A looooong football post!

It was a mixed bag of results this weekend. Actually, even though it was mixed, I was able to revel in the good side of the results.

I went home this weekend, footballing home that is. And what a return it was. The weather was dreary and dull and terribly, terribly wet but that didn't matter one single bit. I was just glad that I wasn't at the front of the west stand cos they got drenched!

Anyhoo, Dad and I got up super early and drove up to the magical city of Glasgow. Hurrah! My first time back in the city since coming home. It hasn't changed much. It probably hasn't stopped raining since the last time I was there.

We arrived just in time for a quick nosh at our favourite Partick diner, Cullis'. It really is wonderful and two eggs, chips and beans definitely keeps you going long after the football match has ended. We ate really fast. I'm surprised that we didn't get crazy bad indigestion. I'm very thankful that we didn't. After that we started our journey through Glasgow to get to Hampden.

First stage: walk along Dumbarton Road to Partick train station. Here was the biggest difference that I came across. It nearly took my breath away. They were doing up Partick station when I left and now it is all finished. It used to be dark, dirty and dingey and now it is light and airy and has a totally different layout from before. Ok, it is only really the kiosks that are in a different place but it freaked me out a little.

Second stage: train to Grand Central Station (not in New York anymore!). Same as always!

Third stage: train to Mount Florida. This was the quietest train that I have ever caught to Mount Florida. Usually you are squashed in like sardines (think Chinese transport system and you might just get the picture!). Amazingly we managed to get seats AND the people who were standing had decent amounts of personal space. Incredible.

Fourth stage: walk the short distance from the train station to Hampden Park whilst looking for a shop that sells gum, showing match tickets to multiple policemen/women and having bags searched.

(Thankfully they didn't search my bag too hard cos I came away from Hampden and realised that I had a large bottle of Ralph Lauren perfume with me. A large, glass bottle. They frown upon those at football matches. Not totally sure how the policewoman missed that one but I'm rather pleased that she did.)

Arrived at destination.

It was only just beginning though.

It was 'Saltire Saturday' so everyone had to bring their Saltires with them. Dad and I both had one with us. I mainly used mine as a blanket.

This is the Saltire just in case you didn't know what in the world I was talking about.This is the Lion Rampant, Scotland's other flag. Maybe Wednesday when Scotland play the Netherlands it will be 'Lion Rampant Wednesday'. Doesn't have quite the same ring to it.

It was a 'do or die' game against Macedonia (probably should have mentioned who it was against earlier!) for World Cup Qualification. We did it. 2-0 with both goals in the second half (which was a bit of a pain as it was at the other end of the pitch to where we were sitting).

Some things to mention: Scott Brown (amazing, AMAZING. Ok, so he can be a hot headed brute but he played so well. He was the pick of the bunch for sure.), James McFadden's needless booking (still can't work that out), the Tartan Specials at half time, Loch Lomond (had to wipe away a wee, stray tear), the pie that flew over the edge when Scott Brown scored that first goal (rather unfortunate that we were on the second tier and precisely why I wouldn't let my Dad put his coffee on the ledge.), McFadden's super run passed multiple defenders AND goalkeeper to score, Shaun Maloney came on as a sub (HURRAH!), the big brawl just before half time, the Hampden Roar (took. my. breath. away.).

Here are a few pics:

Next stop: the Netherlands. Hampden Park. Wednesday. 7.30pm. We've got to win it to have any possible chance of getting a play off place to go to South Africa next Summer. I can't wait to make the trip to Glasgow again. I shall not be walking from Hampden to the city centre again though.

I think it is fair to say that there is some optimism in the Scotland camp. In the Darlington camp on the other hand......

3-0 defeat away at Lincoln. That still leaves us propping up the whole of the football league with a measly 1 point out of 18. It would be laughable if it wasn't so achingly painful. I really didn't think that we would have a team this season at all so I guess that I should be thankful that we even have one point. It is just hard to with the new season optimism that you get regardless of how cobbled together you know your team is. The thing is that I really don't feel like I can bag on these players. Most of them came here knowing the club's plight and I am so grateful to them for coming despite that.

The most unfortunate thing is that the team doesn't actually play that badly. Not the games that I've seen anyway. They certainly played well in front of the 828 people that crammed into the 27,000 seater Arena to see them win against Lincoln (ironically) in the JPT. That game was the final straw for Lincoln's manager Peter Jackson who was sacked after it. Everyone knows what happens the next game after a manager is sacked. The team always win. It was just a shame that Darlington were playing Lincoln in the league that next game. I don't know why anyone is surprised that we lost that game so badly.

I have no doubts that the team will improve. They've already been obviously improving in the way that they play. They are starting to know where each other are going to be at any given time on the pitch. I just hope that they get their act together and shock some teams sooner rather than later.

Like I say, mixed bag of results this weekend. Hopefully there'll be more of the same for Scotland and a big change for Darlo!