The Drinking Song

Burton 1 Crewe 1

Having started this blog with the purpose of providing relevant updates fairly close to the end of a match, and to try to stop myself consuming vast quantities of alcohol on a matchday, I'm afraid, last Saturday was a fairly comprehensive disaster. Not only did I get horrendously drunk but I also haven't got round to the update till today.
Well, to be fair, if you're visiting a town that dubs itself "the home of Brewing", you do have to sample a few of the available ales. And what better place to sample those ales, I thought, that the Burton Food and Beer Festival? To be honest, any pub in town would probably have been a better starting place. My companion (Slider) and I arrived at 11.30 duly paid our  (rather steep) six pounds entry fee, and found that we were first through the doors and that only one of the four breweries represented was setting up ready to serve punters. Anyway, the lucky man from Burton Bridge Brewery got our custom and we worked our way through the four beers he had available a half pint at a time (Sovereign Gold, XL Bitter, Stairway To Heaven and Bridge Bitter). Well, Slider did, I nipped over to the Freedom Brewery stand to sample their dark lager, which was nice, instead of having a Bridge Bitter. By this time Derventio had set up, so we had a crack at them. I went for a Derventio Barbarian, which looked like coke but tasted nice and Slider had a Cleopatra ("Comin' at Ya!") which seemed alright.
Despite the entertainment on offer (the Gresley Colliery Band) we decided to head off to the ground. Unfortunately, on the way we accidentally stopped off for a quick one in the Alfred on Derby Street. So we only just got to the game in time for kick-off. I had a pint of Guinness on arrival and watched the first twenty minutes or so on TV in the excellent bar under the away end. I ventured out to catch the rest of the first half, in which Burton were on top. Despite this, Crewe had the ball in the back of the net first after Grant nodded home at the far post, but the goal was ruled out for offside. A couple of minutes later and just before half-time, Crewe lost possession in the middle of the park and Magohma was given time and space to pick his spot from 25 yards. 
Second half was much better for Crewe but they struggled to create many clear cut chances and were grateful to Luke Murphy for scoring his second goal in as many matches to level things up. We maybe could have won it, but I was happy to come home with a point. Seen the Alex lose too many games like that on the road to complain when we draw one.
Post-match, there was a brief return to the Beer fest for a couple of other ales and to collect a souvenir glass. We managed to miss the train, so went to the pub round the corner. And managed to miss the next train. Still, we managed to catch the one after that and were in Tamworth just in time to catch an earlier connection back to Crewe, arriving home at about half past eight, somewhat the worse for wear. I caught my connection home, got a takeaway and crashed out on the sofa. Slept through Match of the Day and woke up in time to catch the highlights of the Crewe game on the Football League Show. Result.
Next up is a home game with Oxford this Saturday. So that means an early start for the "lucky" walk up in Bickerton Hills, and also a late finish as I'm off to the Nantwich Beer Festival after the match...