Dave Brown, Editor of Hit the Bar, shares his views on the trip to Glanford Park.

To find out more about the London Branch, click HERE.

Maggie's Not Happy

Al Millington sends the London Branch an email in August "Who wants to go to Scunny - rail tickets are £25?" Well of course I said yes. It's August - the time of year when every football fan has a half full pint - this year we are going up as Champions with record points. We may have lost Garner and Westwood but we have got Mickey Bridges back. Yes!

The day arrives - we are unbeaten (don't normally have that one by mid September). I set off from Banstead in Surrey at 7.30am. Maggie gives me a lift to the station - she is not happy - up all week at 6am and she is up at 7.30am on a Saturday to take me to football!

Kings Cross Improves its Service

Arrive at Kings Cross - time for a bacon butty and a cup of tea in the Duke of Yorks pub on platform 6 where we arranged to meet. It is closed - the signs have gone and been replaced by brand new signs declaring "Coopers Ales" while a handwritten note stuck to the window explains that "as part of our constant striving to improve your service we have closed the Duke of Yorks Pub permanently which was the only refreshment place in Kings Cross that has a seat (and actually we have closed most of the others without seats as well) and now you can p*** off to anywhere outside the station where you might be able to find similar facilities if you are lucky."

When did Kings Cross get so bad - it used to be that a mass of football fans met up on a Saturday morning with colours and the occasional fight - now we had to fight our way through hen parties in pink cowboy hats, hooray henrys in toppers heading off god knows where and Friday night party animals in distressed mascara and 6 inch heels heading tearfully home.

Get a move on Al!

No problems says I and turn to my mobile to phone Al or Ken (Hullington) to let them know the bad news. Help! - I've got their email addresses but not their mobile numbers - its now 9.45 for a 10am train and they went to the Cumbrian beer fest in Putney the night before AND they have the tickets. Panic over Ken arrives and we grab coffees at the takeaway. A few minutes later and Al arrives (that's still too close for comfort when you had the tickets even if you do live nearby).

We are on the train. Ken explains that he went into M&S and bought a few nibbles and 3 beers - when he got to the counter, the guy says that "get a fourth and it will cost you less" - Ken looks back at a huge queue and does without the discount (when did shops get so complicated?)

Stella in Disguise

Serious blathering now proceeds - the usual glance and comment at the impressive Emirates stadium on the way past as we leave North London - and then Orient - what happened second half? What are our chances today? We are all feeling really confident - Carlisle looked great against Yeovil and we won a game against Southend that sounded tough. We cover Carlisle, sport and the world - also the all important question of whether M&S Belgian lager is Stella in disguise.

15 minutes early we arrive in Doncaster - the platform is packed - we see the Hooray Henrys - of course today is the St Leger. Across to the Scunny train and we get on the push me pull you with a Scunny fan - her boyfriend wont come with her. She thinks we will win - so do we.

3 Pints for £4.05 - Honest!

We arrive at Scunny - Al takes us to the Honest Lawyer (an oxymoron) where we sit in the sunshine drinking wonderful real ales and talking rubbish while interacting with a few sofa Scunny fans - "Are you going to the game?" "No - I went a few years ago". Scunny is a bit of a revelation - I had been expecting a rough old steel town but it is like a leafy suburb of London. The prices aren't as we find when we get to the "meeting" pub - Croxy, Bob and the rest are waiting for us in the Berkeley - a vast pub by a roundabout. First round for 3 pints is £4.05 - yes £4.05. It wasn't as good beer as the Honest Lawyer but that's seriously cheap beer.

We get to the ground, this is the first of the new grounds for the lower leagues - built in the 1980's it is still a fairly small ground built in a retail park. Please don't let Carlisle follow the same route. I like Brunton Park and where it is.

It's a fair turn out with 700+ Carlisle fans and we all anticipate a great result.

Wardy - Make Some Changes

First half the game is played at the far end where Carlisle is attacking non stop - it looks like we are missing a lot of chances. In the second half Joe Murphy (the Scunthorpe Goalie) is made Man of the Match -that's why we missed our chances - it turns out Murphy made 2 miraculous point blank saves.

Second half Scunny make a double substitution that lets them take control. They score - twice. We waited for our changes - at last Dobie came on and we start to look a little more lively. Why didn't Wardy make the changes earlier? Danny Carlton gets a goal back after a clever chest down by Dobie and then we batter their goal for the last 15 minutes - it wasn't to happen but a draw would have been a fair result.

Maggie's Still Not Happy

Back to the Berkeley - well you would wouldn't you at £1.35 a pint. A couple of swift pints and a taxi back to the station. The inquest starts and we are all pretty positive considering it's our first defeat. It was a great game and we made loads of chances although worrying that we missed most of them. Still ,if we play like that the rest of the season, we will be there or thereabouts come next May.

Arrive home 10.30pm - Maggie is still not happy. Will I get to Walsall?

Bring on Leeds!

Dave Brown