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Published: October 15th 2012
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Spikey the Dragon
Welsh kids must have been on the Brains thinking about this name! As you might have read in the Roar to Rio, my record of Scotland 0 was maintained with some comfort for the recent visit of the Serbs to Hampden. The Tartan Army clearly don't hold grudges for too long and my presence at another game was deemed no problem to their prospects of success on the continued rocky road.
Whilst my previous incursions into the world of Welsh international football in 2002 hadn't resulted in a victory, it had resulted in me actually seeing them score. Top quality opposition too! Argentina had decided that the minnows of world football - ranked 101st in the world - would make a suitable warm up for the 2002 World Cup. The Millennium Stadium with a closed roof was a perfect replica of the indoor Sapparo stadium, but they hadn't factored in that Craig Bellamy was at that time in another of his "putting his off field problem behind him" moods to run Veron and co ragged. Robbie Savage also gave Caniggia a run for his money in the long blonde hair stakes.
There was to be no repeat of the Millennium venue for this game, although the Tartan Army would no doubt
claim that they could have sold it out with their travelling support. The Wales Football Association are not quite in such a bullish mood these days, so settled for the Cardiff City stadium this time. It has a roof, but as anybody lower than Row L might tell you it is pretty ineffective at stopping a cloud burst landing directly on your head. Poncho at the ready, then or put a kilt over your head! Fortunately, I was on Row GG. After the Wales 1876 club have had their ticket fill, it's over to the slick Cardiff City online machine to dispose of the rest. Whilst the official 5000 + allocation for the men in skirts had quickly disappeared, the rest of the anglo-Scot market set about acquiring as many of the others in the Welsh sections as possible. There was still room for the random English, though.
After the usual congestion on the M4 westbound through the tunnel from Newport, we swept down into Leckwith from the western by pass and the Scots support dominance was evident as we made our approach to a suitable parking sport near Cowbridge Road. The first large pub on the Cowbridge Road,
The Corporation, was suitably adorned with blue and white flags and it was clear that the ticket segregation was going to be spectacularly unsuccessful. The optimism for Rio 2014 was still high, despite the inability ot beat either the Serbs or the Macedonians. The prospect of a sojourn to the Copacabana with a girl from Ipanema was still within reach to the minds of the many. The powers of a lager or two on the mind never cease to amaze.
We retreated for a balti. The late afternoon sunshine disappeared and the monsoon season commenced. The flow of punters towards the ground past the windows ceased. The rain mercilessly eased off as we made our way to the ground after dining. The Welsh among the tide of people were casting dispersions on the character of a certain Joe Jordan, in denying them a rightful passage to Argentina 78. The Scots refrained from taking the bait. I made my way into the Welsh seats to find myself sitting next to those with heritage from north of the border. The stewards had clearly been given instructions to ignore kilts entering this end of the ground, unless there was a threat of
Spikey the Dragon
.............doesn't quite have the right ring to it! serious disorder. The odd Welshman couldn’t cope with this invasion of his space, but the majority just got on with a bit of banter.
The warm up was somewhat less than the Hampden experience! A mini fan fayre followed, but no serious fireworks. The musical warm up followed. No Proclaimers gig this time, but the Welsh Football Association has a band modelled on our very own England version. They are thoughtful enough mind to make them play their tunes high up on a camera gantry under a huge Welsh flag, rather than blast out the ears of the poor unfortunate who just happened to buy the seat next to them.
The game itself this time made up for the major disappointment last time out. A battle of the Celts. A full blooded Home International. The Scottish flags ranged from Elgin to Dubai (!) to Pitlochery. Wales supplied the Thames Valley Dragons. The Red Dragon tried his best to entertain a few kids and generate atmosphere among the Welsh fans. The Scots dominated, took a lead through James Morrison and failed to kill the game off with 2 more decent chances before half time. The German match officials killed
off the match winning header from Steven Fletcher, ruling that the cross ball had gone out of play and the Welsh woke up. The good the bad and the ugly side of Gareth Bale won it for Wales, as the rain hammered down. A burst of acceleration and some would say a trip ……….. others a dive …………. fooled a penalty equaliser, before a screamer into the top corner won it in the last minute. The Scots fell silent. Craig Levein probably checked the bus timetables for a return back to Dundee, before he realised that somebody had to lead a team in Brussels. The crowd faded away into the rain. For some, including me, it was probably the end of the Road to Rio. For others, it had just been another drinking stop on the way to Brussels on Tuesday night! The prospect for meeting the girl from Ipanema was fading, but there is always the Leffe Blonde.
Appendix Team Sheets Wales • 01 Lewis Price (Crystal Palace)
• 02 Chris Gunter (Reading)
• 03 Ben Davies (Swansea City)
• 06 Ashley Williams (Swansea City)
• 04 David Vaughan (Sunderland)
• 05 Darcy Blake (Crystal Palace)
• 07 Joe Allen (Liverpool)
Gareth Bale
Fresh from tripping himself up ............. Gareth Bale sends the keeper the wrong way • 08 Joe Ledley (Celtic)
- Replaced by Hal Robson-Kanu 71' (Crystal Palace) • 10 Aaron Ramsey (Arsenal)
• 11 Gareth Bale (Tottenham Hotspur)
• 09 Steve Morrison (Norwich City)
- Replaced with Craig Davies 64' (Barnsley) Scotland • 01 Allan McGregor (Beskitas)
• 02 Alan Hutton (Aston Villa)
• 20 Danny Fox (Southampton)
• 04 Christophe Berra (Wolves)
• 05 Gary Caldwell (Wigan)
• 06 Shaun Maloney (Wigan Athletic)
• 08 Scot Brown (Celtic) -
Replaced with Charlie Adam 46' (Stoke City) • 07 Darren Fletcher (Manchester United)
• 11 James Morrison (West Bromwich Albion)
- Replaced with Jenny Miller 84' (Vancouver Whitecaps) • 15 Kris Commons (Celtic) -
Replaced with Jamie Mackie 84' (QPR) • 09 Steven Fletcher (Sunderland)
Ref: Meyer (Germany)
Attendance: 23,249
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