Ain't life grand? You're 20 years of age. You don't yet smoke 2 packs of fags a day, in reasonable health. Relatively attractive to the fairer sex and getting your fair share. It's summer, it's hot, it's England and this is the day you've waited for since the fixtures came out back in June. Your team, has had a good pre-season. With decent acquisitions bringing in John Jeffers from Port Vale. Paul Jones the goalie from Wolves and Kieran Durkan from Wrexham. We also picked up Luis Miguel Cavaco from a local side in Portugal that we played on tour there. He played alright too in the pre-season friendly demolition of Birmingham City. Friendly-wise we trounced championship side Tranmere Rovers 3-2 coming from 2 down in the process at Prenton Park and hammered Steve Bruce and Birmingham 4-0 at Edgeley.

So things were certainly looking up for the new season. Last season, we played at Crewe Alexandra on a cold wet February night on a Wednesday. we won 1-0 with a last minute goal from Jeff Eckhardt. This time, we went to Gresty Road on a balmy Saturday for the season opener. I drive down with Ben and Barry. Next door neighbors and because Ben is 12 and with an interest in football comes with me when he can to watch County. His old fella, Barry is a rugby man. But like a good father shows an interest in his lad's hobbies and whims, and anyway, we need Barry to drive us to Crewe.

The game was alright, nothing special really. No one team grabbing it by the scruff of the neck, no one team deserving a win or to lose......... Fans start filtering out with 10 minutes to go. It's hardly been an epic, 0-0 draws never are, but at least it is a point. A point I'd have taken against the pretty queer boys of Dario Grady and the Alex, but despite my rationalizing this in my head the Crewe number 10 breaks two tackles on the right, gets away from our centre back Matt Bound, floats in a teaser of a cross and Franny Tierney the Crewe Alex substitute is there on the fucking far post to head home in the 90th minute. "Well they say, do unto other as they would have done unto yourselves" are the wise words from the Stockport match commontator, a complete polar opposite of last years game in every sense. Just out of interest, the nancy boy from Crewe with the mop of blond hair jumping about around the 27th second of the video is none other than a young Robbie Savage.......