Fancy dress for a final away day
The Fan's Verdict: Supporters don their finest costumes
Each week, we will get a Maidenhead United supporter to reflect on the state of play with the Magpies. This week, Rich Harvey reflects on the Magpies' magnificent and unexpected away win at Grimsby Town.
Final away day of the season means two things; fancy dress and fish ‘n chips! Three points was the third thing on the wish list.
Opting to drive to Grimsby over getting the trains, meant it was going to be a long day. After a good journey, it was time to meet the other Maidenhead fans already in fancy dress waiting near the train station where a few more arrived over the hour.
We were quite the attraction with passers-by wanting a photo. I wasn’t one of those opting to be walking around Grimsby in fancy dress for long, so I had to make a quick pit stop back to my car to change before entering the ground.
Due to the sheer size of my son’s costume, he was keen to get in the ground and change in the stands. In the ground, the Grimsby fans and stewards were all really friendly and keen for photos also.
Then this was it, the start of the game. Nothing really exciting happened for the first 20 minutes, apart from the crowds hoofing beach balls and balloons around the stand. Then, a moment of madness; Maidenhead’s soon to be man-of-the-match Luke Waterfall scored an own goal which was followed by lots of boos from the home fans.
Just as we, the away fans, got clarity on what actually happened, a few seconds later the same player was sent off for a foul on our last player who was through on goal. Cheers and fancy dress dancing erupted as Sam Barratt scored.
Lots of banter and sing-song continued from the away fans, hoping that the ref wasn’t going to send off any of our players who put a foot out of place.
The afternoon was topped off by Ryan Upward with a cool calm finish to make it 3-0 and the away fans shouting ‘We want four!’.
Sadly it didn’t happen. In fact, Grimsby were able to nab one back from the spot but this certainly didn’t dampen the spirit of the travelling away support. A few of the home fans filtered out for an early exit.
At the final whistle, the away fans were thanked as usual by the team. Applause, chats, and photos were all going on as we were a bit shocked as to what happened. It was our first fancy dress away win since the Magpies’ promotion in 2017!