Stafford 3/11/07

W 5-1 (wahey!)

Attendance: 914

Match day report by Kirstie Bowden.

As we left Exeter for Stafford we were caught up in 'Operation Cyclone' whereby the Devon Police Force were practising being highly visible. The more likely story of course is that they were escorting Di 'ASBO' Lee out of the county. The conversation on the bus was as varied as ever. Marge provided yet another classic quote, saying to Hazel "You're no spring chicken, you ought to know the onion man". Marge was quite insistent that people should remember the onion man and proceeded to survey the bus. Thankfully a few people did, and after brief discussions of the breadman and the milkman, the conversation moved on!

Last season nearing Stafford we passed two police motorbikes in a layby and joked that they were our police escort. A couple of minutes later one passed us sirens blaring and lights flashing and proceeded to escort us into Stafford. It even made oncoming traffic stop at one point. Quite why this happened we never quite understood, Stafford isn't exactly a traffic haven nor is it difficult to find. Perhaps they mistook our bus for the team bus, it has happened before! Needless to say this wasn't repeated for this seasons visit and we successfully reached the ground unaided.

With the local pub closed the backroom of the Stafford Social Club was full of Grecians, a number somewhat enhanced from our visit to Ebbsfleet the week before. Inside the ground a male member of the Western-super Mare Grecians uttered a phrase to rival Marge's earlier offering, stating how Santos had "nice firm thighs". The men around him walked away at that point, and the women, namely his wife, questioned how exactly he knew this! The snack-hut soon got into trouble, having only enough food for the 75 away fans Stafford were expecting. Luckily for those who spent most of the match in the queue, the pitch was in sight which was good given the result. I don't think any of us travelling to Stafford that day expected us to win 5-1, but then I never expected that Exeter would play at the new Wembley in its first operational season!

Goal one came courtesy of a Wayne Carlisle tap in on 22 minutes. Four minutes later Matt Taylor headed home from a Dean Moxey corner. Before Stafford pulled one back on the stroke of half time there was the obligatory dodgy referee decision. Jamie Mackie was fouled right in front of the linesman and referee but needless to say, no yellow card appeared despite player and supporter protests. Any worries about a Stafford comeback were laid to rest when Mackie scored 15 minutes into the second half. Bored with their team, the Stafford fans amused themselves with a number of chants, including the highly original "Where's your tractor gone?" The game then came to a standstill as the officials changed their line-up. This change was not clear from our vantage point and the appearance of 5 balls on the pitch did nothing to help our confusion!

We ended the game in style, with Matt Taylor scoring yet again in the 87th minute. The Stafford equivalent of Fullsy then proceeded to get confused, announcing a substitution for Cambridge as Tully replaced Gill. The board then went up for 6 minutes of injury time which for once, didn't fill the travelling support with dread. Cleary annoyed by his goalkeepers' performance, Staffords Wayne Daniels had an attempt at being goalkeeper and duly got sent off for it. Bash scored from the resulting penalty to make the final score 5-1, sending the Grecians amongst the 914 'strong' crowd home happy!