The Geordie Gala Part Two

Part two of the Falcons supporters' day out at Netherdale, as told by a fan who had almost left it too late to see the game.

So getting to the action on the pitch, possibly the only small part of the Borders not covered with snow, Exeter began the game strongly, their forwards picking up where they left off at Sandy Park last week and their dominance was pre-rewarded with a Ryan Davis penalty in the first minute.

As the Falcons began to feel their way into the game Jimmy Gopperth knocked over two kicks, before Davis equalised. Gopperth then put us 9-6 up.

The Newcastle forwards were now beginning to front up and our backline looked by far the most dangerous. However, it was captain Ally Hogg who collected an Exeter chip and made a storming run into the away half. From his pass Gcobani Bobo outpaced the defence to score in the corner. Gopperth missed the conversion but kicked a penalty from halfway with the last kick of the half.

Excellent, 17-6 up at half-time and Exeter offering little now that we had lessened the effectiveness of their forwards. The few hundred Geordies in the crowd looked forward to more in the second half.

Gopperth kicked another penalty early in the second half before the game descended into a midfield scrap, although Joel Hodgson continued to provide good ball from scrum-half while Tim Swinson, my man of the match, was a towering presence around the field. Davis reduced our lead with a penalty but I for one wasn't too worried.

Eventually the Chiefs re-asserted themselves and following a succession of scrums in front of our posts Phil Dollman was sent in for an unconverted score in the corner. Davis's fourth penalty was followed by an excellent long-range drop-goal from Jeremy Manning under huge pressure to keep us six points ahead.

Exeter were now in the ascendency though and finally Mark Foster fought through Michael Tait on the left with just two and a half minutes left for a try to break black hearts. The knife was twisted by the conversion from the prolific Gareth Steenson, now on as a replacement.

There were still a couple of minutes left though. Time for the Falcons to win a penalty in a great position, and Manning stepped up. His kick sailed over and the referee blew for full-time, the late fisticuffs not spoiling a vital morale-boosting win for our players and the travelling fans ahead of Leeds.

So on the pitch the day had been successful, and at 3.30pm the supporters' coach filled up again to head back to Newcastle. It had just started snowing heavily in Galashiels.

We made good progress initially, but came across some cars stopped in the snow. 4x4 drivers were seen getting out of their cars with shovels. At one point the coach did stop and the door was opened – I think we needed a car to reverse out of the way. Incredibly, on an uphill slope, the driver got us going. Actually, never mind Swinson, our bus driver was man of the day. I hope Kevin, Smithy and their passengers made it home safely.

The snow kept coming down, the road was white, and for some reason we stopped in Belsay. But in the end we rolled into the KP car park at about 5.50pm, safe and sound.

Coming off the bus, Steve said to me that me getting to the Central Station might now be the hardest bit of the day. Not quite correct, but when I got there...

Ma Leipy then drove me into town, complete with leftovers of Sunday dinner (chicken, pork, yorkshires and roast potatoes, mmm!) and I hopped out of the car to make sure the trains were running to London.

Why the heckers was the 18.29 terminating at Peterborough? And the next southbound East Coast train? According to an East Coast employee, there were overhead line problems between Peterborough and London and it was unlikely any trains would get through tonight. Advice was to travel tomorrow instead. I was very relieved I didn't miss the match just to get back to London!

And so here I am back at Ma Leipy's gaff, writing about another exciting weekend following our beloved Falcons. Not too bothered about missing work tomorrow (nowt I can do), and I should still get back to the capital in the morning to have lunch with the bosses of the company I will be joining in the New Year. Fortunately it's informal so I don't need to go and buy some black trousers in the morning.

So it's been a stressful weekend at times. I'm sure there are a few dozen other Falcons fans who feel the same way. And I'm sure most of them would agree when I say I don't regret a second of it!!

Bring on the Cardigans!