The Great Oakley Brewery's Gobble that is, and a very nice pint it is too. The sun was out, the beer was good, the Blues hit the net three times away from home, the day could have been a lot worse.
The Virgin train gestapo was out in force at London Euston, even on an Easter Monday, maybe because it was. Six of them checking tickets before the 11.43 to Wolverhampton via Milton Keynes, making sure we all had our £14.00 day returns to MK, how nice to buy a ticket on the day for a change instead of three months in advance, and in the end every seat was taken, not all going to Cobblers territory but I saw one other Shrimper shirt!
A short delay but in at Franchise central 45 minutes later and straight on to coaches to Northampton, whoops no time to buy a further £7.20 return onwards, and at 13.10 we drew into the rail station car park. Buy a single back when the trains were working again, honest, blimey all to save a couple of quid, well, that's nearly a pint!
It's a beer you naughty people
Fifteen minutes later I saw the frightening site of the brewery of the Danish larger Carlsberg, possibly ect., but then right by it's side, the Malt Shovel Tavern, home of five Great Oakley Brewery home beers and eight guest ones! What a shame it was at the wrong end of the town for the stadium, only time for two beers, one had to be a pint of the delightfully named Gobble, £2.60 and 4.5%, a straw-coloured beer with a large smack of hops at the end.
Then on to a guest, the seasonal 'Spring Heeled Jack', £2.70 and 4.6%, the type of light ale that I love and would have had another if the ground wasn't a half-marathon away.
There was a quick drop in to the Foundryman's Arms past the rail station which was a very strange pub indeed. Might have been different if the rugby, Franklin Gardens, home of the Northampton Saints was five minutes away, and their European Challenge Cup quarter-final was being played that afternoon and not 19.30. (Though the football club was pleased as the rugby got nearly double the footy crowd; a winning team, Saints have won 32 of their last 33 home games, and all that.
As it was this lot, sat in front of three screens showing Racing UK, made me feel as if I'd wondered in to a remake of some obscure British seventies horror movie, sort of 'Dracula Rises in Northampton'. Though I'm not sure there was much blood left in these punters.
A quick pint of average Phipps IPA, £2.50 and 4.3%, and out I went, past the rugby ground and on to Sixfields, a good 20 minutes away, just in time for the kick-off.
With the sun making an appearance there was an end of season feel, tension gone with the Dons defeat, we could enjoy this one, and we did, and so did the team.
Yellow shirts, perfect for Easter, packed the away stand which was in good voice, certainly out singing the home support who looked shell shocked after a perfect start from the Blues who deserved more than a one goal lead at half-time.
(For a full report on the game with player markings go here: www.thelittlegazette.com/news/loadnews.asp?cid=TMNW&id=442958)
For me and a couple of other exiled Shrimpers, as we basked in the spring sunshine in the stand, it was how many we would stack up in the second half. It must have been the Gobble, as we know it's never easy following the Blues, and sure enough the home crowd rose to celebrate the equaliser but unlike the bloke whose feast we were celebrating, no not Mr. Cadbury who makes the eggs, these guys were soon buried again by the old firm of Theo and our own good Lord, Lee Barnard.
A silly second let the Cobblers back in for the last ten but Southend held out quite easily, plenty of balls into the corner, with only a terrible free-kick decision at the end to give the Town faithful some hope, and that was hit high and wide over the bar.
Farewells and a promise of a pint in the Cricketers before the Leicester game and I was on my way back for the 17.25 now direct to London service, what did those workers do, down tools at lunchtime? Anyway, I had to break into a jog as the time got closer and rushed onto the waiting train where I remembered I only had a return from Milton Keynes!
The good news, the train manager did not appear until after Milton Keynes, the bad, the ticket had 'VIRGIN TRAINS ONLY' on it and this was a London Midlands service, why do they do that, it was bought at a London Euston ticket machine!!
However, the inspector was full of the goodwill of the season and let me off. So fourteen quid return to Northampton and back, not bad, along with some good beer, good weather, good company and a very good win, if too late with results elsewhere to get us into the top six.
Still, Tranmere are away at Leeds, Scunthorpe at home to the in-form and in-luck MK Dons. No, stop it, it's over, it can't happen. It can't!
