Tommy and Harry star in Palace Adventure No 26
Having never been to St Andrews before and i mean the home of Birmingham City football stadium not the golf town in Fife, myself and Harry decided we would embark on another Palace supporting venture to the home of the promotion favourites. The plan was simple get train down to the midlands watch the footy and then return back to Cupar the same night. Unfortunately my voyages mostly do not go according to plan and inevitably we end up lost or lose each other and basically something untoward generally happens.
Saturday morning i was up with the larks at 0615 whereupon i then left my house at 0630 to collect the former Cupar Eagles number 1 goalkeeper the Harry "The Cat" Hood at his house 4 miles away arriving at the pre-arranged time of 0645. Harry though forgot to get up and getting a little anxious i tooted the car horn a few times to try to wake him. This did the trick but i think i woke up most of the Polish students in the caravans next door. Anyway after a bit of a delay we set of back to Cupar. After leaving the car back at the house we set of to the railway station arriving 0720 for the 0730 train to Edinburgh. The train was late (typical Brittish Rail) not getting there till 0752 and it was looking like touch and go whether we would get the connection for B/ham at 0856. We did however make it and upon arriving Harry walked straight out of the station past the barrier guards thinking this was the way to the correct platform for our next train. Once outside in the fresh air he realised this was the wrong route and he cursed me for following him out (I thought he wanted to buy a paper or something) and the guards looked a bit baffled when we immediately came back in. We made our connection though by a few minutes and we congratulated ourselves as our travel plans (although not quite running to clockwork) where sufficiently good enough for the first leg of our journey. Sitting back in the safe knowledge we would make the game (although we didn't have the match tickets as they never arrived by post but that was okay as i would pick them up at the box office later) we started on our carry out which consisted of 2 cans of San Miguel and 2 cans of Holsten Pills each.
The train arrived on time at 1300 found a taxi to take us to the ground and collected the match tickets from the box office without a hitch. After consuming 2 or 3 pints within the stadium and soaking in the pre-match atmosphere we were ready for the main event the Blues v the Eagles.
Palace started the better team and soon had B/ham on the ropes and after splendid interchanging moves involving Kennedy and McAnuff the later scored although it took a slight deflection but the Palace contingent went mental. 1 up inside 11 mins what a start but the Blues started to get their act together and soon equalised and it finished 1-1 at the interval. Another pint was in order.
In the 2nd half it was pretty even chances at both ends but just when we thought we had earned a point a last gasp winner was scored by B/ham who replaced us at the top of the league (what a absolute sickner).
As we shuffled out the ground in a rather despondent mood on the way back to railway station (our train was leaving at 1800) we kept our eyes on a off license to take back on the train which hopefully would ease our suffering and lighten our moods. Unfortunately we couldn't spot one and proceeded to get lost. By the time we found the station we had missed the train and were thus stranded in B/ham. In situations like this i try not to panic and thought the best way to handle this is to get inside a pub wherupon we could gather our thoughts and plan a new strategy. After a few pints we had the answer get back to the station and jump on a train heading towards Scotland. This we did at about 2300 but after half an hour we came to the end of the line in a place called Redditch. We tried to sample a few of their local hostelries but disappointingly our alcohol levels were considered to high and the bar staff refused to serve us. Stuck in this backwater place and with no accommodation we tried to sleep on the bench outside the station. Using a pizza box which i had eaten earlier (not the box but the contents) as a pillow (sometimes you have to improvise) i attempted to get some much needed sleep. After a hour or so we got restless and proceeded to walk the streets to fill in the boredom unfortunately we got lost again and had to ask a policeman for the directions back to the station with the time about 0300. A very tedious night was had and when we realised we had to go back to B/ham in the morning to then get the train back home our moods were not exactly happy. Eventually morning came and at 0930 we got train back to B/ham then a little waiting for the Newcastle train where we would get off at York before continuing back to Edinburgh. Things did start to go better we never paid anymore for the journey (well except £3.70 from Redditch) and we eventually arrived back in Cupar just before 1800. Tired and rough Harry decided he had enough and ordered a taxi so he could get back for his dog. I had a few pints in the Imperial telling stories about our eventful journey to Nick (Ipswich fan) and Ian Rollo who is into bees before a pint in Shelleys where we witnissed a talking parrot (couldn't get it to say Eagles though). I then finished off with a visit to the Parsonage where Billy (the sad Dundee supporter) and Stevie Coll (supports the sheep shaggers) listened intently to my Palace adventure.
Next game i am attending is Cardiff at Selhurst Oct 14 with Harry.
Tommy the Eagle
