A 74-YEAR-OLD Sutton United fan made it all the way to Holker Street on Saturday – only to find his 600-mile round-trip was for naught.

Steve Hodge was a lone figure on the Barrow AFC terraces at 1.30pm, following a long trek from his home in Great Bookham, Surrey.

The U’s fan of 61 years had pulled into the car-park at Holker Street an hour-and-a-half before kick-off, and thought it strangely quiet so close to game time.

Only after he was able to find someone at the Crossbar End of the ground were his worst fears realised – the match had been called off two hours earlier, and his longest trip of the season would not be rewarded with any football.

While the majority of the travelling supporters were making the trip in groups and were thus able to find out about the postponement, Hodge had made the drive from Surrey by himself, setting off at 8am for the long trek north.

His friends who normally accompany him to away matches had not wanted to make this mammoth journey – it had been a similar tale at Gateshead earlier in the season – and so he was reliant on the radio for any news of a postponement.

He had heard nothing by the time he arrived at the home of the Bluebirds.

“I try to go to as many games as I can,” said Hodge, who was the only supporter from either side to have shown up having not heard the news with an hour still to go until the scheduled kick-off. “But this is the farthest.

“Sometimes it’s just me and sometimes not. There’s a few of us who go, but none of the rest of them wanted to come, so I was just listening to the radio and didn’t hear anything.

“I went to Gateshead on my own and I’m here today on my own, because none of the rest of the guys wanted to do it.”

AFC club officials were sympathetic to Hodge’s plight – as he was to theirs when seeing the waterlogged areas of the pitch between the centre circle and the Popular Side.

He was able to enjoy a hot meal in the Crossbar, chatting with the officials and others in the clubhouse, before setting off back down south – where he was at least assured of an earlier arrival home.