Well that was certainly a long and interesting day.
Set off at 8am, with a three and a half hour drive down to Wembley.
Bank Holiday traffic made it tougher going than I’d have liked.
It only started to feel real when we saw more Boro shirts.
This has been a whirlwind: we lost the original play off semi final, then the team that beat us were found guilty of cheating and thrown out of the competition. We were reinstated with 4 days till the final.
Scrambled to get tickets, no hotels available, trains reduced for the bank holiday weekend, so driving was the only option.
We managed to make it in time for the fan march to the stadium. My captures of this are dwarfed by others I’ve seen, so I’ll share that separately, but it was something to behold and be part of.
Not sure what the residents made of it, but a fair few were out recording it.
We had seats up in the gods, but that just gave us a wider view of the atmosphere
The game played out as I thought it would. We dominated but couldn’t score, exactly why we were in the playoffs in the first place.
They scored a counter attack goal in added time and that was it.
I’m glad it was all good natured in the end, with all the fans I spoke with agreeing that at least the cheats didn’t prosper.
Then another three and half hour drive home, got almost home around 10:30 and I blew through a questionable amber light, only to see a police car at the junction.
Cue some blue lights, and I experienced my first ever traffic stop.
The female police officer asked me why i thought id been stopped. I was honest and said i effectively jumped a light.
She then clocked out Boro shirts and smiled. You’ve had a bad day already haven’t you? She turned off her camera and said I’m not going to ticket you.
I got a stern lecture, and then some kind words that she hopes Boro don’t need the play offs next year!
I’ll take that shred of luck at the end of a turbulent day.