It was an extreme dash from my place of employment to place of residence, to pick up the waiting Forza jnr and then complete the dash to Marconi for the bus up the Freeway to Newcastle, but as it turned out, it was well worth the effort.
The rain started by memory, just as the Newcastle 'Angels" were doing the prematch breast shaking, and boy did it rain after that!
In fact, that sort of rain isusually only encountered at the 'away' end of Pittodrie Stadium, and I have to say that once again Marconi and rain wen thand in hand.
Over the last two seasons or so, I have lost count of the number of times it has rained on match day.
Perhaps Marconi should only play in drought affected areas in future.
But I digress.
United had the early part of the game , putting Marconi under extreme pressure in the first two minutes and even rattling the crossbar.
UH-oh we thought, as we really needed to win this one.
But after that early flurry, Marconi underwent some kind of metamorphosis, and despite the horrendous conditions, played some good football.
good football is fine, we've seen that before without any goals, so it was a welcome relief when a Brendan Renaud free kick was only partly stopped by Big Bob, and the "Gemini Kid" Buddy Farah, was on hand to hit home what turned out to be the winner.
Buddy's off to Lebanon today to join up with thie rWorld Cup squad by the way.
From then on Marconi managed to butcher several chances, with Sasha Rudulovic being the main culprit, particularly when he managed to do an air swing with only Big Bob to beat from less than six yards.
Brett Hugo twice endeared himself to me last night.
Once when he only awarded a yellow card for what I thought was a clear case of a foul on Archie in a 'last man' situation and the second time in the service station in Wyong when I adjudged him to be queue jumping in front of me when I was waiting on a much needed coffee.
You would have to ask Mr Hugo which particular piece of advice was the loudest on the night.
The hardy small band of Stallion fans who braved the outside elements (and they were extreme, I can tell you, and only wimps sit in grandstands) were appreciated by the players who took the time to come over to their corner and applaud them at the end of the game.
After alighting from the bus and facing the 30 minute drive home once again through horrible conditions in the early hours of the morning, one could be forgiven for asking one's self why we go to such lengths.
However we agreed, that the victory made all the difference, and we retired to bed, tired, sodden, but happy.
All we need now is for Parramatta power to win, and bingo.....we can look forward to next weekends trip to Brisbane with peace of mind