Day 21

Everyone has a list of things they want to see and do in their life and today I ticked one of those off my list, Grundy had secured tickets to Anfield for Liverpool's first home game of the premiership season against West Ham, a replay of last years F.A. Cup final. Being the early kick off we had an early start to get there on time -on the road by 8am - though Grundy knows how to drive these roads better and quicker than I do and we were up at Anfield by 10ish...and there hundreds of people there already. As I was walking to the ground it had the feeling of a big test match, probably because it will be the first and last time I might be here. So we wandered through the Shankly gates, past the Hillsborough memorial and into the museum. The trophy cabinet is packed, the 5 European Cups taking up heaps of room, Liverpool may not have won the league for many a year but this club is trophy collecting machine, having already won the Charity Shield this year beating Chelsea two weeks ago. We came out of the museum at about 11:30 and there were now thousands of people around, the queue for the club shop about 100m long...so we popped into a pub for quick pint and back to our seats. We were opposite the Kop and behind the goal, and the view from the seats was fantastic. The stands go high instead of back so everyone has a good view. Then the singing and the chanting started, I'm always said that the kiwi fans could learn alot from the Brits, 45,000 punters screaming out 'You'll never walk alone' was spine tingling. Then the game kicked off, the singing from the Pool fans stopped around the 11 minute mark when West Ham scored, but when Liverpool scored twice in the 5 minutes before half time (one a 30 yard screamer from centre back Dan Agger) the crowd found their voice again. My fave chant being the 'one nil and you fu*ked it up' chant directed at the Wast Ham fans. The second half had no goals but both teams have an attacking approach so it was still open. But Liverpool held on for their first win of the season. There are a lot of comments to assist the linesman, the ref and some real passion in the stands from these scouse nutters, but it all adds to the experience and was the highlight of the trip for me so far (sorry Zak, Rome and London!). I tried to get into the store to buy the liverpool duvet cover I promised Ruth, but again the queue was too long, but I was not worried I had my programme and souvenir ticket, to me the ground and the game was enough. Anyways I've crapped on long enough about this day... a big thanks to Grundy and Becky for hosting us this weekend