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Spot the White Ensign to my left

Futebol

4 Jul 09 - I cannot believe that it's been so long since I was last at a match but there you go. I nearly didn't make this one as we'd spent the day in the hills outside Rio doing white water rafting. We made it back to the ship at 1800 and had a quick shower before rushing ashore. We'd no transport available so we caught a lift on a Brazilian army jeep to the dockyard gate then offered a taxi driver twice the normal fare to get us to the match before the 1830 kick-off. Twenty minutes later we thankfully pulled up outside the newly opened Engenhão or Estádio Olímpico João Havelange stadium. We arranged to be picked up post match and rushed to buy tickets but we ended up at the away end, not to worry we could shout for anyone really. We got up to the top of the away stand only a few minutes into the match and were treated the typical samba style support from the Vitoria and the more numerous Flamengo fans.

The match itself was all nice flicks and passing until the final 3rd when poor crossing spoiled almost every move. Luckily it do go right occasionally and Flamengo had the former Man Utd player Kleberson put a ball over into the left channel which was slotted home easily by Juan midway through the first half.

At halftime we chatted as best we could with the Vitoria fans who recognised the Celtic top I was wearing but struggled slightly with Phil's distinctive Bradford top.

Vitoria played well after the break and a cross from the right saw their huge striker Roger leap above two markers to power home from 6 yards. It was then end to end stuff and it was sad to see that several attempts to clear the defence by Vitoria failed and saw a ball fall to Emerson who dispatched it past the keeper. Late drama came in the form of a penalty save by Vitoria where 2 follow up shots hit the crossbar and post before being cleared.

Everyone left happy and we got our cab back to town for a well earned late meal at a great restaurant in Lapa.

Result - Flamengo 2 Vitoria 1
Attendance - about half full so guess at 20000

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A huge win for the Doonhammers

Queen's for the Cup!

12 Apr 08 - I'd offered to drive my girlfriend to Glasgow on this day as she was standing in as a temporary manager at one of her companies shops in the West End of Glasgow. We arrived just before 10am and I'd just intended chilling out in some cafes and maybe doing some shopping but realised once I read a back page that I'd have to head for Hampden. A few phone calls later and I was on my way on the Clockwork Orange to Central Station to catch up with some mates on their way to Mount Florida.

It was good to take in the atmosphere of the Dumfries fans who had rarely witnessed their team in such a game. As it was I've rarely seen such a fast paced and exiting game, every time Queens grabbed a goal, Aberdeen hit back almost instantly until Queens managed to hang on after their fourth goal.

At the end the player did their fans proud and celebrated on the pitch for a good 15 minutes. I even managed to get the winning goal scorer to sign a programme that will soon join my friends huge collection. As I walked away from Hamden towards Queens Park, I overheard numerous Aberdeen fans with exactly the same sentiments as the Celtic fans at my previous game, namely "canna believe we got beat by them!". Well they did and Queens will now face Rangers in the Cup final, not sure if I'll get there but wish them all the best anyway.

Result - Queen of the South 4-3 Aberdeen
Attendance - 28008

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Haven't seen Parkhead as empty!

Failed defence of the cup

18 Mar 08 - When I read that the replay of this Scottish Cup quarter final would fall during my leave period I thought I'd take my girlfriend's son along. I'd watched the first game in an Irish bar in Barcelona and my pained viewing was rewarded with and injury time equaliser. I'd no idea that Celtic had decided to offer deals on this match that meant I got tickets for the two of us for only £17.

Well when I said they cost only £17, this doesn't take into account the hassle involved (nor the 15 minutes waiting on the ticket phoneline). We arrived at Celtic Park ant 1915 to find a massive queue for the ticket office which took 25 minutes to get to the front of - no need to worry yet, our entrance was close by and we should be in before kick-off. So, we happily rounded a corner to see the same people who had been in the queue for the ticket office, 15 minutes later we were into the ground. I applaud the management at Celtic (& Rangers for that matter since they have a similar offer for their tie against Partick Thistle) but this was really poorly run.

Once into the ground, I realised beforehand that we'd be beside the Aberdeen fans which didn't bother me or Sean but the section I was in had lots of families with young kids taking abuse from their fans. All I hoped for was for their "diehard support" to wither and die once we took the lead. Needless to say that McDonald had failed to read the script and proceeded to miss every sitter that we produced. Aberdeen scored with one of their few attacks and we left the stadium with only the league to play for.

Result - Celtic 0-1 Aberdeen
Attendance - 33,506

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Dougie, Clive & Jason afore the mayhem

Champions League exit

4 March 2008 - I've got a few great mates that I've known since my school days in Langholm and we've made numerous trips to away games in Europe. This was an opportunity that we had to grasp as we'd missed the last few matches at the Camp Nou (which is a must see for football fans from across the globe).

As per usual for European games, there were in excess of 10000 Celtic fans, all looking for elusive tickets for the match. We've never failed yet but there is obviously a premium to pay for securing entry into the ground. What didn't help on this occasion is that when Barca put the unsold tickets on public sale on Mon 3 March, they would only sell to people that were from outside of the UK and Ireland which led to a highly frustrated (and more often than not, hungover) crowd having to witness Japanese fans buying tickets. We did manage to get a ticket each, courtesy of some Irish lads that had Canadian ID cards but the going rate on the black market was more than double the face value of the tickets and when these start at 84 euros, it was getting expensive. The good thing was that we did have tickets the day before which left us a relaxing pre-match build up.

Since all our tickets were for the Barca areas, we disguised ourselves as Catalans for entry into the ground (I don't think we were fooling anyone but better safe than sorry eh?). Once inside we climbed for ages to get to the upper tier then arranged to meet up beside the main body of "official" Celtic fans. The links between the 2 clubs are really good with this being our 6th game in the last 6 years and the PA system blasted out You'll Never Walk Alone before the match, which we were joined in singing by the Barca fans that were sat beside us. We also attempted some of the Barca song which led to a great atmosphere pre-match.

Once the nonsense Champions League formalities were out of the way, the match got off to a fast start and we were 1-0 down before we knew what was going on with Messi putting in a great cross for Xavi to put inside the near post. Our support was then minimised to cheering on the numerous saves pulled off by Artur Boruc by singing and dancing to the Holy Goalie. The Barca fans found this to be hilarious and it kept us amused too. So we were out of the competition but with no disgrace since we were playing a team of superstars (albeit, not at the most sublime).

Result - Barcelona 1-0 Celtic
Attendance - 75,002

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Just before kick-off at St Marys

Another team in green?

19 Feb 2008 - There were several reasons behind my trip to St Mary's on a very cold February night; me & several of my shipmates were due to go to a match at the end of January but we needed to do some extra sea trials that week, many of them attended the reverse fixture in Plymouth whilst we were there for the weekend (I was up in Bristol with my lovely girlfriend) and lastly, I was a wee bit bored on the night and went out for a drive, intending to visit friends in Poole but diverted off the M27 into Southampton instead.

I'll start with my journey towards the ground, this is not a good city for getting into with poor signage and a very complex city centre. I just lucked out that when I pulled over to find out where the ground was located, I found myself in a residential street near the ground at the end of which was a car park. I got one of the last slots and followed the large number of Saints fans who'd parked in the same place (the added bonus was this was free after 1800).

I'd a short walk over a main road, then bridge over the railway to find myself outside this impressive stadium. I'd plenty of time to find the ticket office and get a quick bovril before taking my seat. So, to the match itself, guess why I've fleshed out the prelude so much - it was rubbish. Southampton did all of the early pressing only to find themselves 2-0 down after 33 minutes as Plymouth scored on their first 2 attacks. That was it, game over. Lots of uninspired football and a plummeting temperature meant that I didn't see the game out but did make it into a local pub in time to see Liverpool get their 2 late goals against Inter Milan.

Result- Southampton 0-2 Plymouth Argyle
Attendance - 17,806

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This pole got in the way but another saved the day

Champions League yet again

When the draw took place for the final qualifying round for this seasons Champions League, Celtic were handed the tricky task of getting by the Russian league leaders, Spartak Moscow. With the first leg having taken place a fortnight before it was still finely balanced. So I managed to get 3 tickets for me and 2 pals and also booked a hotel (total cost £120!).

We decided to walk the few miles from the city centre out to Parkhead to get the buzz that is always there on European nights and ended up in our seats just in time to see the players run out.

The game got off to a frentic start and never really slowed down. They got a very soft penalty in the 24th minute which was hammered onto the post, we then headed straight up the pitch for Scott McDonald to bundle us into a 1-0 lead. There were chances for both sides and Boruc was playing fantastic in the Celtic goal. That said, Moscow equalised on the stroke of halftime with a well taken goal from a corner. The second half saw Nakamura miss a couple of great one-on-ones and we were heading for extra time.

With 90 minutes completed, the pace dropped slightly but we were ecstatic when a penalty was awarded for a handball. JVOH then struck the crossbar, arrrrgh. It was then onto penalties and when Naka missed our second one, Europe seemed to be slipping away. Step up Boruc as our saviour

Result - Celtic 1-1 Spartak Moscow (2-2 on aggregate, Celtic won 4-3 on pens)
Attendance - 57,854

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Lennon lifting the SPL trophy

Fly the flag

28 Apr 2007 - I did some guessing earlier in the month and hoped that results would see us being presented with yet another SPL trophy at this game. Needless to say that it took some Naka brilliance in injury time at Rugby Park the week before to see my dreams come true.

I bought 3 tickets but one pal was unable to make it so I sold it at face value onto a very grateful wee girl outside the ground. Our seats were pitchside in the Jock Stein stand and it was good to see the action from there as most of my last few visits were high up in the stands.

The game itself was just the prelude and the first half passed without any incident to speak of then Hearts took the lead in almost their 1st attempt on goal in the 57th minute. Celtic then piled on the pressure and Naka ended up loosing the ball to the excellent Kingston who rushed up the right wing to set up their 2nd. Elvis got us back in the game a few minutes later with a soft header from a corner before a highly dodgy penalty sealed the game for the visitors. Strachen was also given a red card for some innocuous touchline banter.

The staging for the trophy presentation seemed to take an age and parts of it were so amateur that I'm almost too embarrassed to mention it. It was great to see the legend that is Lubomir Moravcik walk out with a HBOS girly to present the trophy to a joyous Neil Lennon. A lap of honour then followed before we headed homewards again.

Result - Celtic 1 - Hearts 3
Attendance - 59,510

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Halftime by the river

Just maintained that unbeaten record

31 Mar 2007 - I've been to Craven Cottage 4 times now, once before the ground improvements to see a win over Crystal Palace about 5 years ago and 3 times since and I've yet to see them beat.

Fulham 0 - 0 Celtic (pre-season friendly in Aug 2005)
Fulham 2 - 1 Charlton

My latest visit saw them hosting Portsmouth with their highly vocal supporters. I once again headed for a seat in the Riverside stand and enjoyed the pre-match view from the terrace over the Thames.

The game got off to a bad start as Pompey's Niko Kranjcar curled in a stunning goal after 3 minutes. It was then quite an open game but the away team seemed to settle for their one goal advantage and started time wasting very early on. Fulham did most of the pressing but risked being hit on the counter attack. Coleman used all of his subs by the 65th minute then had to deal with Pearce comming off the worst when defending a corner. He hobbled off for treatment and looked a lame duck when he returned, suffice to say it was him that scuffed and injury time shot that took a deflection, wrong footing James in the Portsmouth goal to give Fulham the point that they richly deserved.

I walked back along the sunny embankment to Hammersmith having enjoyed seeing Fulham keep up my unbeaten record.

Result - Fulham 1 - 1 Portmouth
Attendance - 22806