Triumph in the Black Country

Tom and I set off for Walsall this morning at 9.30 a.m. after a breakfast of bacon rolls. Our journey up to the Midlands via Swindon, Gloucester and the M5 was a rapid one with little traffic to impede our journey. So clear was the traffic that we arrived in Walsall at 11.45 a.m. and managed to get parked easily in the Away Supporters car park at the rear of the Dains Stand (South Stand) of the Banks's (Bescot) Stadium. Having parked the car, Tom and I walked across to the Bescot Retail Park where the only place to eat was a McDonald's. Following lunch to visited the Walsall FC Shop and bought Mary a Walsall bear to add to her collection of opposition football clubs mascots which we buy every away game. Today's game very much followed last week's game at Northampton. Two goals in the first half left Saints going in with a 0-2 scoreline in their favour. Goals by Connolly and Hammond. The second half saw a third goal by Lambert which, unfortunately, was followed by a goal for Walsall. Saints battled on until the very end winning the match 1-3. As all the other clubs immediately above us did not do so well, Southampton soared up the table to 15th place well above the drop zone. Another performance like that and the Saints will be in the top half of the table. What a wonderful turn around from their performances last year. It took a little while to get out of Bescot but we had another clear journey back at arrived in Winterslow at 8 p.m. just before Sara went out to babysit. Feeling quite tired, I watched the rest of the film Hiroshima and a documentary on the Forbidden City in Beijing. How I would like to return there and explore the palaces again.