too. Nathan Redmond is on the move and he’s moving at pace again. We just need to concentrate. They won’t make it easy for us. They are fighting for survival.
We’re fighting for a title. This is like every Rocky montage you can think of. We see the enemy. Training away with all things in their favour. Here we are. Pushing rocks, pulling loud Paulie’s (sort of) and on top of that dealing with Adrienne. No one said running up those Philadelphia steps would be a walk in the park. A fourth goal is what we need now. Like a Rocky knock out blow to Apollo Creed or Ivan Drago. Something from deep down.
What we don’t need is sodding Robert Snodgrass. We don't score. They do. High cross. Snodgrass meets it and loops it in
3-2. 13 mins to go. We can do this. Now is not the time for weak hearts. We don’t come with a health warning but we do need one. We are injurious to our own health in the most masochistic way possible. Are our own team trolling us for a laugh?
Johnson gives it away. Redmond off and running and it’s a corner. They get opportunity. It is held by Mignolet. My heart in pit of stomach. Please stop making it hard for ourselves. Ricky heads down. My heart sinks further. My whole insides might as well be out too. It’s still 3-2 to us. It’s still in our hands.
Final 5 mins of time. More agonising time to get through. Once that’s done the fourth official has indicated 4 mins added time.
Now 4 mins added. This will feel like 4 hours
And somehow we don't make it 4-2. Just how Lucas/Suarez didn’t bury it I’ll never know.
Final whistle. They want to lie down on pitch exhausted. Without Henderson a lot of our midfield has run more than ever. I want to lie down with them. So do the rest 2,500 fans odd.
Think of the fans. We're shattered here!!! Not that anyone will realise. We have 15-20 minutes of some serious singing to do. And boy do we sing. Train home is at 3pm. We have plenty of time.
Once out the ground I am inundated with snaps of me on TV. It’s a bit weird seeing yourself on TV. You don’t want to be that idiot on the phone but you could be inadvertently. You don’t want to be the one with his eyes shut or looking at anything other than the match.
You don’t want to be the one leaving early! No chance of that ever happening with me so I was safe there
3 points. 5 points clear at the top. Chelsea next week at Anfield. We go again my friends. We go again.
I’ll see you there. I’m running and I won’t touch ground.
WE’VE GOT TO KEEP ON MOVING!