Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 36 Salford City Reds 24

And then there are some days which are just so mind-numbingly awful you just wish for the invention of a memory eraser so that you don't waste one more minute of your life dwelling over such a mind-numbingly futile day.

Optimism was definitely high after the previous week's comeback in the capital & as we arrived at Victoria station for the train to Leeds, the concourse was impressively full of reds ready for an earlyish arrival in Yorkshire. A laughter-filled journey to Leeds ensued with the highlight most definitely being Deano's attempts to make us believe he really does look like Tom Cruise. As we landed in my former home city we noticed we had a 30 minute wait for the next train to Wakey, only 1 thing for it then; pint. GT ordered some ridiculously strong ale which when I asked for it the barman enquired "Does he know how strong it is?". "Yeah", I replied, "I'm only letting him have four though. He's gotta drive us home after". The barman met me with a look of utter disgust before I assured him he was joking & made a mental note to myself to remember just how humourless Wetherspoons' bar staff can be.

As we made our way to the platform we spotted a familiar face clad in a crombie & a fedora. It was Stevo, Sky Sports analyst/tool for Super League coverage. I dashed across to request a photo & Stevo duly obliged before spending 10 minutes talking to us about the game, Luke Dorn, Steve Ganson (a wanker said Stevo, we agree said we) and his fellow commentary team. He then bade us farewell before heading back to London (having asked where we drink after home games & saying he'd have a few beers with us next week). Top bloke. So we headed through the barrier & made our way to the Wakey train only to be asked by some Loiner "Was that Stevo?", "Yeah", "Which game's he off to then?" "He's not, he's going home" "Australia?"!!!! This had us conjuring up an imagined platform announcement for the 13:10 to Sydney calling at Heckmondwike, Cleckheaton, Knottingley, Bangkok & Melbourne.

We landed in Wakey & headed to the first pub (I can never remember the name of it) & stopped there for a while bringing out Stevoism's everywhere "Someone's got to get the message out, this lager is warm" or "That boy Danny Holmes he is a BIG unit". Soon enough I had to head back to the station to meet Paul & we were soon heading more central to settle an argument; a gang of us reckoned that the Snooty Fox on the way to Belle Vue was the roughest pub in the world while Solly & Walshy reckoned it was some place they ended up in last season. The only way to settle it was by visiting both & I had to say that the youngsters had it spot-on. Time to head to the ground.

Wakey had the better of the early part of the game and their territorial advantage was pressed home by 2 Rooney penalties. However, Salford started to look more threatening after those early warnings & it was no great surprise when Finnigan crashed over from close-range & Wilshere tagged on the extras. We then had a lot of control in the game but tellingly fell away afterwards to allow Atkins & McGillivray to give Wakey a commanding half-time lead of 16-6.

Anyone for more 2nd-half heroics? No, we were even more woeful in the 2nd stanza (another Stevoism). The worst of the 3 Hendersons was allowed to score as was the very impressive Tevita Latu with a token effort by young Luke Adamson sandwiched in between these measures of Wakefield's superiority. A fight-back which never appeared on was briefly hinted at when Haggy went on a barn-storming break & stayed in support to touch-down by the sticks. Then Daley Williams squeezed over wide-out & we were back within 6 points. However, fittingly Rooney had the last say as he completed a deserved Wakey victory.

There's only 1 way to react to a performance like that; beer. We headed over the road to Monty's & found a quiet corner to mull over how piss-poor we were. I don't really want to dwell on the events that followed but people who think that half pool-cues are a good accompaniment to a game of rugby league are just scum. The quiet pint ended up with me outside a pub surrounded by Wakey "fans" looking for an excuse to kick shit out of me while thinking that my blind mate was still inside wearing his Salford shirt & anything could be happening to him. Not a pleasant feeling at all, thankfully Ian & Martin had got Paul out of a fire exit and all was well. Unfortunately not all Salford fans in the pub could say the same.

We all met up again in the next pub down the road, Tony's face looked a lot better once it had been cleaned up & we felt it was only right to go on with the rest of the night. The usual suspects headed off to a karaoke pub near the station to serenade the locals. Bobby gave a virtuoso performance on Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me (assisted by myself after those immortal lines "Ladies & Gentlemen, Mr Yorkie Red") which earned a standing ovation and of course Matchstalk Men & Cats & Dogs was given a good airing.

Then we did the usual routine; Reflex & Flares before heading on the last train to Leeds & back to the Wetherspoons where initially the barstaff claimed I was barred!!! After pointing out that errrr, no I wasn't and mass consultation between barstaff, I was eventually served. We arrived back on the platform for the train to Piccadilly to find that Paul had had his collar felt for having a piss on the platform & that cheered us all up no end. And still the fun & games were not over; as we made our way back over the pennines, some weird gay guy from Leeds started talking to us. After a while, he started to take an unhealthy interest in young Martin (to the point of following him to the toilet). Now Martin is only young and really didn't know how to handle the situation really so another fight looked a short-priced favourite for a while but we slowly calmed Martin down & explained to the guy that there was nowt down for him. However, when we got to Manchester & he was still following us I had to go & have a word. Freak!

All in all, a lot of laughs & predominantly a very good day but the events between 3:30 & 5:30'ish would be best banished from our memories I reckon.