Oops...

Well, we cracked. Simple as that; after a dreadful piece of officialdom, we simply cracked under the pressure of being a man down against a team who are surely on their way to the Premiership.

Yesterday was always going to be one of the biggest games of the season for many people. I'd never had the opportunity to go to St James Park before, and I'd be lying if I said I hadn't been relishing this away game for a long time. This one had been meticulously planned for weeks prior to yesterday; every pub we intended on having a drink in, every curry house within walking distance of the ground; every detail. Nothing was left to chance.

We arrived at Wakefield Westgate train station at about half 8 and we were already surrounded by Geordie fans. They're everywhere! I even recognised my old English teacher, stood with her black and white scarf on. Half past 8, still in Yorkshire and we were already outnumbered. Once we were on the train, we got talking to another Geordie who was also making his way to the match. He talked about how gutted he was at Oakwell earlier in the season, after Bobby stuck in his late equaliser, with no mention of how we'd dominated pretty much all of the second half! Anyway, we wished each other luck and he went off to his seat.

We passed the Angel of the North and arrived in the land of the Geordie at just after 11 and got straight into O'Neills, just outside the train station. The first bloke we saw in their was totally arseholed, which was pretty impressive for the early hour of the morning, and seemed insistent that me and my dad had Salford accents, for some bizarre reason. We quickly shook him off. It wasn't long afterwards that I turned around just in time to see him try and slide on his shoes across the wooden floor and end up going down like a sack of shit. Early morning drinking, can't beat it.

A couple of beers later, we headed to the Centurion bar in the train station to meet up with a work colleague of my dads called Rich, who is a Geordie season ticket holder and was planning on taking us for a couple of drinks. He was a top bloke, and looked after us well. He was also very confident; he had a bet on 5-1 Newcastle yesterday. We had a good laugh when he told us that; it was a stupid bet, it would never happen etc...

Rich took us to the Newcastle Arms and introduced us to Neil, the landlord and another top bloke. We stayed in there and chatted to some of the locals, and again they were feeling in confident mood. A lot of them were in agreement about one thing though; they don't actually feel that they have a good team. It was a recurring theme throughout the day, that the Geordies think they have a group of overpaid, overrated players and that, when their Premiership status is achieved as it surely will be soon, they won't be good enough to survive without serious investment. They also don't think Mike Ashley is the man for the job, and they've made their feelings known on that issue throughout the campaign. Even the match programme had an article, written by Managing Director Derek Llambias, in which he "sets the record straight" about Ashleys commitment to the club. I would be surprised, given some of the opinions from the fans we spoke to, if that article had any effect on them.

Whilst we were drinking in the Newcastle Arms, I ended up talking to Paul Malcolm, a goalkeeper who had started his career at Newcastle United but had played for us 3 times during the 1986-87 season. He mentioned that 2 of his 3 appearances were against Yorkshire rivals (Bradford City and the Blunts) and he also went on to make 34 appearances for our Pikey friends in Donny. I asked him who he was cheering for and he told me he was shouting for the home team. I don't believe him though. There was a glint in his eye that just screamed "Come on you Tykes, beat them on their own soil, show us how you plan to win the playoffs, give them the Preston treatment'. I know it seems like I got a lot from that glint, but it's a knack I have. I could just tell. Anyway, he was a great guy and really friendly, and he also requested a copy of this blog today, so if you're reading this Paul, thanks for your hospitality. And I'm sorry we couldn't get the 3 points that I'm convinced you secretly wanted us to get...

When we finally headed to the ground and got in, the millions and millions of steps didn't seem too bad, certainly not as bad as I expected them to be. Maybe the few drinks beforehand numbed the pain of hiking for what seemed like an eternity, I'm not sure, but we eventually got to the top of the stand and got ourselves in place, just in time for the minutes silence, which was observed perfectly. And there we were; ready to see our beloved Tykes against Newcastle United, the runaway leaders and only team unbeaten on their own patch. But that was about to change, we were the team to finally end their domination of this league. We were gonna beat them, I could feel it.

For 40 minutes or so, it wasn't unthinkable at all. We were under pressure from the start, as you expect to be in games like this. They had the ball in the net early on but it was ruled out for an offside flag. But, despite us not particularly threatening Steve Harper in the home goal, we were playing solidly, and keeping the hosts quiet. And if we get in at half time at 0-0, anything can happen. Maybe the home fans get on their teams back, nerves begin to show, cracks appear. Half time couldn't have come quick enough.

Of course, the biggest decision of the day was about to be totally ballsed up by the man in charge. To be fair, there should never have been a decision to make; Dicko should have got rid of the ball when he had the chance, but he didn't, and Peter Lovenkrands wasted no time in rounding Luke Steele, before hitting the ground despite what seemed like no contact from the keeper. Admittedly, being 300 miles in the air makes it difficult to see exactly what had happened, but TV replays since have shown that it was a very, very soft penalty. But, it'd been given, as had a red card for Steele, and with David Preece being thrown into the mix just in time to face the resulting penalty, we were already fearing the worst. Sure enough, the salt was rubbed firmly into the wound and Lovenkrands converted the spot kick for 1-0, which is how it was at half time.

The second half was a total non-event for us. Usually, Robins works magic in the changing room with his half time team talk and the lads come out all guns blazing. We managed it at Oakwell earlier in the season against these lot, and had been unlucky not to get all 3 points. But it was never gonna happen yesterday. The goals began to flow freely for Newcastle, and we seemed to roll over and die, which is probably the most disappointing aspect of the whole day. We did manage to get one late on, but it didn't even feel like a consolation by then. David Preece took a lot of stick yesterday, and some of it was deserved, although our lack of a reserve team seems to still be costing us dearly in situations like that one. He looked desperately out of practice, and had an absolute nightmare in his first appearance since our 5-2 defeat at Q.P.R.

The fans were in good humour despite the terrible result on the pitch, as only you can be. Results like that don't often happen, and the best way to avoid wanting to jump from the top of the stadium is to make light of it. The chants about only needing 6 more, and that we were gonna win 7-6 were enjoyable, and even the Newcastle fans enjoyed our rendition of Sing When You're Winning. It was very reminiscent of our Premiership season, where chants like that were the norm every weekend. As I say, sometimes you have to just enjoy the day and have a laugh about it, because events on the pitch were never going to make anyone feel better.

Man of the Match?? My God, I don't know where to begin. David Preece? No, obviously that is a joke. Honestly, it's too difficult this week, I won't even attempt it. Nobody can come out of this game with any credit, unfortunately. 6-1 is just too damaging.

After the game, we headed to O'Neills again, being told numerous times throughout the walk back that it "wasn't a 6-1 game". It's nice that people were trying to make us feel better, but it really didn't work. I actually think it was a 6-1 game, but probably wouldn't have been had it not been for that one big moment which went against us in the first half. Again, we spent a good hour or so talking to various people about the days events. People often say that the Geordies are friendly folk, and yesterday really proved that. There's been no away game this season where that many people have been as keen to have a chat as yesterday, both before and after the game, so they deserve a lot of praise for that. That's what away days should be about. Anyway, after a couple of pints, as we had done so many times during the day, we shook some hands, wished people luck, and headed off for a curry before the train home.

The train journey home seemed much longer than it had earlier, and I could barely keep my eyes open all the way home. When we finally got back into Wakefield, the first person I saw was wearing a Newcastle shirt and kindly pointed out the scoreline. Like I needed any reminding of that. Support your local team you gloryhunters! Not that I'm feeling bitter or anything, you understand...

So there it is. The game everyone was looking forward to, the day out I'd been planning for weeks, and we'd been routed 6-1. It's worth saying that every part of the day apart from the football had been terrific, and all the people we'd met and spoken to had been great, so as far as away days go, it was still a really good one. And we never expected anything from this match. It was a freebie, and hopefully the scoreline won't have damaged confidence enough to affect the rest of our season for us. We've still got work to do to ensure we don't get dragged back into the battle at the bottom. Crystal Palace next week is a massive, massive game for us.

Thanks for reading.