Saturday's visit to Middlesbrough contained almost everything that I love about football, those small things that add up to one of those days you remember as a follower of a certain team for a long time. Right from the off, a 2hr train journey from Edinburgh to Darlington, which I managed to do in extreme comfort after finding a cheap first class ticket. I bet few Rovers fans on their way to Teeside began their trip sipping tea in a walnut-veneered train coach. Going to away games always involves plenty of waiting around, and standing on windy Darlington station waiting for the next leg was no exception. 40 minutes later and a knackered-looking two carriaged train to Saltburn took me to Middlesbrough, through typically Northern English countryside (vast Barrett Homes estates).
After indulging in the time-honoured tactic of walking the wrong way out of the station, turning around and following a few red-shirted home fans seemed to be the best way to go. Walking to the stadium is another moment - none of this driving to a vast car park and waddling to the game for us Brits. Turning the corner and seeing the floodlights is what it's all about, something easy to do at Middlesbrough as the stadium is surrounded by an industrial docklands wasteland and you can see it for miles (but harder at Blackburn, as Ewood Park is in a valley and you approach it level with the top of the grandstand). Everything else was there though, the bored looking policemen, burger vans, litter, seagulls.
Then the stadium rituals. Walk around the outside, have a quick look in the window of the club shop. Wonder what the home side's kit sponsor actually does (they make sat navs, apparently). Wander over to the statue of old time great and see if you've heard of him (not in my case). Check the ticket and find out which turnstile you have to enter in, as you spot a few groups of other away fans in the blue and white halves. Give the yellow-coated steward a quick nod, and in you go, through the clanking red gate. Always concrete inside, usually dark, and busy with men holding large plastic pints of lager. Go and find your seat and get a first look at the other team's stadium. Is it better than yours? (yes and no). More waiting.
As the pitch is finished being watered, the players jog out for warmups, with both sets of fans cheering - the away fans louder because that's what away fans do. The goalkeepers usually come out first, and you watch Rovers legend Brad Friedel going through stretches that he must have done thousands of times. He moves to the corner of the pitch and has two men volley balls at him from close range, as the outfield players trot out in warmup kits they only ever seem to wear for twenty minutes once a week. Friedel moves to the Rovers fans and signs autographs, posing for a photo with a young lad in a replica goalkeeper jersey. The others do sprints, the substitutes holding back, the older players even more so, Turkish playmaker and elder statesman Tugay barely jogging. He must not be in the lineup. As if on queue, the teams are announced (he isn't), and you cheer each name, stopping at the substitutes (for some reason). The players go off again.
Ten minutes later they are back. Now the stands are almost full, the stragglers making their way up the steps. Both teams walk under a pointless Premier League banner and stand facing outwards for a mysterious anthem. Someone up the back starts off the first chant of "Mark Hughes's Blue and White Army!!". A few home fans look over to where you're sitting, wondering how many Blackburn have brought, and how noisy they will be. The announcer reads out the teams again over the PA System, and you watch as they move to take up their positions in the 4-4-2, easily spotting Robbie Savage from his trademark blonde mullet. You scan across each player familiarising yourself again with what they look like - Friedel, Warnock, Samba (unmistakeable at 6'5''), Nelson, Ooijer (Emerton must be injured), Gamst Pedersen, Savage, Dunn, Bentley, Roberts, McCarthy. You barely know half the Middlesbrough team. The referee blows his whistle.
Rovers are on the back foot almost immediately as the home side press forward. The fans try and help them out, though. There are probably 1,800 compared to 24,000 Middlesbrough fans, but it's always away fans that make the noise. But Boro are playing really well, missing an open goal with a misplaced pass. Moaning starts from the Rovers fans (no change there), but we're making a lot of noise. On half an hour our Congolese giant Samba gives away a foul and their player whacks the ball through a gap in the wall into the bottom corner, putting the home side 1-0 up. At last, their fans start chanting - "You're not singing anymore!", they gloat. The score stays the same until halftime, and the players troop off, Savage arguing with the referee about awarding the freekick (which was entirely correct, not that he would admit).
Only fifteen minutes at the break, time to push through the crowds and go for a piss - they even have a steward in the toilet, I've not seen that before. Back up to the stands as the announcer reads out the other scores - Bolton are losing 3-0 at home to Newcastle, great stuff. But up here Newcastle are the enemy, not Bolton, so the home fans whistle and boo. All too soon, the second half starts, and immediately Rovers improve, ears stinging from a halftime rant from the manager. The chants continue, at a player if he does something good, at the lack of noise from the Boro fans, and at our rivals Burnley - "Your Mum's Your Dad, Your Dad's Your Mum, You're Interbred, You're Burnley Scum". Rovers miss an easy chance. Then the turning point, as star forward Benni McCarthy collapses after a clash of heads and is stretchered away in a neck brace, with both sets of fans sportingly applauding.
On comes Blackburn's new signing, the 25 year old Paraguayan Roque Santa Cruz. He's never played in England before, having arrived from the German giants Bayern Munich for £3.5m. After only two minutes on the pitch, Bentley swings the ball in, and up rises the new boy to head Rovers back level. It's just fantastic, you're jumping up and down and screaming, it's really hard to describe just what it feels like. Roque runs over to the area in front of you and punches the air, having become an instant hero. All the Boro fans are staring over, there are plenty of gestures going both ways. Goalscorer Roque runs back to the halfway line and waves at us, as a new chant starts - "You'd better watch out, You'd better beware, He's good on the ground and he's good in the air, Santa Cruz is coming...to town". Belted out, it sounds like the entire stadium is singing, although of course 95% of them are glumly looking over at you.
The players are rejuvenated - with the Rovers fans in full voice again and the home side rattled, it's all Blackburn. Another change, as Roberts goes off, and on comes 21 year old Blackburn-born striker Matt Derbyshire. Before the game he was chatting to friends in the stand, and as he runs on we chant his name. Amazingly, moments later he scores too - a wonder goal from the edge of the penalty area, lifted into the far corner of the net. All the players pause, not quite believing it, as it's Derbyshire's first contribution. In an instant, he starts running over to his friends as you go mental again, jumping up and down in the arms of the bloke next to you. All ten outfield Blackburn players are down celebrating with Derbyshire, who falls over trying a fancy celebration. It's tough to describe without sounding corny, but at that moment it's all you're concentrating on, and the group of people around you are ecstatic, punching the air and screaming. Nothing else seems to matter.
But it's not over yet as the long injury break means there's many minutes of added time. Buoyed on by the home fans, who in their desperation have become louder, they mount attack after attack - winning 13 corners over the course of the game. But Rovers hold on, and the feeling of relief when the whistle goes is almost unbeatable. More jumping around and cheering, and waving at the Boro fans as they make for the exits. Manager Mark Hughes points to us, telling his players to go and give their thanks - but many are already on their way. We mimic them as they applaud us, hands above their heads. As each one arrives, we chant his name, pointing at Brad Friedel as we do so, in a 'we're not worthy' style. It must look amazing from their perspective. Matt Derbyshire waits for his friends to come down, and he gets a great reception. Wait until the last one of them leaves, and then make for the exit.
Outside, huge crowds of people walking in every direction, most of them bitterly disappointed. But not you. The 4hr journey home doesn't seem so bad now, and your hands are still shaking, voice slightly going, as you join the throngs of red-shirted fans heading for the station.
Official Blackburn Rovers website
Middlesbrough 1 Blackburn Rovers 2 [BBC]
Video of Matt Derbyshire's winner [with Turkish commentary]
