Post by animallittle on Jun 30, 2008 18:14:58 GMT 1
When i eventually found my way to my seat i was well pleased,i was positioned about half way up the lower tier and smack on the half way line,i did have a bit of a worry mind you,and it did cross my mind the tout may have flogged me a forgery but i quickly put that to the back of my mind and started to soak in the unique Anfield atmosphere,the Anfield Road which housed our 6000 strong supporters were in fine voice,and they looked to be out to enjoy the occasion without having any real expectation.
I decided to introduce myself to the guy sat next to me who turned out to be a Liverpool season ticket holder from Hastings,my accent obviously gave me away but he was pretty cool about it and just said keep your arse on your seat should you score because the stewards will throw you out,some chance of that i said,he replied that Liverpool were no great shake's either at the moment and he was worried about this match and said if Liverpool dont get an early goal the crowd will soon be on their backs,the guy on the other side of me was a different kettle of fish,he just basically said he was expecting a 3 or 4 goal win and it must be hard work supporting the likes of Barnsley !!!,not really i said we are a small club who historically punches above its weight and this was my third visit to Anfield and i had yet to see us lose.
At 2.55pm the tannoy played the famous Liverpool song "you'll never walk alone" and all four sides of the ground sang it as one,which was acknowledge by the Liverpool fans,its some song is that,and it fair makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up,the atmosphere was really building now and Anfield was a wall of sound and colour as the teams made there way out into the middle.
For the first 5 minutes Liverpool simply played keep ball and passed it around to themselfs,we could not get near them,the quality shining through,they only need one touch and sometimes none at all as they passed the ball right round us but importantly not through us,we looked organised and were keeping our shape as we harried and chased and tried to get in their faces,then Riese the Liverpool left back mis-controlled and Nardiello dispossed him and was through on goal,the angle was tight and he fired across the keeper and wide,a decent chance and the best one to fall so far.
But it was an isolated threat as Liverpool started to look menacing,our debut keeper Steele was very busy and he was making some fine saves as Liverpool started to take us apart,i was worried,very worried in fact,at no stage did i think we could win this one but neither did i want us to get a hammering and the way Liverpool started to cut through us made that seem very likely,especially when they went in front on the half hour mark,Dirk Kuet firing home after Marcus Babbell had turned Bobby Hassell this way and that before crossing the ball for the Dutchman to score with some ease.
At this stage i just wanted us to get to halftime 1-0 down and look to re-group because we were getting a hell of a chasing and Liverpool really should have been 3 or 4 up,it seemed to me that it was too easy for them but they kept missing their chances and the fella sat next to me was right,because the crowd started to get on their backs and all of a sudden they then started to make silly errors,passes started missing the man for which they were intended,one or two Alonso in paticular were starting to look a little nervous,i thought it strange to be honest,they were in complete control of the game and looking like they could score at will and yet the crowd were getting agitated and i thought to myself if we could pinch a goal then things could get really interesting.
We did make to half time just the one goal behind and i was well pleased to be honest,our lads had been chasing shadows but it was only 1-0.
Part 4 To Follow Shortly
I decided to introduce myself to the guy sat next to me who turned out to be a Liverpool season ticket holder from Hastings,my accent obviously gave me away but he was pretty cool about it and just said keep your arse on your seat should you score because the stewards will throw you out,some chance of that i said,he replied that Liverpool were no great shake's either at the moment and he was worried about this match and said if Liverpool dont get an early goal the crowd will soon be on their backs,the guy on the other side of me was a different kettle of fish,he just basically said he was expecting a 3 or 4 goal win and it must be hard work supporting the likes of Barnsley !!!,not really i said we are a small club who historically punches above its weight and this was my third visit to Anfield and i had yet to see us lose.
At 2.55pm the tannoy played the famous Liverpool song "you'll never walk alone" and all four sides of the ground sang it as one,which was acknowledge by the Liverpool fans,its some song is that,and it fair makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up,the atmosphere was really building now and Anfield was a wall of sound and colour as the teams made there way out into the middle.
For the first 5 minutes Liverpool simply played keep ball and passed it around to themselfs,we could not get near them,the quality shining through,they only need one touch and sometimes none at all as they passed the ball right round us but importantly not through us,we looked organised and were keeping our shape as we harried and chased and tried to get in their faces,then Riese the Liverpool left back mis-controlled and Nardiello dispossed him and was through on goal,the angle was tight and he fired across the keeper and wide,a decent chance and the best one to fall so far.
But it was an isolated threat as Liverpool started to look menacing,our debut keeper Steele was very busy and he was making some fine saves as Liverpool started to take us apart,i was worried,very worried in fact,at no stage did i think we could win this one but neither did i want us to get a hammering and the way Liverpool started to cut through us made that seem very likely,especially when they went in front on the half hour mark,Dirk Kuet firing home after Marcus Babbell had turned Bobby Hassell this way and that before crossing the ball for the Dutchman to score with some ease.
At this stage i just wanted us to get to halftime 1-0 down and look to re-group because we were getting a hell of a chasing and Liverpool really should have been 3 or 4 up,it seemed to me that it was too easy for them but they kept missing their chances and the fella sat next to me was right,because the crowd started to get on their backs and all of a sudden they then started to make silly errors,passes started missing the man for which they were intended,one or two Alonso in paticular were starting to look a little nervous,i thought it strange to be honest,they were in complete control of the game and looking like they could score at will and yet the crowd were getting agitated and i thought to myself if we could pinch a goal then things could get really interesting.
We did make to half time just the one goal behind and i was well pleased to be honest,our lads had been chasing shadows but it was only 1-0.
Part 4 To Follow Shortly