Sheffield ‘sour grapes’ Wednesday 1:1 Forest

You know you’re on to a good day when you’re in the pub for 10:30 for a 3pm kick off. A JD Wetherspoons to start the day wasn’t the plan we had in mind to start with, but after perusing the new 2010 CAMRA Good Beer Guide we realised that pub no.1 wasn’t open until Saturday evening. D’oh. Ah well, never mind.

One each in the Red Deer, Bath Hotel & Wellington before a couple in the Crown Brewery tap, the Hillsborough Hotel, to finish off the pre-match quenching. Nice.







Like the Derby game two weeks ago, no sooner had the game started than we scored, Dexter Blackstock with the glanciest of headers unmarked six yards out. That’s what you go to away games for, that feeling of elation when a ball hits a net 120 yards away and you’re surrounded by 5,000 fellow trickies. Heaven. 1-0 should have been 2-0 within 20 minutes, but this time Dexter’s touch was too heavy and the ball skewed wide. Sheff Wed were always in the game, but their finishing was snatchy and baloony. All good words these, feel free to use any of them.

Their equaliser came from a period of sustained pressure, but for the second season running owed more to luck than judgement. Wes Morgan was a rock all afternoon, throwing himself in front of every shot, but on this occasion his touch was the telling one as Lee Camp lunged one way only for the ball to be diverted the other.

The second half was fairly even, Paul Anderson bringing a good save out of Lee Grant, but a draw was overall a fair result. It looked better on the BBC1 highlights.

Brian Laws didn’t see it that way, bemoaning Forest’s time wasting tactics. Admittedly, I remembering mentioning during the game that the Sheff Wed players did themselves credit by not rolling around on the floor as you tend to see on Match of the Day every Saturday night, but I don’t see why Forest players should be in any rush to get the ball back in play just because the opposition prefer it that way. Fair play to you.









After the game we waited for a tram, and waited, and waited ……





The Kelham Island Brewery's tap, the Fat Cat serves some nice beer, but beware the Cherry Perry, dangerously drinkable at 7%. The Kelham Island Tavern round the corner is CAMRA’s pub of the year, but I’m not sure why. Don’t get me wrong, it’s very nice, but I can name you three pubs within walking distance of my house that are better. To be fair I can name you three other pubs within walking distance of my house that I wouldn’t drink in without having my knacker in a vice.

A train home with some, ahem, Forest fans at the lower end of the evolutionary scale before a quick last one in the Vat & Fiddle.



Castle Rock beers are, on the whole, very nice. Pyramidal Orchid certainly isn’t.

Yorkshire Beer Festival - Horse & Groom Sat 18 July

The Horse & Groom is probably my favourite pub at the moment, the standard of beer is never at fault while the choice is simply mind-blowing.

Last weekend was even better with Cellerman Colin's (no relation !!) Yorkshire Beer Festival.

Ignoring the Yorkshire-esque 'Gods own County' gubbins printed on the program (God has obviously never visited Leeds) I've got a very large soft spot for beers from that neck of the woods.

After a trip to York in April gave me a rethink on my top ten beers, it was good to see a York Brewery beer on the list, Constantine. Their Centurion's Ghost is gorgeous, to such an extent that a return trip to York is in the pipeline simply to drink some more, and the Constantine was equally as quaffable. A fantastic way to start the day.

Bronte Bitter from Goose Eye brewery







Spike on t'way and Tabatha the Knackerd (very nice) from the Anglo Dutch Brewery









Old Mill Mild from the Old Mill Brewery







Black Dub Oat Stout from the Wensleydale Brewery







Well Blathered from the Rudagte Brewery

Lincoln 1:1 Forest

A proper Saturday away game done in the proper way.

In the old days, an away game wouldn't have been the same without getting up early on the Saturday morning with raging hang-over. Old age might have stopped the 3am clubbing experience (ok, maybe not stopped, but it's not EVERY weekend any more) so a more gentile night was spent in the company of a very old friend, The Beechdale.

It's been a few years since I've been in, and it's changed a touch since then, but it's still the same place. 21 years since I first started working there, the memories are still fresh, the Smoking Room, the old dart board, pints of mix, a beef salad cob at lunch-time, towels in the pool table pockets, cheap chips on the way home, good old days.

As an aside, since the smoking ban has come into force in England, my hang-overs have all been considerably reduced. Were my old hang-overs the result of passive nicotine withdrawal ? Mmmmmmmm ..........

So, up on Saturday morning with a touch of a hang-over, easily cured with a sausage, egg & cheese cob at home, and a couple of cans of gassy lager on the train to Lincoln. Sorted.

Lincoln may only be 50 miles away, but judging by the number of police waiting for what was a scheduled train, you'd have thought we'd gone back in time to the bad old days of trouble in the 80's. One officer was clearly on holiday, capturing the moment on his camcorder, while another was dressed for cross-country skiing.

Because we knew that local meatheads would want to shake hands with equally gifted intellectuals from Newark, we decided to get a taxi up the hill and start the days drinking in a quieter part of town. (Thanks to the Lincoln CAMRA web site for the information)

The Victoria is a cracking little pub, real ale and real floor-boards, all housed in an old red-brick coach house near the castle.

Just round the corner to The Strugglers, an award winning place with a real (ok, gas) fire and a good choice of beer.

Along a bit to the Tower Hotel, a more modern place, laminate flooring instead of the old floorboards, but very comfy leather sofas.

From then on the pubs (literally) went a little bit downhill. The Lion & Snake was a little bit too Weatherspoons-ish for my liking,

while the Magna Carta was nice looking outside, but too false inside.

A bit of walk down through the shopping area to the Treaty of Commerce for a quick one before a walk to the ground.

I've been to Sincil Bank several times, but never for a competitive game (it has been 50 years after all !!!). Having bummed my way round a few Scottish Third division grounds, it's of a similar vein, one decent stand, one small stand for your directors and a couple of cheap concrete ends.

The game itself was mostly one way, Forest having ALL the possession for the first 10 - 15 minutes in front of 2,500 very vocal travelling supporters. When McGugan put Forest in front from close range, it was no more than we deserved.

The stats will say that Lincoln didn't manage a single shot on target all game, and in this instance the stats don't lie. Yet the most important stat of the day will dictate that Forest & Lincoln will have to replay a fortnight on Tuesday because Kelvin Wilson is too clumsy to either get his leg out of the way facing the wrong way in his own box or incapable of kicking a ball upwards.

Junior Agogo missed the target when clean through and Kris Commons could have won it with a shot from 40 yards out that cannoned off the bar. Anyone else would have made the effort to get nearer to goal, but the smell of pies from the small directors stand pulled him back.

The game ground to an inevitable draw as Forest, as they are prone to do, failed to break down a ten man defence of a poorer side.

Outside the ground to be greeted by even more of her majesty's finest, firstly blocking the road to the station before letting only a certain number of people through, and then excelling themselves with their desire to stop people sitting where they liked on trains.

A quick one in Foreman's before going home & putting our feet up to watch the best comedy currently on the BBC, Match of the Day.

Guinness

This is the best advert ever made, apparently;



But I always preferred this one

It just gets better & better

Every time I go to the Beer Festival, it just gets better and better.

21 years I've been going now, and not missed one since '97, and the place never fails to provide gorgeous beers in the most non-threatening environment you'll ever get in the centre of Nottingham.

As has been the norm over the last few years, the ciders & perries got a severe tasting, the Suicider rum laced cider being very moreish.

Roll on October 2008.

Weekend entertainment

It's the Beer Festival on Friday.

I've got my tickets for Forest on Saturday.

The Rugby World Cup Final is on Saturday night. *

I can't wait.

And it's only Monday !!!!!

* Paulie over at Never Trust A Hippy has some comments about the coming week's activities surrounding the Rugby World Cup Final, and rugby in general.

In general, I think he's got a point. I followed a Nigella Lawson recipe last week, so must be posh.

However, in this particular instance, not being English may be clouding his judgement on this one a little bit.

I've got very little interest in any game that takes place with mis-shaped balls (take your pick from either code of egg-chasing, ice-hockey, curling etc etc) and I've never professed to know the rules of Rugby Union, despite having played the game for three years at one of the strange non-footballing schools Paulie alludes to, but this is a World Cup Final and my country is involved.

Being English may have its faults and 'Englishness' is a subject for a far wider discussion, but this is England in a World Cup Final. Again. And this time they've earned their way through with guts & determination very few gave them credit for at the start of the tournament.

We may not win, and it certainly isn't going to encourage me to go and watch grown men stick their heads up each others backsides for 80 minutes before going into a club to drink each other's p**s, but I'll be watching the game on Saturday night with a beer in my hand surrounded by like-minded individuals because, and for no other reason, it'll be fun.