The Away Day Blues

“You travel with a certain amount of pre-match optimism- this is dangerous. Although you are on the road, away from your usual environs, you must try to keep a grip on reality. Just because you are making the effort doesn’t mean the players are going to” (Taken from ‘How To Support A Crap Football Team’ by Steve Crancher)

Robert Louis Stevenson once said “To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive.” and I’m sure football fans around the country echo his sentiments. How often is an enjoyable away trip instantly ruined by a few early goals with no hope of a comeback?

Since February 2007 I have ‘travelled hopefully’ to watch Exeter City on the road on twelve occasions with just one win. The ‘travelling hopefully’ has been infinitely more fun than arriving. Last Tuesday’s trip to Salisbury for example became distinctly not funny after only nine minutes and it was downhill from there.

I have now watched 990 minutes of football with just seven goals scored, twenty-two conceded and plenty of depressing drives home. Especially impressive is the fact that in these fourteen months Exeter have won 11 away games and I’ve only witnessed one!

Is it a blessing in disguise that I chose to work this Saturday instead of discarding my dissertation and spending my entire Saturday heading across Britain to Nene Park to watch Exeter and Rushden and Diamonds ‘do battle’?

Away from all the doom and gloom of my recent away record I have to admit though I do love a good away day. The atmosphere is usually always far better than home games and the celebrations have an extra bounce to them. Some of the away games I have been to with Exeter have been unforgettable. Everyone loves the football away-day experience whether with friends or family, although experiencing the wonders Aldershot, Stevenage and Crawley have to offer wouldn’t be on many people’s wish list for a Saturday afternoon!

But as the quote at the head of this article describes, the away day is stacked with potential pitfalls, and not just the distinct possibility that the players will just not make the same effort as you!

It is very easy to get carried away as you arrive at another shabby, run-down ground. In Exeter’s case I often find myself frustrated leaving Blue Square Premier grounds where we have outnumbered or almost outnumbered the home fans at grounds often 3 or 4 hours from Exeter. And not only does the away excursion provide you with far too much time to get optimistic pre-game it leaves a lot of opportunities to dissect and stew over another below-par performance and put the world to right.

I will never forget how frustrated and miserable I felt after the Play Off Final at Wembley. After the ecstasy of the Oxford tie and the thrilling run in to get into the Play Off’s the whole Wembley experience left me feeling frustrated and empty. In a similar vein, this season’s 13-hour roundtrip to watch a one-goal defeat in Bury in the FA Cup was pretty high on the disappointment scale.

You may be wondering why I am picking at the scabs of these painful away day experiences? Because with the potentially win-or-bust deciding match at Burton in just over a week’s time the ‘arriving’ needs to become a lot more enjoyable than the ‘travelling otherwise we could well be making unwelcome returns to our regular Conference haunts.

Pete Evans - Injury Time Winner