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Unbeaten Away

Andrew Detheridge

Wednesday, December 24th, 2014

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 With the excesses of Christmas and New Years’ Eve
still greasy in our stomachs
we process, pilgrims ever, to the hallowed ground.
Taking our seats near the Forest fans,
crammed like teeth in the Smethwick,
we hear the first distant rumbles:

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 unbeaten away, unbeaten awwaaayy
we’re Nottingham Forest unbeaten away!

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 It is almost dark already and fat flakes flurry
while the tag of ‘favourites’ is weighing
predictably heavily on our shoulders.
We can smell the wet squelch of mud and turf,
hear the urgent cries as our defenders
chug steam and struggle to corral
the frisky Forest forwards.
Slowly, the refrain start to build:

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 unbeaten away, unbeaten awwaaayy
we’re Nottingham Forest unbeaten away!

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 Coats are fully zipped, goalie’s gloves
delve deeper into deep pockets,
while mouth and nose are hidden like an outlaw’s.
Two pairs of socks, yet our feet still seem to vanish
at the ankle.
Three-nil down after half an hour
and the chant is now deafening:

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 unbeaten away, unbeaten awwaaayy
we’re Nottingham Forest unbeaten away!

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 The wind has defeat on her lips
and we don’t beg to differ.
Even a consolation reply raises barely a cheer.
Behind the goal, four teenagers,
oblivious to the arctic blast
and naked from the jeans up,
snow-bathe with their hands triumphantly aloft.
The chant, as the result, predictable
as murders in MidSomer:

8 Leave a comment on verse 8 0 unbeaten away, unbeaten awwaaayy
we’re Nottingham Forest, unbeaten away!

9 Leave a comment on verse 9 0 That night in bed, I toss and turn,
unable to sleep, the wind
still hammering at the pane.
And that damn refrain lodged
in the recesses of my brain like a virus:

10 Leave a comment on verse 10 0 unbeaten away, unbeaten awwaaayy
we’re Nottingham Forest, unbeaten away!

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/unbeaten-away/