13,000 fans is not a particularly comfortable feeling!
However being 1 nil up for most of the game is!!
Full match report and trip details to follow.....
(updated - OK so if there were 142 of us and a crowd total of 13452 - that means we were booed by 13310 fans! and boy those 310 Swans fans sure made the difference!)
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So here I am again for an update. What can I say except my earlier post about getting to the game was fairly accurate. The one bonus - there were only 30 of us on the coach so we could spread out and the seats were very comfy. Plus the English countryside on the way down was amazing - the colours of the leaves on the trees, the blue skies and the amazing sunset as we crossed the Severn Bridge and entered Wales. All in all worth the 6+ hours on the coach. We did stop at Leigh Delamere for a 'hot' chocolate for a whole 30 mins but on the whole it was the M4 road works which kept as moving a slow pace. The traffic outside Bristol was as bad as London - reminded me I did not want a car or to commute like that. At least on the tube you can read a book and go (most of the time) at a steady pace and in a straight-ish line.
So we arrive at the Liberty stadium at about 6.30pm with aching bums and stiff legs. It's dark and a wee bit chilly. South Wales like sheep on the move towards the stadium. We dally around outside for some photos and chat to the stewards who are really proud of their replacement to the Vetch. Last time I came here I got as far as the station - the game got called off and I went drinking in Mumbles with my friend and several 1000 other Swans fans! So Dad & I buy a programme - the Swans have an atmosphere problem. Actually like most football clubs these days they have over officious stewards who are determined to make the loud singers sit down. Seen it so often at away games and at home games. For some stewards its a safe place to be authoritarian - shame most fans just want to make a noise.
We buy an overpriced can of beer in the concrete cavern that is the underbelly of this purpose built soul less ground. We chat about previous trips...
As you can imagine at 7.30 it is quite quiet!
An empty Liberty Stadium
Come 7.45pm its heaving. And they are noisy. Noisier than us! All 142 of us! It started tentatively ... as you may or may not be aware it was our new manager's debut game. Mark Stimson joined Thursday at 4pm. At 12 noon Friday he was on a coach to South Wales leaving the non league Stevenage behind him and joining the pikie caravan train that is GFC. (I have a theory that Scally's 3 year plan is to take us to the FA Trophy final - work it out!)
So anyway we try to sing and support the team and our new manager but the Welsh are deaf. The pre match music was so LOUD... so so loud and didn't stop until the whistle blew and the ball was kicked. Anyway off we went. Fair start. No real strong contender then BANG - from out of nowhere we'd scored. 10 mins - Facey scored a screamer. We were elated. Totally. The Swans looked rattled and the supporters were very quiet.
Would it last? It was too early for us to be ahead... well with 23 minutes gone a tackle was deemed good enough for a red card. Sorry I mean ad enough. A Swans player had to walk. We were 1 up and they were a man down. Could this be our first away win?
Well as you followers of my woes know its a heart stopping experience watching the Gills. The second half the 'c' team came out. How we did not lose 4-1 I'll never know. They did score - just. We saved a pen and went loopy! They had a goal disallowed and yes we went loopy. Every time Simon King got the ball we went loopy. (The Swans disliked him as he was the reason their player walked. Not strictly true - it was the ref's fault). The same ref added 4 mins extra time - bung or what?! So we got a point and the Swans went top. We then had a 5 hour journey home - which was fine! Home safe n sound by 3.30am.
So the new manager had a better start than I would have imagined. And Swansea Jack predicted score perfectly correctly.
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