{"id":11246,"date":"2025-05-12T11:36:15","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T10:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=11246"},"modified":"2025-05-17T15:51:24","modified_gmt":"2025-05-17T14:51:24","slug":"a-funny-old-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=11246","title":{"rendered":"A Funny Old Game"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Our personal final away day of the season was upon us. For the first time for me and the first time in a few decades for CER, we were able to attend away games on a semi regular basis this season. And for the second time in the space of a few weeks we were off to Merseyside, this time to Anfield on the other side of Stanley Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As it was 4:30pm KO, we didn\u2019t have to rise at sparrow\u2019s fart which is always nice. We left Lower Winchmore Hill east shortly before 9am and we were off and away on the coach by quarter to ten. I was sat next to an away day regular called Ernie and we chatted about the process of building your way up the away credit ladder. Ernie does all aways bar Euro aways and he confirmed my belief that getting tickets becomes a lot easier once you reach 10 credits which we should be able to reach quite comfortably next season. He was a very pleasant chap. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a 45-minute comfort break at Stafford services, we made it to Merseyside for about quarter to three. We went for a pint at the famous Arkles right next door to Anfield. I was aghast that a pint was well over \u00a36. That\u2019s borderline N5 prices. I can only assume they hike the prices on matchdays. We didn\u2019t stay for a second pint. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We made our way round to the Anfield Road end, past the Kop and the YNWA sign. We visited Anfield a few years ago but that was a night game, so it was nice to see it in the sunshine. After a quick visit to the Hillsborough Memorial, we went through the turnstiles onto the concourses. It was very spacious and the pints were a much more reasonable \u00a33.60. Another point I\u2019d like to make about Anfield is you can get a bloody phone signal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The atmosphere was jovial considering the events in midweek. There was plenty of singing in the concourse and in the stands. After we rightly gave our hosts a guard of honour it was time for the game. We should\u2019ve been ahead a few minutes in after \u00d8degaard\u2019s free kick deceived the entire Liverpool defence and the ball found its way to Saka who began his run about five yards deeper than everyone else. We did the usual thing of starting in an offside position then running back onside but Saka merely jogged into space only to screw his effort just wide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But 20 minutes in, The Champions were ahead. We fell asleep after a throw in as Andy Robertson delivered the ball into Cody Gakpo who had the freedom of Stanley Park as he headed in the opener. Very poor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Less than 90 seconds later it was 2-0. Salah played a fantastic ball to Dominik SpongeBob LemonPants who rolled it past Raya for Luis Diaz to tap home. Oh dear! This was looking like an impending drubbing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It could\u2019ve been 3 before half time as Curtis Jones\u2019 swivel and shot forced a very smart save out of Raya. Thankfully, we made it to the interval without any further damage.  The mood on the concourse was sombre. As we drowned our sorrows over a pint, I gloomily looked ahead to writing my report on what was sure to be a miserable pounding. It was looking bleak. We didn\u2019t have much hope as we trudged our way back to our seats. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But football is a funny old game. Barely a minute into the second half we were right back in it as the previously ineffective Trossard sent a super cross in for Martinelli who flicked a header into the far corner. Game on! The complexion of the game turned on its head, Arsenal were well on top, winning second balls all over the place. That\u2019s what a goal can do for you. What might\u2019ve been in Paris came to mind. We nearly had an equaliser through Saliba whose header was blocked on the line by Konate but then the equaliser we craved arrived on 70 minutes. \u00d8degaard\u2019s fierce effort was tipped onto the post by Alisson, but the keeper was stranded as the ball came out to Mikel Merino who had the simple task of knocking a header into an empty net. Get in! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liverpool brought on Madrid bound Trent Alexander-Arnold to a loud chorus of boos from his own fans. Bizaare! We began to dream of an unlikely 3 points but 10 minutes after equalising, Merino was sent off for a second yellow after bringing down Nunez just outside the box. Liverpool were allowed to play on but when the ball went out the ref not only pulled it back but sent Merino off and gave Liverpool a free kick. Talk about having your cake and eating it. Trent\u2019s FK went wide, and we regrouped for the final ten minutes. \u00d8degaard had a great chance to win it finding space on the edge of the box, but his effort went narrowly wide. He could\u2019ve quite easily had three goals in the last two games. Fine margins. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liverpool thought they had won it right at the death through Andy Robertson, but it was ruled out for offside\/foul despite VAR desperately looking for a reason to award the goal. But that was that and Arsenal held on for a great point which looked hugely unlikely at half time. We proudly clapped the players off and made our way back to the coach for our long journey home. It\u2019s a lot easier to stomach that journey when you\u2019ve battled back from 2-0 down. We got home at around 11:30pm and plopped straight to bed after a very long and tiring, but ultimately enjoyable away day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So that\u2019s us done for away days this season. We\u2019ve been to Lisbon and Liverpool and everywhere in between and we hope to do even more next season and beyond. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

COYG!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our personal final away day of the season was upon us. For the first time for me and the first time in a few decades for CER, we were able to attend away games on a semi regular basis this season. And for the second time in the space of a few weeks we were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11246"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11246"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11260,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11246\/revisions\/11260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}