Met up with Grant (who is going on a sickeningly nice holiday to get over it all), TM, Lady TM, Ciara, Min and Bobby at the Hamilton Hall. It was p....g down and my flu symptoms were making incredibly crotchety. After the usual delays on the trains to the festering sore on the leprous bumhole of Hell that is Upton park, we arrived just as the lads were kicking off. We had loads of possession and were honestly taking the p...s in the first half - hit the post twice. We were the better footballing side by a mile. Di Canio kicked Nobby in the head and whether it was this that made him refuse to tackle anyone or in fact chase the ball anywhere or he is in spirit now a Real Madrid player, I don't know but he had a shocker. Just before half time that ugly great thug Minto kicked a lump out of Dabizas and should have walked for that. He later tackled Dyer (who had a great game)from behind and got a yellow for it. Shouldn't have even been on the pitch. As it was, Dabs had to be subbed and that was where things all began to go wrong. Second half, we scored although Spped had an otherwise anonymous goal - he went mental in front of us. 10 goals in a season isn't bad from a midfield player. It almost immediately went pearshaped - Howey came on and just couldn't cope with Wanchope. Their two goals were like watching slow motion. Bobby was going mental too. We could have equalised but typically hit the bar in the dying seconds. Observations: Upton Park - #32 for tickets. Almost no loos for away supporters, Hillsborough-type crushes at half time. Why don't the board of West Ham get abuse for taking all that cash off supporters and providing neither a ground nor players to show for it? West Ham fans - three chants - silence, booing their own players and "Wemberlee" (as the geezer behind said, they must have got their heads together on that one bearing in mind we'd been singing "We are the Wembley haters" for ages. God, I hate West Ham and I hate their fans even more. We need another striker - Kets is finished. We need a stronger central midfield. Given was flailing about like a drunk octopus. Bring Stevie back. Goma and Howey are not the partnership we thought they were. Shearer had a good game, mainly on the wing and in the heart of defence - he looked gutted when he walked off and I don't blame him. On the way back to relative civilisation, bumped into True and his wife - we had a good old moan about being born to black and white and therefore born to suffering. Observed that Ciara actually chose to support us - what kind of masochist does that make her?((-; Top marks - the away supporters end was full and we were in good if croaky voice.

-- Anonymous, April 13, 2000

Answers

Dougal I really felt for you all last night. I felt like a poor imitation of a supporter sat comfortably at home. It can`t have been a very happy experience. (:o(

-- Anonymous, April 13, 2000

Listening on Metro - the Toon Army did us proud again. Non-stop. Amazed we had any voices left after Sunday!

-- Anonymous, April 13, 2000