thrashing, 5 goals minimum.
it was just another game, albeit at Wembley. I was just going through the motions – turn up,
drink beer, win, go home.
This time was history – our first ever FA Cup Final with a qualification
to our first ever European campaign already in the bag – not to mention a
chance of getting revenge for Phil Brown’s sacking following our defeat to
Arsenal several years ago, and to give the gift of another year without a
trophy for those poor Arsenal fans, to the rest of the footballing community.
inspiring teams that have knocked Hull City AFC out of the FA Cup since I have
supported them:
and Aston Villa (well, biggish) but the vast majority are relative minnows.
meeting my sister and a couple of our respective friends – a really cool place
with an awesome roof terrace, shame about the lack of sunshine though. On the bright side, I had mullet recognition
as someone shouted “Pat Sharpe” at me.
Notably excellent and very friendly service too.
walk to the shop within 5 minutes of waking up to get some beers, it had taken
hours to get to sleep the night before.
my uncle, auntie, cousin and saw another mullet – I shouted “mullet” then
realised he was rather hard looking, and the mullet wasn’t ironic in the
slightest, clearly unchanged from 30 years, except a bit of balding on top.
atmosphere was exceptional and yes I sung the national anthem, hand on heart.
a 1-0 and the dream of 4-2.
catch them early, and hold on bravely.
twice to make sure it was a goal, even as we were going crazy in celebration I
was still not convinced but it was a clear goal – knocked in by one of our
excellent central defenders, James Chester.
Can you name any other footballers with a first name of James? A true rarity.
our captain fantastic, Curtis Davies – a true Hull City legend after just one
season, this guy gives so much effort that it is truly inspiring – Margaret Thatcher
would be proud. Why he is not in the
England squad is beyond me. Apart from
the fact that he doesn’t play for a big club.
this season and lost.
scoring a 3rd. Alex Bruce,
the manager’s son had a header cleared off the line.
opportunity and were lucky to get a free kick, from which they scored. It was a very good goal though.
particularly much better than us, there were few shots on target from either
team and come the half-time beer, we were 2-1 ahead. Perhaps the most memorable moment in the rest
of the half was the lout next to me chanting “Steve Bruce”, somehow not falling
over despite being horrendously drunk, for a good 10 minutes before the rest of
us joined in/caved in. Steve Bruce. Steve Bruce.
Steve Bruce. Steve Bruce. Steve Bruce.
Steve Bruce. And on.
quick. Steve Bruce.
and showed their class. However they
couldn’t break down our defence, and I started to believe that maybe it would
be our day. One or two half-shouts for a
penalty against us, which I’m surprised weren’t given with Arsenal being a big
club – but certainty would not have been given to us, so it was fair. Steve Bruce. Steve Bruce. Steve Bruce.
into the net. It was then just a matter
of time until they got the winner and I was hoping that it would be over sooner
rather than later.
Wiltshere – which is a sign of how far ahead of us they are when we had the
likes of Boyd and Aluko to bring on – eventually Arsenal did get their 3rdgoal to go into the lead.
defending gave us a difficult chance, Aluko had passed the keeper but was
almost next to the touchline – a cross/shot went agonisingly wide. Steve Bruce. Steve Bruce. Steve Bruce. Steve Bruce.
So close to an equaliser – so close to penalties. Albeit with more English players than Arsenal
we would have had no chance of winning a shoot-out.
Curtis Davies, our central defender was still running right to the end, to the
point of even playing up front for a while.
I have never known such support from the fans, not even in the play-off
final, even straight after Arsenal’s equalizer and winning goal, we were
straight back to singing.
so proud to be from Hull”.
I don’t mind losing – getting there was amazing, being 2-0 ahead was
beyond amazing and the whole experience was just exceptional – one of those
days I will be talking about when I have those metaphorical grand-children to
talk to.