The Damned United

Woke up this morning at 7 a.m. to find that it had snowed quite heavily overnight and my car was covered in snow. Fortunately the road outside is on a bus route and the surface had been salted. We had a breakfast of porridge and bacon sandwiches and then set off for Leeds to watch the Saints take on Leeds United at Elland Road. Whilst the snow and ice was quite evident in Grimsby we found, as we left the town and headed westwards along the M180 the road was clear although the windscreen became covered with salt deposits. We found Elland Road quite easily (it is just off the M621 motorway) and managed to park in an enormous car park to the side of the ground. The surface was quite icy and as we stepped out of the car we realised just how bitingly cold the weather really was. We managed to get a meal at McDonald’s opposite Elland Road and were glad to find somewhere warm to hang out. We visited the Megastore and then found our way inside the stadium where we took our seats ion the south-east corner. There was still snow on the pitch and we watched as the ground staff carefully shovelled it up. Leeds were by far the better side and closed down Saints right from the beginning giving few opportunities for Saints to score. Saints, however, thanks to some great goalkeeping by Bialowski managed to keep a clean sheet until about 20 minutes from the end when Leeds scored their only goal. It was a pity that Saints’ unbeaten run has come to an end but Leeds are a tough team to beat and have only lost at home once all season. We managed to get out of Leeds reasonably quickly arriving back in Grimsby at 7.30 p.m. just before heavy snow fell. As I write this blog the snow has stopped but there is very heavy snow laying outside. Hopefully there will be no more and we can get out of Grimsby tomorrow afternoon.