The re-arranged fixture against the mighty Celtic did pose a few logistical problems. It was not possible for me to get time off work and Jnr was still at school at this time. My rostered shift at work was 1400-2200, which meant I wouldn�t be able to go. I had to make arrangement with a colleague to swap shifts. This would mean that I�d be doing the 0600-1400 turn, only problem being that the train to Glasgow leaves Birmingham at 12:57. Anyway, to cut a long story short, arrangements were �made to suit� shall we say. Jnr�s problem was a little more difficult. They knew at school whom he supported and they knew he was going to the �first� match. If he�d taken a day off they�d have been onto him and we, the parents, would also have been in a little bit of trouble. So, with this in mind, it was begging letter time so I wrote to his headmaster explaining the predicament and gave it as much bullshit as possible. To my surprise it was a success but that was mostly down to Jnr himself, his school work was up to scratch and he promised to catch up on the missed work. His head� told him he could have a couple of days off subject to him writing a match report. Magic�we�re going.
Now, I had to be back at work the next day for the 14:00 shift, this meant that we would have to travel back overnight on the Scotrail Sleeper service. Looking at the timetable it was beneficial for us to travel home via London otherwise we would have to change at Preston at about 03:00 and wait an hour there. Once again all seats and sleeper berths were all booked and we waited for the day to arrive.
The journey North was uneventful and on time. We did get quite a few funny looks getting on the train at Birmingham wearing our ICT shirts and scarves but we are used to this now.
Upon our arrival at Glasgow Central we had to pick up our tickets for the journey home, which we had booked over the phone. We had also decided to leave our bags at the station, as we were unsure if they would let us in the ground with them. It wasn�t until we were actually inside the ground that I realised I had left my camera behind - this I was to regret. Our journey out from Glasgow Central Low Level was also uneventful apart from chatting to some of the Celtic support. They appeared to be very confident of getting a rather good result, and so they should be. What was about to unfold within the ground could not have been realistically predicted although I did have a sneaky feeling that we could at least take them back to Inverness. I was more confident about the first fixture and had a bet on ICT at 14/1. For some strange reason the odds had increased for the rearranged fixture but I didn�t take up the �offer�. Oh well.
I am not too sure what I expected from this match, I was just pleased to be there for this spectacle, but when Barry Wilson put that ball in the back of the Celtic net I was leaping up and down and shouting with joy like a demented fourteen year old. It was at this point that I strained my vocal chords and had much difficulty communicating with Jnr. When Celtic equalised I really thought we would cave in and be on the receiving end of a right ol� stuffing�..then Bobby Mann scored and it was back to leaping around again. (I know now that is was credited as an own goal but from where I was it was Mann�s goal).
At half time it was a scene of sheer joy with the away support and I don�t think any of us could have expected what happened. The singing was like nothing I�d heard from the ICT support before and it was a joy to be part of it. As the second half unfolded it was clear that Celtic were getting very frustrated and we, the support, believed that they would never score past Jim Calder. Our lads were playing some good stuff and Charlie was the inspiration in the middle of the park but when the ref blew up and awarded us the penalty it was like we�d already scored the third. More leaping around was done and cheering etc. We knew that Sheerin would put it way�.some of us couldn�t look but those that were brave enough saw Paul step up to take it with his usual look of confidence and then ran up to stick it in the bottom left corner. Que much more leaping about and cheering. By now some the Celtic support had had enough and when one of their players blasted over the bar with a good opportunity with fifteen minutes to go many more got up to walk out. Jnr then stood up to chant �Cheerio cheerio� and everyone else joined in. Magic. The final whistle brought more scenes of joy and by now my voice had almost completely disintegrated.
The trip back to Glasgow Central station was accompanied by many disgruntled Celtic supporters who were disgusted with the whole affair but almost all of them wished us a safe journey home and good luck in the next round. Once we�d got back in to Central we picked up the bag and then headed for the chippy before joining the London overnight train. A Celtic supporter who didn�t look too pleased to see us intercepted us. I was expecting a bit of a confrontation but all he wanted to do was swap scarf�s.
Despite travelling overnight on the train we did get a good sleep, this was perhaps helped by having a few drinks before going to bed. When we arrived in London the Celtic scarf and ICT scarf where hanging from the straps of the bag and we were itching to purchase a copy of the morning papers to read about this big upset. More heads were turning when we joined the train to Coventry in our ICT colours and reading all about the night before. Magic, absolute magic.
