A WEEK IN THE LIFE OF A HIGHLAND DEE

(The Heh's an Lows)

Scottish cup time had arrived once more,and Jabba had rallied the troops into action, the bus was organised for the excursion to Easter Road,and meeting points etc all in place.Waking on Saturday morning, the weather forecast was for severe weather ,Gales, Snow,heh winds (that was to prove accurate...sorry again)As we arrived to collect the bus, Moray Firth were announcing the A9 at Carrbridge was impassable,and Lorries were blocking the road at the top of Drummosie,spirits sank .....we'll head round and see what the rest of the lads reckon eh?dont fancy a day digging snow on the A9!!!!

Just as we were almost deciding against heading off,Jabba came bounding out of his car "Cahirmans set off at 8.30 and has managed to get past Aviemore,what do you reckon lads....its up to the driver Derek i guess"

All eyes turned to Capt for the day Derek Steel,"Ach sod it, lets give it a go eh"?So it was, we hit the road for Edinburgh ,which proved a bit dodgy at first but as Cahirman had correctly predicted Nae bother after Aviemore.As we reached Bacon Mountain the sun was shining like a spring day,mebees this will turn out a good day after all........

On reaching Auld Reekie and having the services of a native Hibee to give directions we were ensconsed in the pub by 13.00 and predictions for the gemme were getting more ambitious as the beer flowed ,"might get a draw and take them back to Dens eh"?...."Sod the draw lets gie them a doing" "mind the 3-3 game" "eh and the replay 3-0 pure magic" the memories flowed and spirits were lifted for a while...

As we ventured out into the biting wind that stung the face aff you, we headed for Easter road,and in good voice took our seats in the stand ,despite some resolute play and poor Hibee finshing, just as hopes were raised we might just squeeze a draw, they broke through in 76 minutes for the first of 2 goals that would see us make an early exit from the Cup

 

The journey home, as if no bad enough with being depressed at defeat turned into a real struggle for Derek with blizzarding snow and high winds,rutted ice etc making driving a nightmare, but Capt Steel coped admirably and got us safely back into Sneck at 22.00. Poor Mark and Blair cross still had the journey onwards to Elgin !!!!

Reading the papers on Sunday compounded the misery, reports that we were slaughtered etc,could have been 6-0 (didnt think we were that bad maself)team goin nowhere , bottom of the league,oot the cup....Jeez it cant get any worse can it!!!!

Reading website forums can be informative and stimulates debate etc but for a few days they became an endless steam of negativity with rumours and reports (I can understand why JD disnae go near them!)then the Judas Mair story broke......No players were signing contracts.... Lee Wilkie had signed a pre contract with the arabs....Steve Robb was of to ICT........Doom and Gloom everywhere .

Wednesday Lunchtime i think it was,the mobile beeped ...."1 message recieved"...wonder who this is from?mmmmm

Jabba..."Robb and Mcnally sign 2 year contracts"........a small glimmer of light?

Thursday......mobile beeps "1 message recieved"...mmmm "JD in talks with Tam Mcmanus ...."aye right we'll no afford him....and so the rollercoaster bagan its slow climb upwards.

By the time Saturday morning arrived spirits were high once more,and i felt a new optimism beyond the usual blind faith , a genuine belief we might just be on the up.So off we went once more on the road and the miles....

Arriving early we piled into the Andy Penman lounge to partake in lifting our spirits even furter,We were joined for a short while by Dee legend Bobby Wilson who came over for a chat ,ever the gent, and give us his views on the game

(sorry Bobby you called it wrong)

The Craic was good as we headed off to the Bob Shankly stand and Mao appeared with his cannigia hair to add to the party mood,it was a pleasent surprise to see Jack and John Lornie,to make a sizeable Highland contingent for what was a crucial game against Inverness

The banner was walked out and so kick off time grew closer , think i'll just nip down to Ladbrokes window and put a couple of quid on 3-1 home win ....feel it in my water.....

The game stared and and uneasiness crept in as ICT had the best part of the early play but after about 30 mins Steve robb set of on a run reminiscent of the one against Yenited ,3 defenders were lefting kicking fresh air as he slotted it under the forlorn Mark Broon...YYYEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSS.ICT kept pushing and had another couple of chances, however the Dees were starting to look more dangerous and but for a couple of dodgy offside calls may have had more chances as well.Half time came and went and when Cab burst through and had his shot parried ..aw no ...wha's that ...Ya Beuuuuuuuty ,2-0 and new boy Tam was on the score sheet,When ICT handled in the box ,John Sutton stepped up, you just knew it was our day and no way he would miss,3-0 and coasting......

As Derek mused "No been this happy at at Dens with 20 mins to go in a long time"I knew what he meant.As the time grew towards the final whistle,talk was of goal difference,could we get another , then in stepped Brewster to grab a consolatin and make my 3-1 prediction return £36 (would still have preferred we got another....., honest)

Final whistle came and off we headed back to the bus to be greeted by Tayside's finest,mistaking us for ICT fans and escorting us onto the Kingsway for a quick getaway up the A9,the euphoric journey home took half the time of the previous week and we were backhame by 7.30 and in the pub by 8' o' clock

Final pic is a topper of Man of the Match "Soapy" Soutar by kind permission of Caley Fifer

What a diference a week makes , can we continue it ?who knows ,lets just enjoy the moment!!!!

ALANMAC