Blackburn Rovers 3 Norwich 1

Last night I dusted off my “Occasional Norwich City Supporter” romper suit and headed up to Ewood Park to watch the Canaries play Blackburn Rovers in the Carling Cup.  Luckily, we only travelled the 25 miles from Warrington, and I could only admire the dedication of the several hundred Norwich fans that made the trek from Norfolk.  I say “admire”, but part of me thinks they’re bonkers.  Such is the life of a travelling football fan.

Anyway, let’s get the match out of the way.  For the first hour, the teams looked relatively evenly matched in terms of ability.  The big difference seemed to be the clearly noticeable extra pace and power of the Premier League side – best demonstrated in Shaq look-alike Chris Samba.  It made the gulf between the two divisions look as vast as it probably is.  That said, it remained 1-0 until way into the second half and, despite Rovers having some good chances, there remained a possibility that Norwich could have got back into it.  That was until Norwich substituted 3 key players (Martin, Holt and Hoolahan) around 70 minutes in, and the game was Blackburn’s from that point on.  A late consolation goal from Askou made the arduous drive back to Norfolk slightly more palatable for the hardy away fans.

Now, the other stuff.  Ewood Park was a pretty nice stadium, and a good place to watch football.  They’ve also got an impressive big screen that you could have easily have watched telly on (a crucial factor I look for in any stadium).  I sent a few tweets during the build up and was excited to get retweeted by the Football League (the world’s original football league).  I then got a personal welcome tweet from what appears to be Blackburn’s official Twitter account.  It was a nice touch, whether they were official or not.  Perhaps the most mind-blowing aspect of the evening was Rovers’s snack-bar.  They had a meal deal that featured “double chips”.  It really makes you proud to be from the North West when you see phrases like double chips.  The pride made me shed a single, fatty tear.

All in all, it was a great evening.  It’s actually surprising how much you enjoy a live football match when you’re not emotionally attached to either club (which was even more pleasant following Liverpool’s drubbing on Monday).  I heartily recommend going to watch whatever football clubs play in your area, especially if they’re not in the Premier League.