Sideline Sid Sports correspondant & historian sunlive.co.nz

With the Steamers playing their last game of the ITM Cup regular season on Thursday night – Sidline Sid reckons that following the Steamers is like living life on a roller coaster.

Having been at all but one of their home matches (and two pre-season games) the venerable gentlemen, has seen plenty of the ups and downs of the season, from close quarters.

It all started on a bitterly cold day in early July when the Steamers in waiting played their first warm-up game of the 2010 season, in Reporoa against Manawatu.

A reasonably sized crowd of Steamers' die-hard fans turned up in the extremities of the Bay of Plenty to see the Bay boys post a solid win.

Revenge was sweet in the next ITM Cup preparatory match. With Hawke's Bay having hammered the Bay in a preseason game the previous year – the 44-34 victory in Napier was especially sweet. The first glimmers of a successful cup season started to unfold for the Steamers fans.

The glimmers of hope turned to real optimism when the Steamers hung on to beat a much vaunted Taranaki side in the last warm-up game in Whakatane.

However, the journey on the Steamers roller coaster then took a downward ride, when the real deal started. A narrow first up ITM Cup loss against big brother Waikato was followed by further losses to Auckland and Taranaki, interspersed with convincing victory over Hawke's Bay.

With the Steamers sitting in 11th position on the ITM Cup points table, the prophets of doom were in full flight, suggesting the Steamers' season was over.

The comeback started on a Sunday afternoon at the Rotorua International Stadium, when North Harbour came to call. The Bay's answer to Flash Gordon marked his arrival on the National Provincial Championship stage with three tries.

Lelia Masaga worked his magic from the left wing to leave the opposition players in his wake as he powered his way over for three touchdowns.

A loss to Canterbury on the evening before the big quake was followed by a golden run of four victories. The make or break section of the Steamers' season came with three home matches in a row.

While the weather was atrocious at Baypark, the 28 point victory against Manawatu was the start of the Steamers big turn around. A narrow win over Counties Manukau was followed by victory over Otago in Rotorua.

Then came the icing on the cake. Since 1912, Bay of Plenty had beaten Wellington on just three occasions from the 29 times the two teams had met. Not only did the Steamers win in the capital for just the second occasion, but it was their second successive victory over Wellington.

The Steamers roller coaster went into descent at the top of the South Island when the referee and the Tasman kicker conspired to defeat the Bay side by two points.

Last Saturday on a glorious spring afternoon, the multitude of passionate Steamers fans received the (last game) present that they required when ‘Our Team' defeated Southland.

The 33-22 victory summed up the 2010 Steamers campaign. Long periods of attacking play resulting in touchdowns, interspersed with small lapses of concentration, which allowed the opposition a sniff of victory.

While the Steamers have achieved their primary objective of booking a berth in next season's ITM Cup top seven, the season isn't over. Five points in Whangarei against Northland on Thursday night will lay down the gauntlet to the semi-final contenders – and maybe the Steamers roller coaster ride will continue on to the semi-finals the following weekend.

Go the Steamers.