Away Day Diary: Oldham Athletic 1-0 Maidenhead United (15/04/23)

Overnight stay in Manchester ahead of our away fixture with Michelle Marsh's Boys had been discussed, along with similar stops in Nottingham and Newcastle-for-Gateshead, as far back as last summer's Lord Grenfell beer festival; I booked the Travelodge – the same one in Ancoats that the Macleods and I had stayed in before FDXIX at Salford – in mid-January, and Craig sorted the train tickets the following month (with our subsequent 1-0 win at Halifax convincing Rainey to join us)

Lest we forget that the Latics were founder members of the Premier League, with Boundary Park becoming the first ex-Premier League ground to host the Magpies; I've read that the season – 1993/94 – they went down from the top flight started to go pear-shaped for them when a 119th-minute equaliser from Manchester United's Mark Hughes denied Joe Royle's side an FA Cup final appearance ... well, the day before that April semi-final at Wembley (att: 56,399), the other MUFC had defeated Barking 3-2 at York Road – with goals from Kevin Stone, Tim Cook and Paul Mulvaney – in front of 77 people!

Due to ongoing repairs to the Nuneham Viaduct – slated to last until June! – our Friday afternoon train journey began at High Wycombe;

...

...

Here's a peek behind the curtain, dear reader. How the sausage gets made, and other such idioms. Basically, I wrote the above in advance, before a Good Friday spent at the in-laws in Monmouth and an enjoyable, post-Easter three-night stay in Deal with the wife and kids. I had hoped/ intended that the rest – the H, A, M; A, T, H, L, E, T, I, C – would more or less write itself, after the event, with tales of the following: diverse and riveting conversations during a non-delayed train journey to Manchester; a chilled Friday night pub crawl featuring delightful pubs and delicious ales; an inexpensive but tasty fry-up, on Saturday morning, before a trip on the tram; a comprehensive list of pre-match watering holes (Nb. both the Ashton Arms – £15.90 for five pints – and especially the Fox & Pine *were* excellent); backing a winner in the 2:25 at Aintree; Charlee Adams and Kane Ferdinand fit to start in midfield after injuries (knee and back, respectively); a veritable horde of boisterous Magpies (i.e. more than 56!) in the Chaddy End; a disallowed-for-offside Oldham 'goal' (after only two minutes); a superb goalkeeping display from Joe Walsh Alexis Andre Jnr; a red card for John Rooney; innumerable shots on target from the away side, before a Ryan Upward winner in the 90th-minute; confirmation coming through that Scunny had won at Aldershot; the aforementioned Ms Marsh waving flirtatiously at me from her corporate hospitality box; a mass, triumphant sing-song on the schlep back to the nearest tram stop, etc., etc.

Alas. Instead:

Oh my

Lord!

Disastrous.

Hoping for

A

Miracle.

(BBC report; match highlights)

Maidenhead are pants

— Mills. (@loud_MM91) April 15, 2023

Away Day Diary: Salford City 3-0 Maidenhead United (13/04/19)

Fancy Dresslemania XIX

Slow-running and uncomfortably busy train, then the Central Library – venue for a Frank Sidebottom exhibition – being shut, meant an inauspicious start to a much-anticipated trip #bobbins

A trio of top-notch beers in the excellent City Arms – I wouldn't be surprised if this place won our 'Pub of the Year' vote – got us back on track; my first taste of Titanic's Plum Porter (I'd missed out, at Tranmere last season, as I was too hungover), Brightside's Ch-Ch-Ch-Cherry Mild, and Fernandes Brewery's Black Voodoo (again)

List of other Friday night pubs: Wetherspoons Piccadilly (meet up with the Tuckers; underwhelming drink selection), Pie & Ale (impressive establishment; general consensus re their scrumptious pies was pork first, then chicken, then steak), the Castle Hotel (more Plum Porter), Lloyds No. 1 (Tiger Tiger had declined our custom; I definitely think that we should've stuck to the proposed crawl), and – before a final, unfinished pint of Stella back at the hotel bar – Walkabout (as bad as you might expect)

Finding a table for breakfast on Saturday morning in the sizeable Wetherspoons Piccadilly wasn't easy; large groups everywhere, including Scots, French and Scandinavians over for the 'other MUFC' game, plus two or three stag parties in fancy dress

On with our costumes back at the hotel, before a rendezvous with Spock and Horrid Henry; then a taxi to the ground (neat and tidy; the likes of Harrogate Town should take note)

Ridiculously sloppy play from us meant that the game was over as a contest by half-time; indeed, bearing in mind the stat brought to our attention by Travis Bickle that we haven't scored an equalising away goal all season, it was basically over as a contest when the Ammies took the lead on ten minutes (the only silver lining to our insipid performance was the reaction from some Orient fans on social media!)

Dev's 63rd birthday; he was suitably serenaded by the travelling hordes during the second half, before an epic rendition of 'Black & White Army' that continued long after the merciful sound of the final whistle

Causes for celebration, post-match, in the Star (only one guest ale, but it was decent): group photo ticked off (#herdingcats), Duggee beat Jack Sparrow at pool (in their first contest against each other since 2000, when both were studying at the University of Hull), Bristol Rovers scored a 93rd-minute winner (after first conceding a 90th-minute equaliser) and, most importantly, Havant & Waterlooville lost at Solihull to secure our National League status for another season

I'd planned on us getting a bus back into town and, eventually, we did; although not before our lack of familiarity at travelling in an uncommonly large group reared its ugly head – as it had en route to Margate for FDXVII – with some of us on the X41 and others on the X43 #buswankers

Time for one in the Molly House (Beartown's Crème Bearlee was, by some distance, my 'Beer of the Day'; Jinxy Munro Ginger Spice – whose record, watching Maidenhead United in the National League, now reads as follows: P3 L3 F0 A13 – not the only male in there wearing a dress!), two quick pints in the Lass O'Gowrie (cracking pub; Crème Bearlee again), and a supermarket sweep at the station, before our train home (journey significantly more enjoyable than the recent one from Leeds)

You'd have gotten long odds, at the end of 2018, on the Magpies managing to avoid the drop; Dev keeping this team in the National League is arguably his best achievement #brandyandcigars

(BBC report; match highlights; FDXIX highlights on BT Sport; more Fancy Dresslemania links)