What another magical time at White Hart Lane this season! An early Christmas present for us all.
Beating Spurs away for the second time in three months is a moment to be remembered for a very long time. I have been lucky enough to be at both matches and this victory was just as sweet as the last one!
The evening didn’t get off to great start. They were not enough trains from Liverpool Street to White Hart Lane and when our over crowded trains did arrive we were met with chaos trying to get in the ground for kick off. In the pouring rain, a heavy police presence funnelled 4,200 West Ham fans in to just four White Hart Lane turnstiles where stewards were searching all fans. This poor organisation meant over a thousand West ham fans were still outside getting crushed after the match had kicked off. Because of the crushing danger they sensibly stopped searching fans to quicken up the process. When we got to our seats in the lower stand 14 minutes of play had passed but hundreds of fans still remained outside waiting to get in.
West Ham fans were in fine spirits & well behaved despite the effort to get in the ground and seeing the starting team line up. As always West Ham fans stood up and sung throughout the 90 minutes. Any fears of Spurs fans singing their Y word songs were dispelled as they all sat down and were as quiet as a library for most of the game.
We were all relieved when we made it through to half time goal less despite Spurs having most of possession. Spurs refused to sell alcohol at half time to West Ham fans putting another damper on the evening of celebration.
Second Half Spurs scored on 67 minutes and Spurs fans finally found their voice as we sung ’We forgot that you were here!" but their singing was only to last for 13 minutes before Jarvis equalised to shut them up and we never heard from the Spurs fans again.
The substitutions of Maiga, Diame and Morrison coming on changed the game and special mention must go to Maiga who worked so hard, won every ball and deserved to get the winner on 85 minutes. We sung his name for the rest of the match!
The 4,200 West Ham fans partied as the final whistle went as you can see from my video below. The police kept us in for 20 minutes but we didn’t care. James Collins came to us and threw his shirt into the crowd to the tune of ’There’s only one ginger Pele!" Tony Gale also popped down on the pitch to make a crossed arms hammers sign to the 4,000 plus fans waiting to get out.
Songs of “He scored at white Hart Lane, he’s better than Jermaine,. Maiga woaaaah, maiga woaaaah” and “Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way, Oh what fun it is to watch West Ham win away!” were sung as we were finally released in the pouring rain yet again.
The West Ham fans were amazing and there was virtually no trouble all night.
Maybe a sad reflection of our current form at the moment but the away days are far more exciting than the home games in terms of atmosphere & fun. Several West Ham fans have said to me recently they are contemplating giving up their season ticket to travel to each away match instead. I can see the attraction of that.
Great night and it will long be remembered. Next stop Man City! I am booking my train and hotel as soon as date is confirmed.