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With the rail strike, it was National Express for me for the Lionesses’ match with the Netherlands at Leeds on Friday. I feared the coaches were going to be packed, but mercifully I managed to get a double seat throughout.
We arrived in Leeds an hour late. I had to jump straight into a cab to the hotel, which was a longer walk from Elland Road than I’d hoped. The walk involved crossing an approach road to a motorway; happily it wasn’t long before enough of a lull in the traffic to let me cross. The delay put the mockers on my chances of a chat and a jar with Crystal. I had to settle for a quick hello to her and her companion Laura; they hadn’t eaten since lunch time so decided to go straight into the ground and rely on the catering inside.
With an hour and a half still to kick-off I popped over the road to The Bielsa pub. An ice cold berry and cherry Old Mout went down very well, milling around in the hot early evening among a cheerful crowd.
In the stadium I joined the queue for the ‘Big Al’s Diner’ refreshment stall only to hear, near the front, that there were no BBQ Ribs tonight. I headed on to the Chicken Shack for some excellent breadcrumbed chicken strips and chips.
My seat was about halfway up the upper part of the lower tier of one of the long sides, about halfway between the halfway line and the goal. Karen Bardsley was introduced and presented with her framed shirt by Sue Campbell to a massive ovation. The PA played Sweet Caroline and exhorted the crowd to sing along. The teams emerged. The announcer proclaimed it was Dutch captain Sherida Spitse’s 200th cap and she received a generous round of applause. A young lad in the row in front gave me a weird look for singing Het Wilhelmus word perfect.
The Oranje Leeuwinnen were the toughest test our Lionesses had faced since the Arnold Clark Cup in February. The Dutch had the better of the opening phase and when Lieke Martens opened the scoring with a header I thought it wasn’t going to be England’s night.
How wrong I was. Just after the half hour Lucy Bronze sent a cross shot looping into the top corner and the teams went in at half time all square.
Early in the second half Alex Greenwood brought down Danielle van de Donk. The referee waved play on and the game carried on but then play stopped as ‘Penalty Decision - VAR’ - in both English and Dutch - flashed up in huge letters on the Titantron. The players gathered around the England penalty area as Spitse lined up to take the spot kick. Mary Earps dived the right way but Spitse missed anyway.
Straight away England went on the attack and Lauren Hemp bent the ball into sub Beth Mead’s path and Mead made no mistake. From then on it was one way traffic. The fans sang and roared on the Lionesses and our pressure eventually told in the 72nd minute when sub Ella Toone curled the ball home. The amazing Hemp fired in off the post soon after. Sweet Caroline rang out over and over. In the closing stages Beth Mead put the icing on the cake skipping past the Dutch centre back and sidefooting between her and Van Veenendaal for England’s fifth.
I waited outside the ground for Crystal and Laura. Crystal was delighted; she’d got to talk to Karen Bardsley after the pre-match presentation and got a photo with her. She said she’d had to muscle past a couple of wee lassies to get to Karen; I said “You’re her biggest fan, so it’s only right” and she grinned. They turned to head back to their car and I followed the crowds back towards the hotel. I was in a group of England fans crossing the approach road this time; we’d hit a pause in the traffic.
In the hotel’s lovely bar there was a new Rekorderlig on me on offer, blood orange. Celebrated with one, with ice, surrounded by other Lionesses fans and some England cricket fans up for the Headingley Test.
Excellent breakfast yesterday. There was a lady at a nearby table in a basketball-style vest in red and yellow stripes, bearing the Swizzel’s Drumstick logo on the front and back. I thought : wouldn’t it be amazing if Swizzel’s really sponsored a sports team and had them play in that kit?
The hotel had a partner taxi firm and had a cab arrive for me within minutes. The coach arrived at Victoria on time and I wandered along to a nearby cafe for a late lunch, then returned to Victoria coach station to wait for the 15.30 coach to Portsmouth…and wait and wait.
3.30 came and went and the Portsmouth coach disappeared from the gate information screen. I asked a few other people if they were going to Portsmouth and they said yes. The half dozen of us stuck together from that point on. One guy was going home to the Isle of Wight after seeing Green Day in London, a young lady was going to run a 30 mile race on the Isle of Wight next day and an older lady was heading home to Bracknell. On hearing I’d been to see the England women in Leeds, the others were impressed that I’ve been around the world following the Lionesses.
A young man in our group said he’d heard a rumour that our coach had left from a different gate with nobody on it. We reflected how if they tried to herd us all on to the 17.30 coach that would be overcrowded and the young guy said “They can’t put us on there”. He said National Express would have to put us up in London overnight; he added “The Royal suite at the Hilton, I reckon”.
Eventually a staff member in an orange hi-vis came over to tell us that our coach had been cancelled because it had broken down and that minibuses would be arranged for us. The young guy and the older lady went for loo breaks and to get something from the cafe. Ten minutes or so later a PA announcement confirmed the cancellation of our coach and said “an alternative service” would be provided for us. That had us wondering : were we going to be on minibuses, or were they going to rustle up a coach for us?
Eventually the coach station staff guy appeared at the gate and asked for passengers for Portsmouth. A dozen people came forward. That threw him as he’d thought there were just six of us. He went away, came back, and asked specifically for passengers for Portsmouth Continental Ferry Port. He said there were just five people booked for there. The Isle of Wight man tried to blag his way into the group, but was turned back as his ticket was marked for The Hard. Two ladies sitting in the seats and a young guy all stepped up and were allowed to go through the gate and on to a waiting taxi. When no-one else said they were going to the Continental Ferry Port, the Isle of Wight guy and the lady runner both had words with the staff man and were waved on to the taxi. He asked a man and woman standing next to me if either was a single passenger going to Portsmouth, but they were a couple going to Guildford. I said I was a single passenger for Portsmouth and the staff guy waved me through to walk up to the taxi.
The cab driver loaded my bag into the front cabin and I took the last of the six seats in the back, a folding plastic seat by the door. We were sat three facing three and I was facing backwards. An hour behind schedule, we drove out of Victoria Coach Station waving to the coaches.
We chatted a little on the drive. The two ladies were a mother and daughter who’d been to see Ed Sheeran the night before. As we crossed the Thames the daughter said “Bye bye London”. When he heard I travelled around watching the Lionesses, the Isle of Wight guy confessed to being a Tottenham fan and asked me a bit about which stadiums I’d seen. We all wished the lady runner well for her race. She said she’d be doing one in Croatia later in the summer.
I’d been so relieved to get on the move that I’d reasoned that having to find my own way home from the Continental Ferry Port would be bearable. Happily, once the Ferry Port trio had been dropped off, the cab driver agreed to take the remaining three of us to the Hard.
Home to splash and change. Was at the club by 8 pm.
We arrived in Leeds an hour late. I had to jump straight into a cab to the hotel, which was a longer walk from Elland Road than I’d hoped. The walk involved crossing an approach road to a motorway; happily it wasn’t long before enough of a lull in the traffic to let me cross. The delay put the mockers on my chances of a chat and a jar with Crystal. I had to settle for a quick hello to her and her companion Laura; they hadn’t eaten since lunch time so decided to go straight into the ground and rely on the catering inside.
With an hour and a half still to kick-off I popped over the road to The Bielsa pub. An ice cold berry and cherry Old Mout went down very well, milling around in the hot early evening among a cheerful crowd.
In the stadium I joined the queue for the ‘Big Al’s Diner’ refreshment stall only to hear, near the front, that there were no BBQ Ribs tonight. I headed on to the Chicken Shack for some excellent breadcrumbed chicken strips and chips.
My seat was about halfway up the upper part of the lower tier of one of the long sides, about halfway between the halfway line and the goal. Karen Bardsley was introduced and presented with her framed shirt by Sue Campbell to a massive ovation. The PA played Sweet Caroline and exhorted the crowd to sing along. The teams emerged. The announcer proclaimed it was Dutch captain Sherida Spitse’s 200th cap and she received a generous round of applause. A young lad in the row in front gave me a weird look for singing Het Wilhelmus word perfect.
The Oranje Leeuwinnen were the toughest test our Lionesses had faced since the Arnold Clark Cup in February. The Dutch had the better of the opening phase and when Lieke Martens opened the scoring with a header I thought it wasn’t going to be England’s night.
How wrong I was. Just after the half hour Lucy Bronze sent a cross shot looping into the top corner and the teams went in at half time all square.
Early in the second half Alex Greenwood brought down Danielle van de Donk. The referee waved play on and the game carried on but then play stopped as ‘Penalty Decision - VAR’ - in both English and Dutch - flashed up in huge letters on the Titantron. The players gathered around the England penalty area as Spitse lined up to take the spot kick. Mary Earps dived the right way but Spitse missed anyway.
Straight away England went on the attack and Lauren Hemp bent the ball into sub Beth Mead’s path and Mead made no mistake. From then on it was one way traffic. The fans sang and roared on the Lionesses and our pressure eventually told in the 72nd minute when sub Ella Toone curled the ball home. The amazing Hemp fired in off the post soon after. Sweet Caroline rang out over and over. In the closing stages Beth Mead put the icing on the cake skipping past the Dutch centre back and sidefooting between her and Van Veenendaal for England’s fifth.
I waited outside the ground for Crystal and Laura. Crystal was delighted; she’d got to talk to Karen Bardsley after the pre-match presentation and got a photo with her. She said she’d had to muscle past a couple of wee lassies to get to Karen; I said “You’re her biggest fan, so it’s only right” and she grinned. They turned to head back to their car and I followed the crowds back towards the hotel. I was in a group of England fans crossing the approach road this time; we’d hit a pause in the traffic.
In the hotel’s lovely bar there was a new Rekorderlig on me on offer, blood orange. Celebrated with one, with ice, surrounded by other Lionesses fans and some England cricket fans up for the Headingley Test.
Excellent breakfast yesterday. There was a lady at a nearby table in a basketball-style vest in red and yellow stripes, bearing the Swizzel’s Drumstick logo on the front and back. I thought : wouldn’t it be amazing if Swizzel’s really sponsored a sports team and had them play in that kit?
The hotel had a partner taxi firm and had a cab arrive for me within minutes. The coach arrived at Victoria on time and I wandered along to a nearby cafe for a late lunch, then returned to Victoria coach station to wait for the 15.30 coach to Portsmouth…and wait and wait.
3.30 came and went and the Portsmouth coach disappeared from the gate information screen. I asked a few other people if they were going to Portsmouth and they said yes. The half dozen of us stuck together from that point on. One guy was going home to the Isle of Wight after seeing Green Day in London, a young lady was going to run a 30 mile race on the Isle of Wight next day and an older lady was heading home to Bracknell. On hearing I’d been to see the England women in Leeds, the others were impressed that I’ve been around the world following the Lionesses.
A young man in our group said he’d heard a rumour that our coach had left from a different gate with nobody on it. We reflected how if they tried to herd us all on to the 17.30 coach that would be overcrowded and the young guy said “They can’t put us on there”. He said National Express would have to put us up in London overnight; he added “The Royal suite at the Hilton, I reckon”.
Eventually a staff member in an orange hi-vis came over to tell us that our coach had been cancelled because it had broken down and that minibuses would be arranged for us. The young guy and the older lady went for loo breaks and to get something from the cafe. Ten minutes or so later a PA announcement confirmed the cancellation of our coach and said “an alternative service” would be provided for us. That had us wondering : were we going to be on minibuses, or were they going to rustle up a coach for us?
Eventually the coach station staff guy appeared at the gate and asked for passengers for Portsmouth. A dozen people came forward. That threw him as he’d thought there were just six of us. He went away, came back, and asked specifically for passengers for Portsmouth Continental Ferry Port. He said there were just five people booked for there. The Isle of Wight man tried to blag his way into the group, but was turned back as his ticket was marked for The Hard. Two ladies sitting in the seats and a young guy all stepped up and were allowed to go through the gate and on to a waiting taxi. When no-one else said they were going to the Continental Ferry Port, the Isle of Wight guy and the lady runner both had words with the staff man and were waved on to the taxi. He asked a man and woman standing next to me if either was a single passenger going to Portsmouth, but they were a couple going to Guildford. I said I was a single passenger for Portsmouth and the staff guy waved me through to walk up to the taxi.
The cab driver loaded my bag into the front cabin and I took the last of the six seats in the back, a folding plastic seat by the door. We were sat three facing three and I was facing backwards. An hour behind schedule, we drove out of Victoria Coach Station waving to the coaches.
We chatted a little on the drive. The two ladies were a mother and daughter who’d been to see Ed Sheeran the night before. As we crossed the Thames the daughter said “Bye bye London”. When he heard I travelled around watching the Lionesses, the Isle of Wight guy confessed to being a Tottenham fan and asked me a bit about which stadiums I’d seen. We all wished the lady runner well for her race. She said she’d be doing one in Croatia later in the summer.
I’d been so relieved to get on the move that I’d reasoned that having to find my own way home from the Continental Ferry Port would be bearable. Happily, once the Ferry Port trio had been dropped off, the cab driver agreed to take the remaining three of us to the Hard.
Home to splash and change. Was at the club by 8 pm.
