So we had booked our flights, sorted our lift, confirmed the hotel then BA announce a strike! Yes we had our weekend away all planned but then it went horribly wrong. Various calls, texts and we were all sorted again.
Itinerary
Saturday
7.55am picked up from home by Crawley Sue
8.20am meet Terry and we are all picked up by Jack Straw and the long drive to Oldham
3.00pm Oldham v Brighton
5.00pm meet Chris Knight one of the BHAlbas for lift back to Falkirk
9.30pm arive Falkirk
Sunday
8.54am train to Edinburgh to see friends
12.03pm train to Glasgow to meet Tony P for a few beers and then the CIS cup final
3.00pm St Mirren v Rangers
7.00pm train back to Edinburgh
Monday
10.25am flight from Edinburgh to Gatwick!
It was a cracking weekend and below are a few pictures
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Oldham v Brighton.................
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Pictures taken by The Hovian. Please click
here to see his blogsite
So as we said we left home around 8am and arrived into Oldham at just after 1pm. The M6 was a nightmare with roadworks and accidents, but Liz took us road the country roads and got us back to M6 after a nasty accident caused everything to grind to a halt. We were soon in the nearest pub to the ground for vital food and drink intake! We headed to the ground at about 2.45 and the 495 travelling Albion fans were as vocal as ever. A great 2-0 win takes us to 14th spot and 7 points of the relegation places. Bennett scored a potential goal of the season just before half time and an own goal made it 2-0 just after half time. Breznovan pulled off a fantastic penalty save with 5 minutes left to preserve our 2 goal cushion! After the game it was into a different car and the journey to Falkirk to stay with Chis one of the BHAlbas. At Gretna services we bumped into Tony Mowbray (Celtic Manager) who was on his way back home to his family.
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Me and Tony Mowbray.................
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We bump into Tony Mowbray at Gretna services - we had a nice friendly chat for a few minutes as we queued for a KFC!
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Set 1 - the St Mirren Fans start to arrive.................
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So sunday morning and we got a train from Falkirk to Edinburgh to meet an old mate. A time for a nice chat and a coffee and then we were soon heading back to Glasgow to meet another mate for a few beers at Dows bar near Queens Street station. We had a pint or 2 before we decided we better make a move towards the ground. So at 2.20pm we jumped into a taxi to get to Hampden and about 15 minutes later we arrived. Liz and I headed to the St Mirren end of the ground, Rangers basically had the rest of the ground, it was about 10,000 St Mirren to 35,000 Rangers, hardly fair is it!
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Set 2 - inside the ground before kick off.................
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Set 3 - out come the teams.................
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Set 4 - the match.................
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Set 5 - Red Cards all over the place!!!!.................
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Set 6 - St Mirren cannot believe they have lost but Rangers celebrate the 1-0 win with just 9 men!!!!..
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Liz adds to her portfolio of the local constabulary pictures and we meet up with St Mirren player Steve Thomson (ex Albion player that Liz sponsored for his short spell at the club!). How St Mirren failed to win I will never know, Rangers were down to 9 men and playing awful football, but still managed to win it with an 84th minute headed goal by Kenny Miller.
We caught a train from Mount Florida station to Glasgow central, walked over to Queens street station and a train back to Edinburgh. We had a great Chinese meal near Haymarket station and then headed to the Trevlodge hotel near Edinburgh airport. No early start on Monday as we were on the 10.25am flight to Gatwick. Due to the strike it was a BA flight but a Ryanair plane and crew. Back home around 1pm and I was in work just before 2pm! Another great weekend and roll on Tranmere at home on Saturday - oh and good luck to Steve Thomson and St Mirren against Celtic on Wednesday!
Mark R
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