Sam & Max - Four Pubs Per Gallon

I'd been looking forward to going to Griffin Park ever since Brentford got promoted from League One last season. I would have preferred it to have been played on a Saturday afternoon, with a 3 o'clock kick-off, but hey! As it was, the game was scheduled for Boxing Day with a 1 o'clock kick-off.

Sam was home from Hanoi for Christmas, his first Christmas in England for four years (as he reminded us on more than one occasion!) So along with Max we set of for London just before 9am, leaving Sharon at home to have a bit of peace and quiet (her choice). She was invited, but declined, thinking that it was only to be our 'designated' driver, therefore allowing us three to do the 'Four Pub Challenge'.

Brentford is the only football club in England with a pub at every corner of the ground and I'm led to believe by Max that to do the 'Four Pub Challenge' correctly you have to have a pint at every pub, starting an hour before the match and be in the ground ready for the kick-off, that's no mean feat.

We arrived in Brentford and were parked before 11am. Sam & Max's challenge (I was excused as driver) started at The Royal Oak, before moving on to The New Inn, The Princess Royal and finally The Griffin (nearest to the away end). We had decided not to have any time constraints on the challenge, instead just enjoy the experience!

Pub number one - The Royal Oak

'I'll have a' half'

Pub number two - The New Inn

Pub number three - The Princess Royal

Pub number four The Griffin 

As driver I had two half's, a Lime & Soda and a Coke!

On reflection It certainly would be a challenge to get to get to all four pubs, get served, down the pint and visit the loo, all within an hour. Any Ipswich fans taking part may well have missed Daryl Murphy's first goal - as he only took eighteen seconds to score it!

What a great start and better was to come, Murphy doubled the lead after twenty-one minutes and Paul Anderson added a third with just half an hour played, not bad when you consider that Brentford were third in the league.

The score stayed that way until the eighty-first minute, Bee's Sam Saunders got a goal back for  the hosts with a deflected shot, which left Town's keeper (and winner of Beard Of the Year) Bartosz Bialkowski stranded.

On the attack again

'We all dream of a team of Tommy Smith's'

Any fears of a Brentford comeback were over before they even got started, Tommy Smith added a fourth Ipswich goal within two minutes of the re-start, to allay any fears. That wasn't the end of the scoring however, Saunders added his second goal of the afternoon in the ninetieth minute, to make the final score 4-2 to the temporarily top of the league Ipswich! (Bournemouth's match at home to Fulham was a 3 o'clock kick-off.)

'Top of the league and avin' a laugh'

Four pubs, eight pints