I'd sat in the away end at a Motherwell game previously. I was about 11 and friends of the family were down from Aberdeen for the weekend. Conveniently, The Well were at home to The Dons. So as not to be sussed out, I decided for the first time ever not to wear anything Claret and Amber.
I wouldn't imagine the Aberdeen fans would have turned on an 11 year old in the wrong stand, but better safe than sorry. Instead, I wore my blue Motherwell goalie top under a jacket zipped up as high as it would go. The game finished 2-2, with Alex Burns scoring a double and I remember having to go to the toilet after we'd equalised both times, just to celebrate.
14 years on and the same fate befell me. On the weekend of my engagement party, where my fiance's family made the trek over from Northern Ireland, it was fitting that we had Rangers at Ibrox. It was even more fitting that Robert, my soon to be Father In Law, has a good friend who managed to get us tickets to the game. In the Govan Stand.
In the weeks leading up to it, the impending game served as banter between us on Facebook. As the game approached, Motherwell were ripping it up away from home, while Rangers were not performing to their best, but still keeping up their 100% record. The odds were obviously stacked in Rangers favour, as they are most of the time at home, but our away form meant we could potentially cause an upset.
As Elaine and myself greeted her folks off the bus, after the hugs and handshakes, the first subject of conversation was that "Motherwell could have a good chance today." This was based on Rangers being without the likes of McGregor, Jelavic, McCulloch etc plus the players involved in the Scotland games would be tired. Motherwell in contrast had pretty much a full strength team to pick from, with only Craigan having midweek excursions.
We discussed Blackman's away form, Randolph being a solid replacement for John Ruddy and Chris Humphrey's pace as we took the Subway to Ibrox. I told Robert how my nephew had bumped in to Humphrey in ASDA last week and had told the wee man how he was going "to do Papac". That such confidence exists in the squad made me smile. As supporters, we see our players as heroes and it's good that they have the belief in themselves that we hope they have.
Upon arrival at Ibrox, we met Tom who got our tickets and his wife and son, Sandra and Jed. I'd met them once before, but now had a better chance to impress them in front of Robert. I had to reel myself in a couple of times when talking about The Well and I think I managed to do so quite well. Of course there were the obligatory digs about watching a real team play blah blah blah but I just kept joking about how I'd be more concerned about my behaviour if Rangers scored than if Motherwell did.
As we took our seats, Motherwell were warming up to our right. We had a cracking view as I identified the Well players for Robert's benefit, basically pointing out that the alleged danger men were the ones with the fancy boots (Humphrey, Hateley, Murphy) and that the slowest man on the park was John Sutton. We also discussed how Stewart Kerr could probably still be playing after retiring at such a young age. Robert in turn told of the many times he and Tom had been to Ibrox in their youth, recalling games, goals and scorers in a similar vein to the way I have in my blogs. That's what makes football such a universal thing, the ability to remember the smallest of details based on an emotional connection to it.
As both teams lined up before kick off, I heard the band of Motherwell fans down to my right singing before being drowned out by the 40 odd thousand home fans. Very little singing in the tier I was in though. Maybe as a ringer in the ranks, I was expecting there to be more vigour in their support, getting behind their team and cheering them on. After all, as Champions, you would expect the supporters to cheer them on accordingly.
But no. It wasn't silent exactly, but it wasn't rousing by any means. Maybe my East Stand upbringing has spoiled me for atmosphere and noisy support.
The first half was a strange experience. After almost blowing my cover when Naismith went down under a challenge form Reynolds to no free kick, the boy on the other side of me had something to say. "Nah, he was looking for it, he needs to play the whistle" I retorted. From then on, every decision for or against Rangers illicited a comment from my new found friend, which I would respond to before clarifying to Robert that I was keeping the boy going.
It was a fairly even first 45 minutes, with only Randolph saving from Whittaker to have me worried about. Most Rangers attacks ended with Lafferty or Weiss being crowded out at the edge of our box or the wrong ball being played by Edu. In contrast, our attacking play wasn't too shaky. Humphrey was doing well but not "doing" Papac on the right, while Hammell and Murphy got some decent balls in from the left. Blackman was looking lively, however his "straight-erm challenges" on Whittaker and Weir were irking the boy next to me.
Cue more agreed criticism of the Ranger's players along the lines of "that's poor,Lafferty", "Naismith is showboating too much, he's not playing Spain now" and "how did Edu lose that race to Sutton?". I was doing well.
With 3 minutes to the break, Murphy beat Whittaker to the byeline and lobbed a cross to the 6 yard box. Blackman beat Weir to the ball and headed in off the underside of the bar. Bar a few grumbles, there was a hush all around me. The Well fans could be heard in full voice as Blackman slid on his knees at the corner flag before being mobbed by his team mates.
I couldn't do it. I couldn't remain quiet any longer. I leaned back in my seat before rocking forward. As i opened my mouth, I could feel Robert tense up with concern that I may out myself. with one deep breath i let out a roar.
"THAT IS SHOCKING DEFENDING RANGERS! RUBBISH, UTTER RUBBISH!"
As i composed myself, I nudged Robert. "That's the kind of acting the BBC got from me on Garrow's Law" I smugly said. The half time whistle blew and we filtered down to the wee nook where we had to get Tom and co.
I managed to not be to buoyant as I was well aware that there was still a second half to come. we discussed the weak links in Rangers performance and noted Blackman's contribution. Apparently it is a tradition of theirs to do the quiz in the programme at half time. In confident mood, I helped my team to a victory in that. Not only had I gatecrashed the Govan, but my team were 1-0 up and I'd just bested 8 other Rangers fans in a quiz primarily about Rangers v Motherwell games. What could go wrong?
As this is a blog and not a match report, I don't have to be impartial, so there will be no mention of the events of the second half. The first half had been horrible but brilliant at the same time, but give me Fir Park any day. The next time the teams meet is on Boxing Day at Fir Park and I'm going to miss the game as I'll be in Northern Ireland with the in-laws again. This home game will technically be another away one for me, but we'll take the points on that occasion.
Up The Well!!!
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