It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a football team, must be in want of a last minute winner away from home against the run of play.
Ladies and gentleman, bow down and worship me, for that has got to be by a distance the best (or worst) paraphrasing of a Jane Austen quote ever - the opening line of Pride and Prejudice, for those philistines amongst you. It is true, however, that the deepest joys known to a football supporter come from very late winning goals, particularly against much better sides. Lee Cox's deflected winner yesterday in Dunfermline hardly counts against the ultimate Caley moment, John Rankin's outrageous winner against Rangers in December 2006, but those of us in the away end yesterday celebrated like we had won the league.
To cap it all, it was the most entertaining game we have been involved in for yonks - attacking football, open and adventurous play, and yet an attempt by both sides to keep it on the deck. Considering the catenaccio feeling to most of last season's games, this was a real shot in the arm as far as I was concerned. Although whether I would be so overwhelmingly positive had the Pars nicked the winner instead of us is open to debate...
The first day of the league season always seems to attract supporters (except Dunfermline ones, by the look of their empty stands, though the ICT support was remarkable indeed) and I certainly have made a lot of away journeys to these games over the years. This is partly because we barely ever get to start at home, though it hasn't done us any good when we have - in 2006 a newly promoted St. Mirren came from behind to beat us 2-1, and the next year we got roundly humped 3-0 by a Rangers side resurgent after six months of rebuilding under Wattie Smith. The away days have had mixed results - last season saw us finally break our Aberdeen hoodoo (what a false dawn that turned out to be), while in 2004, our first SPL game, Livingston (remember when they had a team?) whipped us 3-0.
What all the away trips have in common is nightmare travel, as August appears to be the month for the authorities to dig up Scottish roads. Last year we nearly missed the kickoff at Pittodrie due to tailbacks at Fochabers (a gateway to Hell if ever there was one) while in 04 the front of my mum's car was smashed up by a deer on the A9, which to be fair came off even worse. For us to still manage to get to the game, only to watch a total thrashing, well, you can imagine that was not the best of days. Even yesterday, we missed the first few minutes thanks to the infamous Bankfoot roadworks.
The last time I visited the slums of Dunfermline (sorry, but it is one minging town) was in fact on an opening day, all the way back in 1999. Looking back yesterday, it certainly felt as if we were in a different millennia; on that occasion, we had just been promoted to division 1 for the first time, while Dunfermline had just been relegated from the premier league. Steve Paterson, our adventurous (and often hungover) manager, learnt quickly that we weren't quite ready for adventurous football as we were annihilated 4-0. Six months later, of course, came the whole Super-Caley-Go-Ballistic thing, which tells you that we learnt well from that.
And so the roles were somewhat reversed yesterday; Dunfermline began their third consecutive season in the SFL, while we were the new arrivals ejected from the top flight. And just like a decade ago, the big team won, although it was a close run thing. If all the games are as enjoyable as that, you may even find one or two more positive posts on here (though probably not). More importantly, lets hope Lee Cox scores more goals this season, so I can hear more fans (notoriously homophobic at the best of times) break out into chants of "We love Cox!". If only I could be sure there was a trace of irony in there somewhere.
L.
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