Drinking in South Hylton Club on the Friday night the common consensus from most of the regulars was that they would be happy with a point today and a point is what we got. At the beginning of the evening most expected a heavy defeat but as the cheap club beer began to flow so did the talk of a win. So with a heavy head and an early start we set off down the A1 a little later than planned, it’s my birthday and I’ll be late if I want to.

Whilst heading down the road news got to us of Roy Keane’s interview in the Irish Times. Maybe we would finally find out what the reason was for Keane’s shock exit from the club. Having read it before kick-off on the ALS website it’s clear that Keane was not happy with Ellis Short's involvement in the club and would much rather go backpacking around Mexico. I don’t blame him as that’s where I’m off to next, once my mother has done my washing that is.

Stepping out of the car into the warm North London smog/air I started to feel more confident about the fixture. After a couple of cans outside some random home fans only pub we headed off to the ground. This was my first visit to the Emirates and I was very impressed with it both inside and out. It’s nice to see a well designed stadium rather than one of these new ‘stuck in the middle of a retail park’ types of ground.

Shortly after kick off the confidence I had began to wane as Arsenal looked as though they were going to completely dominate the game, with new boy Arshavin coming close twice in the first fifteen minutes. But the lads fought back against the Gunners as Ferdinand and Whitehead both came close to scoring.

As with all grounds and basically anywhere in England being smoke free these days when Hardy failed to take on board that telling a copper at half time that we were off to the toilet for a fag is probably not the greatest of ideas. Having said that, the officer was probably not one of the brightest in the Met as he couldn’t tell us which tube stations were around the ground.

It was a frustrating day for both sets of fans as neither team were able to do much in front of goal. Arsenal struggled to break down Sunderland’s resolute defence and seemed a little sloppy at the back, but couldn’t quite break the deadlock.

Arsenal away is always a fixture that I don’t expect much from apart from a good day out, and after reading on the tube approaching the ground that Martin Fulop’s dad was a Nazi player in the film Escape to Victory, a draw almost feels as though we did escape with a victory.

We celebrated the draw, which seemed like a victory, with some random Arsenal fans we met who claimed they were well hard. We thought it was just a joke until they took us to some of the roughest bars in North London and the whole thing began to become very Green Streets with the manager looking shit scared as totally lawless behaviour prevailed.

However, it turned out they were all top blokes and after a midnight tour of the old Highbury and a Sunderland/Arsenal sing off outside The Emirates, they took us to an all night party and we danced to Police and Thieves by The Clash like long lost brothers. Hardy tried to put a spanner in the works on the dawn drive home by drinking a bottle of wine, falling asleep and nearly wetting himself, but that is another story...

Final Score: 0-0

ALS Man of the Match: Marton Fulop

Bobby Boberoo

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