Shocker Saturday!

Scott and I settled into a multi-screened venue in central London this Saturday for a veritable feast of hotly anticipated international football, and at least one of us went away happy! To begin with, there was Wales - we were rather surprised at the crowd this game got although by the end we were surrounded by lost looking students and girls from out of town ("where's Frankie?!") expecting to see England on TV and instead seeing a result on screen which to be fair perhaps did not reflect the performance - Wales dominated the first half although Slovakia took their chances and used them to stunning effect (we counted six on target). Hard work to be done, not least by Chris Jones' barber, but not all over for Wales just yet....

Four pints later, and joined by Matt and Ali (the girls from out of town having departed with their luminous green cocktail - there must have been tears later...) Macedonia returning for round two against Sven Goran... ...sorry, Steve McClaren's men on all the screens in the pub bar the one at the back above our table where Walter Smith's team expected anything except a miracle win against France (Scot was at least pleased with his choice of table now but I think it was more chance than design). The next 90 minutes seemed to fly by and to be honest my attention shifted between watching the game at Old Trafford, from talking to mates, to keeping an eye on the Scotland game - all in all it was an overload on the senses. Which is more than could be said on pitch at Old Trafford. I'm not eve going to bother with that one, except to that I was reminded that I had thought their last victory in Macedonia was lucky, and this was the long overdue draw macedonia probably deserved. England are lucky to be on top of the table and Croatia and perhaps Israel must be looking on with glee...

Back to Scotland - there was a slight delay kicking off so as the England crowd went to sleep, the Scottish fans (who had by now figured out the game was on after all albeit at our table and gathered around us) were increasingly excited. Scott popped to the loo so naturally they scored! And a few minutes after the final whistle at Old Trafford, the screams of delight from the back of the pub woke the England crowd and as they turned to face us they witnessed the 12 or so people sat at the back of the pub go mental for a fantastic result!

We then left (another four pints down) as I had friends to see. I was rather a few sheets to the wind - I also had a very patient fiancee to find and a bad case of munchies to settle so I missed what was by all accounts another good performance from Northern Ireland and the second shock of the day. Lawrie Sanchez was so pleased, he threw away his jacket on this occassion, which must have left the Irish FA equally pleased as on this occassion they only had to worry about a lost jacket and not the man within...

Anyone missing Beckham?