When the alarm goes at 3am and you roll over and wait for the repeat, you forget how excited you were when you were trying to get to sleep in the first place and cannot believe that you are not jumping up with a spring in your step. The day had arrived at last, another European adventure, it seems ages since Alkmaar, now we were off the Norway to play Champions SK Brann. The usual routine went into play so that we did not bring about bad luck, bubbly for breakfast just before the minibus arrived, then it was off to John Lennon Airport to meet up with fellow Toffee men. Check in was a breeze then we were ensconced in Weatherspoons with a pint of Kronenburg at 5.30am, that airport pint at £3.10 was to prove the cheapest of the day!

Now on the flight we issued a warning as we knew that the previous day 8 blues had been arrested on arrival for possession of various substances, surprise, surprise only 3 of our travellers got pulled – some people do not listen. This was even after the sniffer dog had keeled over after smelling Lavo; he had a turtles head sticking out and was busting, poor dog.

It was then on to the coaches for a short drive to Brann centre admiring the beautiful Norwegian scenery on the way. We set up stall in Finnegan’s where our guest, Joe Parkinson, entertained us with some get tales in a Q&A session, thanks again Joe. It was in the pub when we first experienced the inflationary price of the ale, now admittedly it was cheaper in places like the Champions Bar but we started off paying £5 for half a litre of lager; fuck it we’re on a day out with The Toffees! The bottle of vodka we bought in duty free came in very handy and some of us duly polished it off.

There was beer, songs, songs and more beer, the time flew and before we knew it we were in a taxi on the way to the ground. Now this is were it gets difficult, down to do the match report but we can’t remember leaving the pub, getting to the ground or why I’m sat in the Bergen end when I have a ticket with everyone else in our end! The ground is bouncing, there are Toffeemen everywhere, we got around 900 tickets allocated but there must be nearly four times that number in the ground.

We had heard earlier that the best little Spaniard we know had a thigh strain and had not travelled. That meant that Timmy moved back into midfield and The Yak returned after rightly having his arse smacked for going AWOL by headmaster Davey, so it was 4-4-2 and up and at ‘em. We nearly went in front from the first attack, The Yak broke free down the right and did not quite get hold of his shot and the goalie saved easily. The pitch looked poor which was surprising seeing that Braan were in the closure period for their winter and a match had not been played on the pitch since December. We struggled to get a grip on the game in the first half, they huffed and puffed but we looked strong at the back and Tim was rarely troubled.

There were few chances created, Ossie had a couple of efforts from outside the box, the second bring out a top class save and he was unlucky not to put us in front, he was saving it for later. There was one scare just before the break, Brann had the ball in the net from a corner but Baake, the old Leeds player who Rooney put on his arse, had fouled Tim and it was disallowed so we went in all square.

HALF TIME 0-0

One thing had us puzzled, the alcohol meant that it was only when the boys were leaving the pitch we noticed, there was no Chang sponsorship logo on the team shirts even though Braan were advertising on their kit. What was this all about? We got a grip through two goals in the second half and now we should be through to the last 16 for either a trip back to Norway or Italy on March 6th.

The first goal was a cracker. Timmy only the ball on the half way line and fed AJ, he put a cross in and it was cleared to Ossie on the edge of the box, he hit it on the volley and it screamed in. Cue mayhem, the Braan supporters took it well and we survived without confrontation. We then survived a couple of scares before Big Vic who had come on for AJ sealed it. Roger broke down the left, he knocked in a brilliant cross and as the home side appealed for offside Big Vic calmed slotted in nicely. Cue even greater mayhem, we knew scoring in the last few minutes it was game over. Sure enough that was the case, the celebrations were fantastic, the singing non-stop, well done to everyone who was there. I was back onto the coach, flight back with even more snifters on the plane, back on that minibus and back in that bed I had got out of exactly 24 hours earlier. Great day out, great support, great result – it’s great to be blue, even greater being a Monty Python parrot – a Norwegian Blue.

There were some tremendous performances last night, all the boys at the back played well, Timmy put a shift in, Ossie did really well and The Yak and AJ did well but my Blue Kipper Star Man goes to The Jag. He was immense at the back and carried on his fine form from the Reading game. So next up is Braan again next Thursday when hopefully our passage to the last 16 will be a formality. This European adventure is becoming legendary and we are a step closer to going to City twice. COYB FTRS

FULL TIME 0-2

Tiny Gets Stuck In

The Players Celebrate Ossie's Opener

Ossie Celebrates Big Vic's Goal

Moyesy Is Happy At The End

 

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Today's Blue Kipper Star Man

Star Man

Stats

Goals

Bad Boys

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