Face Of Cheam

Next stop was the Old Ale Emporium.  This had lots of lager and cider to choose from though nothing unusual, but only two real ales, so did not live up to its name.  A saving grace of the pub was a dartboard at the back where with the house darts i managed a 26 dart leg on the first attempt finishing on the double top.  Nice.
A twenty minute walk towards the ground followed as the Salisbury (with promised imported Czech lager) was closed and seems to have been for a while.
Next stop was by South Tottenham overground, the Old Station House.  The Chase was on the TV and some Jamaican guys playing reggae loudly on their laptop vaping away.
Despite this, the place was definitely an Irish pub and served a nice Moretti.

I met my friends at The High Cross, a converted public lavatory.  Went here before the home game and it is nice and cosy.  Too cosy on this occasion, my friend is waiting outside with an unusual imported lager whose name he cannot remember. Friend number 2 then arrives and we walk down the high road to the Beehive.  A lively side street pub with a big garden accommodating both home and away fans.  This is how a football pub should be.  Decent crowd, music being played, Sky on the TV/
With time pressing on, I split with my friends and head to the away end.  After several flights of stairs, and as it is only ten minutes before kick off I head to an empty bar.  Amstel is off, so i have one of the local brewery beers which is quite nice.  There is a ledge overlooking outside and a nice pun on Tottenhams motto on the bins.
I am front row of the upper tier and the only complaint of the view was, as I am at the end of an aisle, a glass panel is half blocking the goal (unless i lean forward).  This is there to prevent people falling over the edge if they fall down the stairs but still.   Despite going behind Shane Long equalses and its level at half time.  I head back to the concourse and it is back.  It seems for four blocks of away fans there is only one toilet area for men (and one for women) and one bar.  Very uncomfortable.  Again I appreciate this area is normally for home fans who can walk round to better facilities but seems very poor planning and shows the contempt for away fans big clubs seem to have.

Saints dominate the next 30 minutes and Danny Ings scores a fantastic breakaway goal.  Then with 15 minutes left spurs change their system to dramatic effect and score immediately.  A few minutes later Spurs forward Son is beaten to the ball by the Saints keeper yet bizarrely throws himself to the ground.  Unbelievably, a penalty is given.  Even more shocking is VAR review and do not over-rule.

Before this season I thought VAR would level the playing field somewhat preventing the big sides getting iffy decisions, but as the people running it are also Refs, it is corrupt as it can be.   If it is kept modern football will die.

Anyway game ends with Saints knocked out, meaning a home game with Norwich is off my list of things to do. We make Victoria with just about time to get an M&S beer, and despite result and again poor facilities at the ground, it was a good afternoon/evening out.