November Rain

For the second consecutive season the Millers away match in Devon has a poor London Millers following. Last season’s match in Exeter was on a Tuesday night in November which made travel from London nigh on impossible and although this season’s visit to Torquay is on a Saturday the return options by public transport aren’t any better. This means representation will just be a couple of us resident in the West Country (or so I thought… more later). I’m driving down from Cheltenham and meeting up with Dave Bates, the North Devon branch at Tiverton Parkway station.
I end up leaving home a bit later than planned. We are having our en suite bathroom refurbished after our shower decided to blow up and the plumber has turned up this morning to start ripping the old one out. It’s raining heavily as I leave and the forecast for the day isn’t good so I’m just hoping the match is still on. The one big advantage of having the game in Devon in November is that at least the M5 is clear and not full of holiday makers with caravans trying to get down to the South West.
Just south of Bristol I get a call from Dave telling me he’s running about twenty minutes late as he’s been delayed due to an accident on the way from Barnstaple. This means that even with my late start I still have time to ‘turn my bike round’ at Sedgmoor services. Ignoring the signs at Tiverton Parkway saying the main car park is full and to use the overspill car park I head for the main car park and manage to find a space. Less than five minutes later my phone goes and it’s Dave. He’s just arrived and is checking which car park I’m in. The rain gets heavier as I get out to buy a pay and display ticket and transfer over to Dave’s car. First Great Western have introduced parking fees in the car park - no doubt a way of recouping some of the lost income resulting from the below inflation fare rises imposed by the government but £3.90 for 24 hours is cheap compared with the petrol I’m saving by Dave driving the last leg so I’m not complaining.
Dave has brought along his mate, Andy, who is actually a Chelsea fan but is often dragged along by Dave to see the Millers. Andy is a true Chelsea fan and has followed them from long before the Premiership glory days and was actually on the Railway End at Millmoor when Rotherham famously beat Chelsea six-nil in the Eighties. The obligatory ribbing about this one out of the way we are back heading down the M5. We are heading for The Linny Inn, a pub in Coffinswell just north of Torquay which is the local of Dave’s Torquay-supporting mate, Richard, and conveniently does real ale. The instructions we have are to turn left at the brown sign by the garage selling cars on the A380!
Surprisingly these instructions work and after heading up some narrow country lanes where we are convinced we must have gone wrong we find the pub. It’s still raining as hard as ever as we dash across the car park and go inside. The pub is very much a dining pub with all the tables full of people tucking in to lunchtime meals. The steak and kidney pudding looks good but that’s not what we are here for.
We ensconce ourselves at the bar where we have a choice of two hand pumps. Dave goes for the Bass whilst I go for the Sharps Doom Bar, as the obligatory omen beer. Simon the landlord has been tipped off we were coming and it turns out he’s originally from Hammersmith so he soon starts discussing London football with Andy. Richard soon wanders in with his son, Seb. Richard is a friend of Ray Bishop, who used to play alongside Ronnie Moore during Ronnie’s brief spell at Cardiff City. Ray moved to Torquay to finish his career and still lives in the town and as a result Ray and Richard had been invited by Ronnie to take the kids along to meet the team at their hotel this morning. Richard has a camera phone full of picture taken with Ronnie and the players and an autograph book full of signatures that we struggle to decipher even with the players having written their squad numbers alongside. This is why I never became a professional footballer - not because my ball skills are next to none but the fact that I can’t do a totally illegible autograph.
Meanwhile the rain beats down outside and we wonder if the game will still go ahead but as there is no phone reception we have no way of knowing. Dave is driving and is determined not to miss kick off so at 2:15 decides against having more beer but Andy and I still have time for a swift third pint.
Dave gets directions from Richard on the quickest way from the pub to the ground and even though we take a wrong turn down one of the narrow country lanes we are still at Plainmoor in good time. Conveniently Dave finds a parking space by a parade of shops just round the corner from the ground. The sign says maximum one hour parking but he is confident that he won’t get a parking ticket. I’m not so sure as Torquay is one of the few places where I have received a parking ticket but as it’s still raining the traffic wardens are probably not out and about. So we leave the car and wander up to the ground.
Torquay have put a roof on the away terrace since my last visit in 2000 but even so it’s not helping much today. The wind is coming straight at us and the hardy Rotherham fans who have made the journey down are huddling at the back of the terrace to try and keep dry. Liz hasn’t trusted me with the London Millers flag today so I don’t have to try and find somewhere dry to hang it. After avoiding Port Vale last week for the warmer climes of England’s match in Dubai the Tivoli Millers are here with their flag today and it is taking a real soaking.
Walking along looking for a decent place to stand I suddenly spot the Sydney Branch of the London Millers. Dave Finnis, who always comes over at least once a year and tries to cram in as many Millers games as possible landed at Heathrow at silly o’clock this morning and has driven straight here to catch the game. Dave F hasn’t seen the Millers since last season so I quickly explain to him who the new boys are and who he’ll recognise from before. If I was doing this in some form of Venn diagram Paul Warne would be the intersecting sector as both a face Dave would recognise but also a new boy.
The main team changes from last week are Ryan Taylor is up front in place of Drewe Broughton and Lynch has replaced the injured Dale Tonge at right back. The match kicks off with Rotherham playing into the wind and driving rain. The ball is certainly splashing about in the centre and we wonder if the game will actually finish if it carries on like this. It’s Torquay who cope better with the conditions, producing some nice fast passing football while Rotherham struggle to string passes together. Halfway though the first half Paul Warne takes a heavy challenge and has to go off and is replaced by little Stephen Brogan who came on last week as a super sub. Despite lots of Torquay pressure Rotherham defend solidly and we go in at half time still nil-nil.
At half time Dave B gets a call from Richard who is behind the opposite goal. Richard is wearing a fluorescent yellow coat so we have no difficulty spotting him and all wave madly.
Over half time the wind and rain ease off with the Millers now having advantage of what wind there is. Rotherham start the half looking a little brighter but are soon under pressure again with Warrington having to pull off a string of fine saves. We are denied two good penalty shouts. The first when Law is brought down just inside the area as he is about to shoot and then an arm gets in the way of a Rotherham cross.
Ronnie makes a couple of substitutions with new boy and reformed alcoholic Gary Roberts coming on for Pablo Mills and Tom Pope replacing Ryan Taylor. The changes seen to make a difference, and with five minutes to go Alf has a shot blocked by the keeper’s knees and Kevin ‘Voldemort’ Ellison is quickest to the rebound and fires home. Fortunately, Liz is not there to see the flesh-exposing shirt over the head sliding into mud goal celebration. I’m going to be in for a last five minutes of blowing especially as Torquay proceed to fire a shot against the bar but finally in stoppage time I can relax. Alf gets the ball in the middle of the Torquay half, heads towards the penalty area and lofts the ball over the advancing keeper. The ball goes up and seems to hang in the air forever before landing in the net. Cue wild celebrations followed shortly by the final whistle.
Dave F, who’s still jet lagged after his 11,000 mile trip, makes a swift getaway and Dave B, Andy and I head back through the rain to see if Dave’s car has been ticketed. Fortunately, it hasn’t. We are back at the car in time toget the full classified results on 5 Live. Andy is also happy as Chelsea have won.
The traffic heading away from Plainmoor is solid and stationary so Dave makes a swift U turn and uses his local knowledge to find an alternative route out of town. We find a route where at least the traffic is flowing. We get another call from Richard ‘congratulating’ us on our victory. We admit to him we were lucky and the big difference between the two sides was we had someone who could put the ball in the back of the net. Before you know it, we are pulling off the motorway at Tiverton. I bid farewell to Dave and Andy and make use of the station facilities before getting into my car to head back home via the Chinese takeaway opposite Cheltenham station.