Come On You Irons!

It was a little while ago now that my boss had first mentioned about us getting our children together to watch the Man Utd Women take on West Ham.

Very glad that it was something that I said “yes” to as the wee ones and I had a cracking few hours down at Leigh Sports Village (home of Man Utd Women) despite the fact that Man U completely destroyed West Ham 3-0.

We got there a little early and so had tea and cake at the neighbouring supermarket before we were joined by my boss and his girls. The Youngest was uncharacteristically shy and disappeared into her coat, but m’boy was in fine form as we sat around the table and gave our score predictions - we were all wrong.

It’s been a long time since I last went to a proper football match, but regardless of the size of the stadium, there is always a thrill when you come out from under the concrete clutching your pie and brew to see the impossibly green pitch surrounded by the stands.

It was a perfect first match for the wee ones as there was a lovely atmosphere (despite The Youngest’s attempts to “shush” one part of the crowd because they “were making too much noise”), good company and the game was great too. M’boy noted in the car on the way home that the women didn’t seem to roll around on the floor as much as the men after a hard tackle. 

At the end of the match we made our way down to pitch side and got a couple of autographs from the players (Lucy Staniforth pictured here) who were doing a walk around as part of their last home game of the season farewell. My boss couldn’t wipe the grin from his face having got his picture taken with Dutch interational; Jackie Groenen.

The day finished as it began as we watched West Ham men also get beaten.

Sometimes you have to lose to win.