I’d bought tickets for the Nations League game between England and Scotland women’s teams a couple of months earlier, despite thinking that it would be unlikely that I’d be able to get along to the Stadium of Light. They were cheap enough to take a chance on though at a tenner for me and a fiver for Harry and I’d hoped that if I had been still working away then someone else might be able to take him.
As it happened, I was free to go. All I needed to do was to work out where we could park. My initial plan had been to leave the car in Pallion and take a forty-five minute nostalgic walk from my Nanna’s old house. I had an early morning flight the next morning though and as I didn’t want to be getting home around midnight, I thought I’d better look for something closer.
To cut an already dull story short, the car park I’d earmarked was full. We had to double back in heavy traffic to find some street parking and with some pretty pacey walking took our seats seconds before kick-off.
The game had been trailed as a sell-out but there were quite a few empty seats, perhaps those people who were still working away or couldn’t find anywhere at all to park. As ever at the England women games it was a decent atmosphere. By decent I mean friendly with plenty of families present rather than the toxic atmosphere that you’d get at an England v Scotland men’s clash.
It wasn’t a vintage England performance with all the goals coming in an eight-minute spell just before half-time. England had looked the most likely to score and once the first one had gone in, they quickly added a second.
Scotland finished the half on a high though and pulled one back in added time. It might have all gone wrong in the second half as Scotland hit the bar and Mary Earps made some decent saves but England hung on for the points.
Trail of the Lion King 
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