Gorilla warfare

I'VE had my daughter and the two grandchildren staying, and it was touch and go whether I would make our League Two clash with Northampton Town tonight.
We went on the search for Gorillas.
Not the urban type that caused mayhem outside Tesco's in Stoke's Croft.
Nor the ones that make a decent effort to take over the world in the latest Planet of the Apes movie.
No this lot are stone statues and there are 60 of them dotted in and around Bristol(although the 'around' term must be used pretty casually as one seems to have turned up inside Birmingham coach station).
They have been erected in honour of the 175th anniversary of Bristol Zoo and are all themed as part of the Wow Gorilla! concept.
One, for instance, is dressed in a Bristol Rovers kit and goes by the name of Irene. It would have been my first port of call but, selflessly, it wasn't up to me.
We started off at a decent time in the morning and tracked down two of our targets in Cribbs Causeway while shopping for some of the wife's birthday presents.
From there we proceded to Clifton and managed to collect another four or five to add to our collection.
As we went from Gorilla location to Gorilla location, while fitting in a lunch stop as well, I was keeping a close eye on the watch.
It was mid afternoon when the grandchildren piped up that they wanted to see "spidey monkey". This is a Gorilla which is painted as Spiderman.
I looked at the location.
Shuddered.
It was a stone's throw from Ashton Gate in the City stronghold of Bedminster.
What can you do?
I couldn't disappoint such young, enthusiastic souls so we travelled to the 'other side' and the boys got their picture taking with Spidey, though I refused to get out of the car (silly, I know).
We then drove on, and I took a wrong turning.
It was then that the horrific thought occured to me - if I was to get back on track the best place to turn around was the ground commonly known as Trashton by myself and fellow Gasheads.
I couldn't afford to be late back home, though, so took the plunge.
And then remembered something else.
They actually have a Gorilla wearing City red inside the stadium.
It would be another one to add to the collection.
The youngsters would be ecstatic to take the number up to 16 - one down, just another 44 to go.
So I did what all good grandparents would.
Well, good Gashead grandparents.
I kept my mouth shut.
No way could I have photographic evidence of my grandchildren with THAT gorilla.

I was shattered when I got home.
I had to cook tea, feed the baby and wrap presents.
Still, I managed to get out of the house by 6.20, into the pub by 6.30 and got my lift to the ground at 6.55.
By 7.30 I was ensconsed in my favourite place, behind Paul Buckle's dug out.
It was always going to be an interesting place to stand for this one, for the main reason that on the opposite bench was Gary Johnson, the former Bristol City manager and pantomime villain to most Gasheads (though some actually wanted him to take charge at the Mem during our appalling run last season).
As expected he got the normal witty chants of abuse including the always popular rendition of "hi ho" from Disney's Seven Dwarves. Somewhat ironic when delivered by vertically challenged people like myself.
As for the game, Rovers started extremely brightly and deserved to be ahead 1-0 at half time, though it was a shame our lively winger Joe Anyinsah had to come off with an injury before the break.
Buckle started the game with Jo Kuffour up front alongside Matt Harrold, and Scott McGleish pushed back into midfield.
As a one-off ploy I guess it was effective, though I'm not sure I want to see a 20-goal a season striker of McGleish's quality restricted in such a way too often.
The second half was different, though. Northampton fought back and levelled courtesy of a fortuitous goal off possibly the biggest backside in football, Adebayo Akinfenwa.
I remember seeing him play alongside Leon Knight for Swansea in the season they were promoted from League 2 and he was quite a handful.
He is now, too, but for an entirely different reason.
Forget stone gorillas, the sheer size of this guy these days is on a par with any large primate in captivity.
Tough on Rovers, though they had been forced back for a significant spell.
But overall the Gas had been much more threatening in front of goal, and Matt Harrold's winner was exactly what they deserved.
In fact, Kuffour hit the post and another chance somehow went begging at the far post as the Gas tried to push home their advantage.
Good to see the huddle at the end, too, with Buckle standing in the midst of the players giving them a rousing pep talk out on the field.
Rovers may lack a bit of subtlety these days, but the team spirit and professional knowhow of this team of relatively new recruits is a breath of fresh air. Sometimes, even when I came away from the Mem after a home win in previous years, I breathed a sigh of relief.
This time it was a feeling of optimism and elation.
Northampton's challenge was that of a decent team used to toughing it out in the basement division.
We can anticipate plenty such battles in the coming months but, thankfully, I think tonight proved we have a team who can cope with them.