Most enjoyable - apart from the result

Saturday September 29

5.30 kick-off so we were able to drive to Manchester in the morning. We'd gone posh this time and booked a hospitality package based on Salford City rugby league ground. All the Old Trafford deals were taken. This involved parking at OT and being bussed to the Salford stadium, built two years ago. Lovely room and facilities.

Champagne on arrival and then a notified table. Ours was number 4 and we ended up four missing from the ten settings. Two siblings, she from Malta he from Norwich. An English man from Florida and his Venezuelan girlfriend ! Very good meal. I had pea soup followed by chicken, a delicious chocolate tart and cheese and biscuits. Wine with the meal was part of the deal ,  as there were four missing Pam and I had most of the bottle of red - over three hours. 

Bussed back to the ground, Man U magazine and a Twix on the seat, we walked to the Megastore. As Pam was passing a big bloke he stepped back and knocked her flying. First Aid was quickly there but she was unhurt apart from shock and a few bruises. Very lucky. After form filling we made our way to our seats near the Stretford End in the NW quadrant to enjoy the pre match atmosphere and team warm-up session.

Man U always warm up at our end.

Stretford End - the fanatics are in the top tier.

Paul Scholes was fantastic throughout, all over the pitch.

The calls of Roooooneeeeey went up at the end of the first half. He was on for the second and made a difference.

Dreadful performance by us in the first half, 2-0 to Spurs. Wonderfully exciting in the second half, the noise from The Stretford End was incredible, wish I'd been sitting there. End score was 3-2 to Spurs which they deserved, don't know how we didn't score 5 or 6 goals, they were really under the cosh. AVB said that they were shattered by the end. Spurs all looked bigger than us too, Bale is enormous and so fast. He had a brilliant game.

Very slow drive to the Travelodge, thank goodness fro the SatNav, so many roads closed off. We got in at 9, had a meal in the restaurant which we'd pre-paid, far too late for Pam's stomach, she had a bit of mine, delicious Lamb Shank and chips followed by ice-cream with chocolate sauce. Pam had her own of the latter.

We drove home on Sunday morning after a cooked breakfast, getting in at 2ish. I want to go again and again......