I borrowed this pic from www.darlofc.co.uk (or Darlo Uncovered). So Ryan came back to the 96.6 TFM Darlington Arena. I think this is such a lovely picture (even though I greatly object to Sam Russell's hair - he is the one in the blue). Ryan was captain for Wrexham which I thought was a nice touch. I was really angry when 'Manwoman' started shouting 'traitor' at him - how is he a traitor if he wanted to be with his family? Stay at Darlo or be with family in Wales and maybe get picked to play for your country? Hmmmm..... tough decision!
So, Darlo drew 1 all with Wrexham. It did highlight how much we miss Ryan. Craig James who is now playing in his place is poor in comparison.
The match turned really nasty towards the end. The Wrexham goalkeeper, Michael Ingham, (who has actually played for Darlo when on loan a few years back) apparently kicked a water bottle into the crowd and our supporters turned on him very nastily. To be honest I missed the incident totally but I certainly saw bottles being thrown ON to the pitch so I think a story about a pot, a kettle and the colour black would suit very well at the moment. It was actually quite scary towards the end and I felt sorry for Michael Ingham. It seemed to me that he didn't mean anything malicious and that the Darlo fans were acting like pathetic animals. I was ashamed to be sitting amongst them.
But it was so nice to see Ryan back in Darlo although I do wish he had been playing in black and white, rather than red!