West Ham United v Arsenal – Premier League – Sunday 28th December 2014

What a change 48 hours makes! Going from some pretty poor League Two football at a three-sided stadium with a few thousand others (https://pearceysblog.wordpress.com/2015/01/07/oxford-united-v-shrewsbury-town-league-two-friday-26th-december/) to a top six Premier League game at one of my personal favourite grounds in the country with 35,000 others. You might say a big improvement in two days, we’ll find out later.

Anyway this whole trip started a few weeks before with Christmas shopping, aka looking for presents on the internet because I’m officially allergic to actual shopping, and thinking about what do get my girlfriend. Fortunately she’s a big football fan, well I say football fan, she supports West Ham, and as we were in London for a few days anyway I had a look on my old friend Soccerway and sure enough The Hammers were home that weekend to big boy London rivals Arsenal. To be honest I was only really looking on the West Ham ticket site on the off chance of a ticket and was surprised to find a fair few tickets left a little while after they had gone on general sale. I was, however, somewhat differently surprised by the price, but as the tickets were a present I won’t go into that and Premier League prices in general today, plus she’s worth every penny (sick bags provided).

So after a cross-London trek from Watford where we’d visited the Harry Potter studios the day before (highly recommended!) we checked into our hotel right by Stamford Bridge and got on the tube for another trek across London, this time East towards Upton Park. I can’t definitely remember if I’ve mentioned it before on the blog, I probably have, but even if I haven’t I’ll just drop it in again as my dislike of London is large. It’s too big and noisy and always busy and expensive and smells and it’s just not Cardiff which is perfect in most ways (kind of) so I don’t do London. But this isn’t a travel blog so I’ll leave it there.

About five-ish hours after leaving Chelsea we were off the tube at Upton Park and walking down Green Street, with me in my mind thinking I was Pete Dunham in my casual gear and Gazelles doing a nutty walk with me nut daaan and definitely able to do a better East London accent than most in ITV2’s favourite movie. Have to say, the walk up to the Boleyn Ground is one of the things that makes the stadium so great. You don’t get that with a lot of new grounds in their out-of-town retail parks, but this reminded me of how Ninian Park used to be with Cardiff, walking through the Canton or Grangetown residential areas past the rough looking but familiar pubs and the atmosphere gathering as you get round the stadium.

Made it at last!

We had a walk around the front of the stadium before heading into the club shop so I could add to my scarf collection and Becky ended up buying a nice West Ham coat and some gloves. Have to say, it is a very decent club shop, loads of really quality Adidas stock and a good sale on as well. Plus the queuing system is well thought out with a lot of staff on, meaning we hardly stood waiting for long considering how busy club shops get on matchdays, particularly with crowds of 40,000 odd like on this day. After giving them a bit more money, we had a walk past the front entrance of the stadium on the way out of the shop and caught a glimpse of one of the co-owners’ cars, Gold and Sullivan of Birmingham fame, a very large Rolls Royce, obviously all that ticket revenue is being spent well!

Why can’t it just be called the club shop?

Just a little busy

The West Ham post office – Cashier number 3 please!

So it was on into the ground, and although this is the first time the Boleyn Ground, or Upton Park, whatever you want to call it (The Boleyn Ground is the proper name, Upton Park is just the surrounding area for clarification), has appeared in the blog, it’s not the first time I’ve been. Unfortunately my first visit was on one of my worst days of being involved with football as Cardiff lost 3-0 to West Ham in the Championship Play-Offs second leg, to make it 5-0 on aggregate, and then on the way home we found out Vincent Tan was throwing all our history and tradition out the window by creating the Cardiff Malaysia Dragons franchise. Not a good trip all round. Anyway, this time was different, I was in the home end, and preparing to properly enjoy the stadium which was pretty hard to do on the last visit. Weirdly, I was also planning to actually kind of support West Ham. Obviously as a Cardiff fan there’s a certain amount of reputation that follows the club around, and the Irons have a similar reputation so you kind of learn to just hate other clubs like that. Stoke, Millwall, Palace and Birmingham stick in my mind as being in a similar situation. But as Becky has supported West Ham all her life then I decided to make an effort, although it wasn’t too difficult when the opponents were Arsenal, who I severely dislike for having the highest rip-off ticket prices in the country, and also the absolute worst fans. Plus they beat Cardiff 4-0 in an FA Cup replay on an absolutely freezing night in February a few years ago which stands out as a rubbish away day. So it was into the Bobby Moore Upper Stand and a chill in the concourse before the game.

Good old-fashioned turnstiles

And the other half working out the electronic systems they hold

As you might expect from a stadium like Upton Park, built mainly as we see it now in the 80s and 90s, the concourse is a compact space with small food and drink kiosks and little standing space. This sounds like a bad thing but I much prefer stadiums with these smaller areas under the stands as the general atmosphere it creates is brilliant, much better than the open lifeless concourses you get in new-build stadiums. Unfortunately, as you might also expect from a Premier League club, the prices on the food and drink in the small kiosks are somewhat over-inflated. All I’ll say is £8.80 for a bottle of Carlsberg and a burger. Plus £3.50 for a programme, what’s all that about? When I come to power all programmes will be £3 maximum, that 50p is important. Anyway, the burger wasn’t too bad, the atmosphere was buzzing and I was at a top ground, looking forward to a good game with my lovely girlfriend, life was good!

The offending beer and burger….

And the offending programme…

But fortunately somewhat saved by a decent concourse.

And a good game it really should be, obviously Arsenal as ever were challenging for that top 4 place, but no more of course because winning lots of trophies is far too taxing! However, they were doing it in their normal fashion of playing some really nice football, especially through the midfield, certainly appealing to the football purist in me. Weirdly though, it was West Ham’s form that was going to hopefully make this such a good game. Going into it the Irons sat a point ahead of their London rivals after recovering from a slow-ish start to the season to go on a run of one loss in 11 games during October, November and December before losing at Chelsea two days before on Boxing Day. The tough Christmas schedule continued here, but with Sam Allardyce opting to rest Barcelona loanee Alex Song and top scorer Diafra Sakho for the visit to Stamford Bridge he was obviously targeting this game to gain some points and extend the gap between West Ham and the chasing pack for European places. I was excited anyway as we took our seats in the top tier behind the goal, which did offer a top view of the pitch. From left to right there was the towering West Stand, or ‘Alpari Stand’ for sponsorship purposes, the equally impressive Trevor Brooking Stand opposite housing the away fans in a section, and the slightly disappointing East Stand with only the one real tier, but it does mean you get a decent view over East London from where we were in the Bobby Moore Upper.

The two of us before the game

Looking across the West and Trevor Brooking Stands

Finally towards and over the East Stand

After the pre-match Premier League pleasantries were out the way, and a full Boleyn Ground house had taken their seats, the game started and straight away started living up to expectations. Just five minutes in a West Ham corner was cleared out as far as former Arsenal midfielder Alex Song on the edge of the area who rifled a shot into the bottom left hand corner. Cue scenes around the stadium, only for them to be cut short by the assistant referees flag. Over jogged referee Neil Swarbrick and after a quick consultation they decided Diafra Sakho obstrcuted the goalkeeper’s view from his offside position. Although it was probably the right decision by law, whether the law is actually right by the game is another question for another time. West Ham didn’t let this setback effect them though as they continued to dominate the game. Initially when I’d heard the line-up I didn’t quite think it would really work, with a midfield diamond of Song, Noble and Kouyate, led by Downing behind Sakho and big Andy Carroll up front, but the unexpected tactic seemed to catch Arsenal by surprise as they struggled to pick up Kouyate and Noble playing a bit wider, Downing in the free role and Aaron Cresswell, and to a lesser extent Joey O’Brien, on the overlap from full-back. But work it did as nice build up play through midfield led to attempts on goal from Kouyate and Carroll before the half hour mark. Unfortunately for the Irons, the reason it seemed to be working wasn’t due to tactical genius from Big Sam, but tactical chaos from the players as they struggled to properly adapt to their new formation, ending up rather confusing Arsenal into sitting a bit deeper in defense. The Gunners soaked up the pressure well and started using the counter-attack through the pace of Welbeck, Oxlade-Chamberlain and the impressive Alexis Sanchez. This led to another big moment for referee Swarbrick five minutes before the break as Santi Cazorla bundled his way into the box and went down under pressure from James Tomkins and an off-balance Winston Reid. Already incensed West Ham fans went into meltdown a bit but it was a stonewall penalty from where I was. Cazorla picked himself up and sent Adrian the wrong way from 12 yards to give Arsenal the lead. A kick in the teeth just before half-time for West Ham, but the Gunners weren’t done there as two minutes later Oxlade-Chamberlain sent Cresswell all over the place before putting the ball on a plate for Welbeck to poke home and the away side went in 2-0 up after an exciting 45 minutes.

Cazorla tucks his penalty away

And some blurry yellow people celebrate

After all the excitement of the end of the first-half, the players obviously needed an extra break as they didn’t really bother coming out to play straight after the break. The only bright spark of the first 15 minutes was Alexis Sanchez up front for Arsenal, who goes onto the list of truly world class players I’ve seen live. I made a point of Eden Hazard going onto the list after Belgium away with Wales in November for his incredible ball control and balance. Sanchez is very similar, but he has a fantastic ability to do it at full speed. Quite a sight to see the Chilean, who isn’t the biggest in stature, shrugging off the big West Ham centre-backs and retaining possession at full tilt, a pleasure to watch. However, it wasn’t a moment of Sanchez quality that was the first talking point of the second half, rather a bit of James Tomkins trickery as he wandered past Cazorla on the right wing and produced a perfect cross for Cheikh Kouyate to get above Koscielny and beat Szczesny via a slight Debuchy deflection. This opened the game right up and created a brilliantly exciting last half an hour. Allardyce smartly moved back to the system that had served West Ham well so far in the season, bringing on winger Enner Valencia for the ineffective Sakho and pushing Downing back to his usually wide role for the 4-3-3. The Irons started to spread the ball well but Koscielny and Mertesacker just about coped with big Andy Carroll. This gave the Arsenal front three even more scope to counter-attack, and only fine saves from Adrian stopped first Sanchez and then Oxlade-Chamberlain from putting the game to bed. Instead it came down to a last 10 minutes of aerial hammering (get it?) from West Ham as they pushed for the equaliser, throwing on one of my most hated players in Kevin Nolan to do his usual job of sniffing around any Carroll knock-downs in the box, meanwhile Arsenal tried to shut up shop with defenders Gibbs and Chambers replacing Welbeck and Oxlade-Chamberlain.

The numbers in Arsenal’s defence just held on despite a particularly glaring miss from Enner Valencia and can thank a brilliant Mertesacker goal-line clearance for clinching the three points that saw the Gunners leapfrog the home side into fifth and keeping their hopes of yet another fourth place finish alive. West Ham meanwhile finish a tough Christmas weekend point-less but can take heart from having pushed Arsenal all the way and deserved a point from the game. I, as a kind-of neutral, have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the game, and also the stadium. West Ham will move out of the Boleyn Ground and move to the Olympic Stadium in yet another ground-related travesty of the modern game, but I certainly hope to be back to write a full obituary before that sad day for Irons, and general football fans alike, arrives.

Boleyn Ground – West Ham United

Boleyn Ground – West Ham United

Out come the teams.

Before the (almost) kick-off pic

The incredibly quiet Arsenal fans on the bottom tier

A brilliant looking Boleyn Ground under lights

Oxford United v Shrewsbury Town – League Two – Friday 26th December 2014

Another guest blog from my old man at https://andrewpearce16.wordpress.com/

I’m not sure what the official qualification period is before a regularly repeated activity becomes a tradition, but as this was our third “Dad and Son Bank Holiday Groundhop” (and as plans are already taking shape for a fourth adventure over Easter 2015), it’s certainly beginning to feel traditional for Dan and me to set out for a previously unvisited league ground for a football fix around a major holiday weekend. This time, Oxford was our destination on a bitterly cold and damp Boxing Day, for the League 2 encounter between Oxford Utd (the U’s) and Shrewsbury Town. The keen follower of this blog will recall that our Easter 2014 sojourn had – entirely coincidentally – seen us visiting Shrewsbury for the then home team’s clash with Crewe Alexandra in League 1. Defeat for the Salop that day played a significant part in their subsequent relegation to the ‘old fourth division’ in May 2014 (https://pearceysblog.wordpress.com/2014/07/18/shrewsbury-town-v-crewe-alexandra-league-one-friday-18th-april/).

Some obligatory background colour about Oxford (courtesy, inevitably, of Wikipedia) before we get into the detail of the visit. Oxford is the 52nd largest city in the United Kingdom, with a population of a little over 150,000 people. Rather idiosyncratically, Wikipedia lists motor manufacturing ahead of education in the list of the city’s key industries, although there is no disputing that the University has a far higher world profile than the BMW plant at Cowley that is responsible for a fair chunk of the world’s Mini production. Poet Matthew Arnold first coined the phrase “the city of dreaming spires” to describe an architectural heritage that includes examples of buildings from every major period in English history since the Saxons. I’ve included a couple of examples sourced from Wikipedia here (you get nowhere near anything of any architectural merit if you arrive at the Kassam Stadium, as we did, via the M4 and A34!)

Our trip to Oxford on Boxing Day morning started badly with the discovery that a known ‘slow puncture’ in the rear wheel of the family car had become a total let down in the 36 hours that it had been sitting on the drive since Christmas Eve. Stretching my mechanical engineering skills to the fullest extent of their competence (not far to be honest), the spare wheel was eventually fitted and we set off. It was an odd drive east along the M4 towards Oxford, in the sense that it rained pretty much all the way, but the road ahead was never really wet. It was almost as if we were dragging the rain clouds on a rope along the route with us. Nevertheless, the journey passed without incident and we arrived at the Kassam Stadium, the rather exotically named home to both Oxford United FC and London Welsh rugby union team, in very good time. Having parked (for free!) in the large football club car park at the rear of the East Stand, we commenced the mandatory walk around the perimeter of the ground in search of the club shop

Kassam Stadium – Oxford United FC

The first thing that strikes you about the Kassam Stadium is that it’s not really finished. There are three perfectly functional (if soulless) stands along two sides of the pitch and behind one goal; and a yawning gap where the fourth stand ought to be behind the other goal. What makes this all the more perplexing is the fact that the three stands that are there, are actually all quite big. The ground capacity is 12,400; this is 3,000 more than can be accommodated at Shrewsury’s Greenhous Meadow stadium, as an example, but the fact that the Shrewsbury ground is built with four stands makes it feel like a proper sporting arena. The problem with the Kassam Stadium as it is, is that you can look over the wooden fence behind the goal at the west end of the ground and watch people making their way into the multiplex cinema on the other side of the car park. Even worse, when Oxford Utd are not playing well (as they didn’t on our visit) and home supporters therefore leave early, the visiting fans in the north stand have a great view of the early leavers and can easily wave and chant “Cheerio” as they trudge away

The unfinished end of the ground

The other notable thing about the stadium is the fact that it appears to have been built without any provision for a club shop. There is a portacabin that might operate as an outlet for merchandise (although it had no stock and was not open on Boxing Day); but the main club shop is a five minute walk away across the large car park of the adjacent multiplex cinema and retail development, round a corner and next to a laser combat centre. To be fair, the shop itself was well-stocked and very efficiently run, but the overall impression is that Oxford Utd as a football club has an uneasy relationship with its home ground – being both part of the fabric but also somewhat separate at the same time

The high-tech box shop

And the low-tech proper shop

To be honest, there was a general sense of malaise around the whole event this Boxing Day. At virtually every football ground I’ve ever visited (including some amateur league games where the total attendance could easily have fitted in a double decker bus), there has always been a sense of anticipation and nervous excitement around the place in the hours leading up to kick off. It’s what makes a visit to any live sporting event unique – that sense that anything might happen, that the script for the contest to come has yet to be written, that plot twists and moments of drama will be created on the fly as the players react to the conditions, the bounce of the ball, the vagaries of chance and misfortune, the passion of the crowd. This usually creates a buzz, an atmosphere, that causes the hairs on the back of the neck to stand up. I say ‘usually’ here because at least on this occasion, there wasn’t really any ‘buzz’ at all at the Kassam Stadium. If there was an atmosphere pre-match, it was one of foreboding and impending doom, rather than positive excitement

This may in part have been a realistic assessment of the chances of the home side against a Shrewsbury team that was flying high in the division having won 6 of their 8 previous matches and with a chance to head the table with a win at Oxford. In contrast, the home side had won just 3 of the last 8, and came into this match on the back of a disappointing 1-1 draw with bottom club Hartlepool the previous Saturday

We entered the ground at just after 2pm and made our way to the concourse area serving the upper south stand in search of the obligatory ground hop refreshments – a pie and a coffee for me; a burger and a beer for Dan. Now, I know that mass catering at sporting events is not a likely source of gastronomic delight, but it’s surely unforgivable to serve a cold beef and onion pie at a football match (especially when it’s pouring with rain and 3 degrees C outside!). It was a shame too, as I reckon it would have been half decent with a bit of heat applied. Dan’s burger was passable, however. Having watched the end of the Chelsea v West Ham game on the concourse TV (Hazard is just too good, isn’t he?), we made our way to our seats.

The Guest blogger purchasing a disappointing lunch

The not too bad burger and beer

The match itself was effectively all over in the first 18 minutes, with goals from Collins and Ellis having put the Salop two up by then, and Oxford never really looking like getting back into the game. Indeed, the three Shrewsbury squad members sat behind us in a vacant section of the press box were confidently predicting the withdrawal of key team players at half time if a three goal cushion was established by then. In the event, there were no more goals in the game, but that owed more to Shrewsbury profligacy than to any stiffening of Oxford’s defensive resolve.

Mark Ellis gets Shrewsbury’s second

The Shrewsbury players celebrate at a rain/snow soaked Kassam

With the result effectively decided in the game’s first quarter, this neutral observer was able to watch the game more critically than perhaps would have been the case in a more evenly contested affair. The stand-out performer during the game was Shrewsbury’s Liam Lawrence. Lawrence had celebrated his 33rd birthday two weeks before this match, but he looked anything like the gnarled old professional in this game. It is often said of players who drop down a division or two towards the end of their careers that they have so much time on the ball that it as though they are playing whilst smoking a pipe and wearing slippers. That would be a grave disservice to Lawrence on this showing. He was so much more relaxed than that! Pretty much everything that Shrewsbury did that was good in this game (and there was a lot of it) involved Lawrence at one or more key points. He operated largely on the left side of midfield (although he popped up more centrally from time to time as well), filling the space between Oxford’s defence and midfield and seemingly always having time to pick a telling pass, or hold up the ball to allow others (notably Collins, but also attacking wing-back Demetriou) to press on into more advanced positions, safe in the knowledge that the ball would be fed into their path. The only surprise for me was the failure of Michael Appleton (Oxford’s manager) to task one his players with simply following Lawrence around the pitch in an attempt to harry him when in possession and generally to reduce the time available to him to dictate the pace of the game. The only blot in Lawrence’s copy book came towards the end of the match when a cleared cross found its way to him 18 yards out and just to the left of centre. With time and space to pick his spot, a third goal seemed inevitable, but a heavy first touch proved enough to allow Oxford to scramble the ball away, and the chance was gone

Oxford looked tired and lethargic from the first whistle to the last. Their only real chance came within seconds of Shrewsbury’s second goal, when a sharp cross-shot forced an excellent diving save from Leutwiler, and the rebound was cleared away to safety. Having made it to half time only two goals in arrears, the home fans had every right to expect that their team would come out with a bit more fire and passion after the break. The fact that their only shot on target in the second half came in the 88th minute says all that needs to be said about how misplaced those expectations were

And so the final whistle came (from referee Lee Probert, dropping down a division or two from his normal appointments in the Premier League) and we made our way out of the ground and back to the car for a long, dark and very wet drive back to south Wales. Was it worth it? It’s a tricky one to answer – any trip to watch live football is almost always preferable to staying in and watching it on TV, so in that sense, I’m not sorry that we made the effort to go. In fairness to Oxford (the city and the team), this match probably didn’t do either of them justice. We’ll have to go back when the weather’s a bit better and give them a second chance!

Huge queues at the ticket office

The front of the actual club shop

The Shrewsbury team arrive

Not exactly a long wait to get in

A bit expensive for League Two

The massive screen

The Oxford ultras ready for the game

Any ideas what it is please write to us

Shrewsbury’s away support

The stand behind the goal, oh…

The much sought after kick-off pic

Pre-match pleasantries

The North and Oxford Mail Stands

Match Action

Match Action

Match Action

Match Action

Match Action

Oxford 0-2 Shrewsbury at FT

The regular writer at the Kassam

Merthyr Town v Clevedon Town – Evo-Stik Southern Division One – Tuesday 19th August 2014

After the UEFA Super Cup game between Real Madrid and Sevilla (https://pearceysblog.wordpress.com/2014/08/16/real-madrid-v-sevilla-super-cup-tuesday-12th-august/) I needed a suitably high-end game to follow it up, so there I was on the way to Merthyr for a game in the eighth tier of English football. Oh the glamour!

Although this is the first time Merthyr have appeared in the blog, I have been up to Penydarren Park before for their league play-off game at the end of the 2012/13 season when Merthyr beat Swindon Supermarine in extra-time, before losing to Hungerford in the final. Last season had a similar sound to it, this time a loss to Paulton in the final after getting past Supermarine again. However, despite all this losing in finals sounding bad, it’s pretty amazing that Merthyr can make them in the first place. Merthyr Town FC has only been a club since the start of the 2010/11 season, with it being the third version of a football club playing under the Merthyr name. The original Merthyr Town formed in 1909 playing in the Southern League before becoming founder members of the Football League Third Division in 1920. After 10 seasons of survival they were eventually voted out in 1930 and folded for the first time in 1934. Then came Merthyr Tydfil FC, formed in 1945 they were probably the most successful post-war side not to to play in the Football League, winning the Southern League five times between 1947 and 1954. However, after an extended period of mediocrity they won the Welsh Cup in 1987, qualifying for the Cup Winners’ Cup where they lost to Serie A side Atalanta 3-2 on aggregate, despite winning 2-1 at home in the first leg. They followed this by winning the Southern League again in 1988-89 for promotion to the Conference, until relegation back to the Southern League in 1995, where they stayed until their liquidation in 2010 paving the way, in Doctor Who style, for the reincarnation I was on my way to watch, a fan-owned Merthyr Town FC.

This wasn’t the first team I’d seen Merthyr this season, having watched them play Abergavenny Town away in pre-season (https://pearceysblog.wordpress.com/2014/08/01/abergavenny-town-v-merthyr-town-pre-season-friendly-tuesday-8th-july/), and to be fair they did look a bit slow against Welsh non-league opposition, however the Martyrs have started the season well with a draw and convincing win under their belts so far. That’s in contrast to opposition for the night Clevedon, who only possessed one point from their opening three games. The West Country team, making the jump across the bridge, not only had to face the disadvantage of playing away, but also a new addition since my last visit, aside from the commercialised name of the ‘Cigg-E Stadium’, an artificial 3G playing surface.

Think it means the Cigg-E Stadium

Penydarren Park – Merthyr Town FC

Not quite the Old Trafford Megastore

After destroying a plate of chips from the Penalty Spot Cafe, I stopped by the Club Shop and managed not to bow down to temptation in spending money I don’t have on a replica shirt, instead opting for a pin badge and a programme. Having a walk around like this before the game is great because you really get the fan-owned, family atmosphere of the club, very welcoming and friendly. Then heading into the ground I remembered the other reason I enjoyed my last visit so much, because Penydarren Park is just brilliant. With it’s all-seated Grandstand on the dugout/clubhouse side, larger terraced stand opposite, a now-seated former terraced stand behind one goal and an unused, uncovered terrace behind the other, it is a proper old-school stadium that creates a brilliant atmosphere and has some proper character unlike these modern lifeless bowls. The other reason I like it so much is that it reminds me of Ninian Park, where I fell in love with football.

The Main Grandstand

The newly converted all-seater stand

And the uncovered stand

Onto the game and Clevedon set-up with the basic, non-league level, 4-4-2 formation, but severely struggled against the Martyrs well drilled 4-3-3 set-up which perfectly suits their plastic pitch, and the possession based quick pass-and-move style of play that manager Steve Jenkins, the former Welsh International, wants to see them play. Kayne McLaggon, making his second appearance on the blog after getting sent-off twice in that pre-season game, led the line very well despite his small stature and kicked off the scoring after quarter of an hour, finishing off Gavin Williams’ cross at the far post. The lead was doubled soon after Kerry Morgan provided from the left for his opposite winger Ian Traylor to glance his header home and put Merthyr in the driving seat. Clevedon did briefly get into the game, the ponytail of Issac Reid holding the ball up and supplying a cross which Jamie Adams could only head onto the post. That was the last time Clevedon did anything of note and were all but out of the game by half-time. Three goals in eight minutes before the break, firstly McLaggon bagging his second from the edge of the area, then Traylor matching him with a good strike from 20 yards after a great advantage from the referee, and finally Matthew Harris finding yards of space in the area to make it 5-0.

Kayne McLaggon opens the scoring

And Traylor doubles the lead

The second half began as basically a non-contest with Merthyr cruising and Clevedon demoralised. Merthyr made all their changes early on in the half with Jenkins keeping in mind the number of games played in a short space of time at the start of the season, and that affected their flow slightly, but soon the fresh substitutes started making their mark on the game, particularly Corey Jenkins who’s low cross from the left was deflected into his own net by Luke Hall-Cousins. Merthyr kept pressing and MotM Ian Traylor nearly got his hat-trick in the 90th minute but his shot was cleared off the line. From the resulting corner Kane Mannings in the Clevedon goal compunded his miserable evening by dropping the ball straight to Corey Jenkins who made sure the Martyrs did one better than their 6-0 victory over Clevedon at Penydarren last season.

A thoroughly deserved 7-0 victory for Merthyr in the end to send Clevedon back over the bridge very empty handed. The Martyrs are looking very strong and maybe it’ll be a case of third time lucky as they try and get out of the Southern League Division One. A thoroughly enjoyable evening at the ‘Cigg-E Stadium’ and hopefully I’ll be back many more times to enjoy Merthyr’s rise through the pyramid.

Match action at Penydarren Park

Match Action

Match Action

Match Action

Match Action

Match Action

Match Action

Match Action

Steve Jenkins posing

The Cigg-E Stadium lit up….get it?

Shrewsbury Town v Crewe Alexandra – League One – Friday 18th April 2014

A second blog contribution from my Dad, find his blog here http://www.andrewpearce16.wordpress.com
Another Bank Holiday – another jaunt for Dan and Dad to another League 1 football ground – this time, the Greenhous Meadow, Shrewsbury, for the home town club’s basement clash with Crewe Alexandra. The last father:son roadtrip had been to Molyneux, to see two sides who were then fighting it out at the top of this division, and we had witnessed a hard-fought draw between Wolves and Leyton Orient. What united the two games was the enthusiasm and volume of the away support as compared to the home fans. Crewe’s support had come in numbers and comfortably out-sang and out-supported the home fans throughout this Good Friday fixture.

Shrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire, and has been the scene of furious battles over its strategically important position in the border area between England and Wales. The town was founded in around AD800 and became a major wool trading centre in the late Middle Ages, ideally placed on the River Severn and the historic trading route known as Watling Street. More recently, the town has become an established tourist and regional commercial centre, with people drawn to the largely in-tact medieval layout and buildings of the town centre, and the retail outlets that attract customers from throughout Shropshire and mid-Wales.

Greenhous Meadow is a relatively new (2007), nine and a half thousand seater stadium located on the outskirts of the town close to the M54 linking Shrewsbury to Telford, and then onto the larger West Midlands conurbation. The stadium’s location is amongst the most genteel that I have ever witnessed for a football ground – set in semi-rural isolation amongst garden centres and on the edge of a quintessentially English, suburban housing development at Sutton Farm. It was no surprise to learn that local residents had fought a determined rear-guard action throughout the planning phase for the new ground. It is a testament to the success of their campaign that there is virtually no ‘turn up on the day’ car parking for visiting fans within about four miles of the ground (of which more later!).

Greenhous Meadow, home of Shrewsbury Town

 

The gentility of the setting was matched on our visit by the gentility of the Shrewsbury fans. True, the club was in the midst of a very poor run of form that had left them precariously positioned in the bottom four of the division, and confidence and expectation levels were clearly low. Nevertheless, Crewe were hardly better positioned at the time of this game, and a win for Shrewsbury in this classic ‘six-pointer’ would have given the Salop a major boost. In truth, however, from the moment that we entered the ground some ten minutes after the start of the game, there was a palpable sense that the home supporters were resigned to defeat. This contrasted starkly to the party atmosphere that was emanating from the away supporters’ stand behind the goal to our left.

Inside the Meadow with the Salop

The Crewe following taking over the Pro-Vision CCTV Stand

 

The home team’s starting line-up included three former Cardiff City players in Paul Parry, Aaron Wildig and Joe Jacobson; and it was with some nostalgia that Dan and I reflected on the fact that the last time we had seen Wildig play was as a teenager in an FA Cup clash with Chelsea at a packed out Stamford Bridge in February 2010 (a game, coincidentally, in which Chelsea’s four goals were scored by Didier Drogba, Michael Ballack, Daniel Sturridge, and Salomon Kalou). Wildig was not at all overawed that day, and mixed it very successfully with the west London superstars. It is one of the enigmas of professional football that some teenagers are able to push on and realise their full potential (cf. another Cardiff City product and ‘Aaron’ now starring in the red and white of Arsenal), while others don’t quite manage to break through into the really big-time.

Former Cardiff youngster Wildig switches the play

 

To be fair to the players of both Crewe and Shrewsbury, the game itself belied the lowly league positions of the teams, and the fatalism of the home supporters, and was actually both entertaining and enjoyable (for this neutral at least). Crewe started the brightest and were probably unfortunate not to go ahead in the early stages, but gradually Shrewsbury established a foothold and began to force the Alex onto the back foot. It was something of a surprise, therefore, when Crewe opened the scoring from a pretty straightforward corner that was headed into the Shrewsbury net by Mathias Pogba from six yards out in the 38^thminute. There was always a sense that the next goal in the game would decide the ultimate outcome, and when it came (in the 51^st minute) it was a moment of high quality. Uche Ikpeazu received the ball on the corner of the six yard box with his back to goal, before holding off the challenge of a home defender, turning, and curling an unstoppable shot into the far top corner of the Shrewsbury net. For all Shrewsbury’s huffing and puffing after that, a comeback never looked likely, and the final nail in the coffin came in the 89^th minute when Anthony Grant ran half the length of the pitch following a Crewe break-away, before coolly finishing past a hopelessly exposed Chris Weale. There was just time for Salop substitute Tom Bradshaw to register a late, late consolation goal in the third minute of stoppage time.

Matthias Pogba gives Crewe the lead

Anthony Grant puts Crewe 2-0 up

Tom Bradshaw tries to be happy about a consolation goal

 

Famous figures with links to Shrewsbury include Carol Decker (lead singer with T’Pau) and Charles Darwin (naturalist and author). At the end of this game, Shrewsbury Town’s ambitions to remain in League 1 looked like china in their hands, and Crewe’s survival hopes were undoubtedly the fittest.

One of the advantages of watching football in relatively small grounds is the speed with which the crowd (6,947 for the record) disperses after the match, and so it was that Dan and I were in the club shop within 15 minutes of the final whistle. Dan was delighted to add to his growing ground-hopping memorabilia collection through the purchase of an end-of-season clearance bargain, hat:scarf combination at the give-away price of just £6!

The scene of some of the greatest groundhop bargain hunting ever seen

 

Which leads me on to the only gripe that we have about the whole day…

If you are planning on an unannounced (and to be honest, pretty poorly planned) visit to Shrewsbury Town FC, don’t (whatever you do) assume that it will be possible to find somewhere close by to leave the car. And if – like us – you eventually get to one of the designated Park & Ride car parks, don’t – under any circumstances – assume that you are guaranteed to be able to BOTH park AND ride! We left the car in the Shire Hall car park which is located on the edge of the town centre. We joined a group of about 20 other Shrewsbury and Crewe supporters patiently waiting at the designated football Park & Ride bus stop at about 2.20pm (it was a 3pm kick-off). We waited…. and we waited…. and we waited. By 2.45pm, we were in that state of nervous anxiety that on the one hand urges you to cut your losses and set out for the ground on foot, and on the other is absolutely certain that the moment you are out of sight of the car park, the bus will turn up and then sweep past you as you walk along. Eventually, at 2.48pm we decided to take fate into our own hands and began the walk to the ground. It took twenty minutes and we missed the first 10 minutes of the game. If anybody connected with the club does read this, then you might want to think about improving the information on park & ride arrangements, and making clear when they will be operating. We were lucky that it was a lovely spring day for our visit – the walk through Shrewsbury’s suburbia wouldn’t have been half so pleasant in the pouring rain!

The Salop Leisure Stand

Contender for ‘Sign of the Season’

Not so much this one

Not too bad..

Shrewsbury manager Michael Jackson – SHAMONNEEE

A pleasing day for Alex fans

Not good for Shrewsbury

Crewe players celebrate virtual safety

While Shrewsbury players stare relegation in the face

Match Action

Match Action

Match Action

Match Action

Match Action

Match Action

 

Manchester United v Cardiff City – Premier League – Tuesday 28th January 2014

Properly hitting the big time of Club football with the blog here, a trip to the self-styled ‘Theatre of Dreams’, and the biggest club stadium in Britain, Old Trafford. After the lights going out at Forest Green 30 minutes into the match in my last trip, I was hoping to catch a full 90 minutes here in a stadium not reliant on vegetable oil (have a look at the Forest Green blog here, https://pearceysblog.wordpress.com/2014/03/15/forest-green-rovers-v-grimsby-town-tuesday-14th-january-conference-premier-2/ , if you don’t get that).

Anyway, a good excuse to get up to Manchester for this game was found with the coaches going from Cardiff. Previously, I would’ve been straight onto these coaches a Cardiff fan, with a ticket in the away end, looking forward to cheering on the Bluebirds. However, many things have changed back home. Vincent Tan’s entire association with Cardiff City has been somewhat a farce, the re-branding of the club from red to blue was the starting point. I initially felt like this wouldn’t be a problem as it is just a colour after all. But actually, I came to realise after watching the club in the first season after the change that the colour was a massive part of the club, and it’s history. Also, the split it created within the fans meant that I didn’t feel like the Cardiff City Stadium was an enjoyable place to be, despite the fact that the team were cruising to the Championship title. Nevertheless I persevered as Cardiff were promoted and tried to fight back those feelings of discontent to enjoy a season at the Premier League, something I’d waited to see Cardiff partake in for 15 years. I was there to see the team beat Manchester City in the first home game and the atmosphere was quite incredible, along with chants of ‘we’ll always be blue’. I felt like the fears I had of ‘glory supporters’ killing the atmosphere and backing the rebrand were largely unfounded. I then went to Fulham away and saw that great win along with a few thousand other Cardiff fans and really got into it singing the praises of the players and manger Malky Mackay. Then it started to go wrong a bit. Firstly was the home games versus Swansea where I felt the atmosphere was nowhere near what it should be for the first Premier League South Wales Derby. Then a draw in the this blog’s reverse fixture where, for the first time, I didn’t really feel like I was watching the club I had watched over the majority of my life. The nail in the coffin for me came over the Christmas period when Tan started getting involved in football affairs, criticised the fans and then sacked Malky Mackay. That was when I knew it wasn’t ‘my club’ anymore and I no longer wanted to give my money to Vincent Tan’s franchised side.

So there I was, on a coach 98% full of Cardiff City fans with two friends, James and Ellis, holding a ticket in the Man United end. It did feel odd, but I stick by my principle. This particular coach journey was very long indeed and I feared a groundhopping debacle was on the cards but we managed to take our seats just a minute or two into the game with a programme and a scarf for the collection.

View from the seat – no it’s not Macklemore in front

The game was an interesting one as both teams were struggling, although the definition of struggling was different for both teams. United were down in 7th, 5 months after Alex Ferguson had left with ‘the Chosen One’ David Moyes at the helm they were outside the European places and 13 points behind the noisy neighbours. Cardiff meanwhile were propping up the Premier League, and just three games into life with new manager, and Manchester United legend, Ole Gunnar Solksjaer at the helm. I think OGS had a louder cheer than any United player, and certainly David Moyes, although new £37million signing, Juan Mata, was given a warm welcome and there was certainly a sense that he could be the spark to ignite the Reds’ season. United were also boosted by the return of Van Persie to the starting line-up and Wayne Rooney to the bench, with both having been missing for the last 2 months. Cardiff meanwhile went for an attacking line-up, naming Craig Bellamy and Craig Noone on the wings to support another former United player Frazier Campbell up top. 18 year old Declan John kept his place at left back while new Norwegian signings Jo Inge Berget, Magnus Eikrem and Mats Moeller Daehli, the last two both being former United youngsters, were named on the bench.

It wouldn’t take long for new signing Mata to make his mark as he started a move in the centre of the field that led to Young crossing the ball in from the left, Valencia’s header hitting the bar but Van Persie heading into the net after a fantastic save by Cardiff keeper David Marshall from the initial follow-up effort. 1-0 to United after six minutes and the crowd were into full renditions of ’20 times, 20 times Man United’, and ‘U-N-I..T-E-D, United are the team for me’. Both annoyingly catchy songs! The early goal kind of meant the first half peaked too early, United had further chances with Van Persie from a tight angle and Young narrowly failing to connect with a Mata cross, while Cardiff looked to counter and score from set pieces,one of those resulting in a Mark Hudson header that needed a decent save from De Gea, but United went in a goal to the good and largely comfortable at the break.

Moyes and Solksjaer stalk the touchline

Half-time gave us an excuse to look around the concourse area of the East Stand where we were sat. The concourse itself was actually quite small for such a big stadium, but the queue for the food kiosk moved pretty quickly and before long a fairly averagely priced Chicken Balti pie and a Singha Beer were purchased. Being somewhat exotic did come back to haunt me though as the pie was properly spicy and one bottle of beer was enough to cure my burning mouth. Always stick to the classic steak and kidney pie is the lesson!

Almost compulsory pie and beer pic

The Old Trafford menu. I’ve seen much worse at much smaller clubs

The second half started where the first half finished with United dominating possession with Cardiff looking to keep 10 men behind the ball and counter attack. With United rarely directly threatening Marshall’s goal it looked like it would take a moment of magic to get another goal and we saw it from Mr Inconsistent himself, Ashley Young. Cutting inside from the left onto his favoured right-foot and beating McNaughton and Noone, he unleashed a brilliant strike from 20 yards into the far corner of the goal to double the lead and effectively leave the game beyond doubt with Cardiff looking unlikely to score again once, let alone twice. The excitement in the rest of the game came from substitutions as first Rooney returned from injury replacing scorer Van Persie, while new signing Mata left to be replaced by wonderkid Adnan Januzaj. The game ended 2-0 leaving United fans more optimistic for the rest of the season, although still some way off being serious challengers for the league, while Cardiff stayed at the foot of the table, maybe starting to wonder if sacking Mackay, and replacing him with the inexperienced Solksjaer was the best idea.

United celebrate their second goal

Rooney replaces Van Persie

Mata applauds the United fans

I have to say, I fully expected to find the stadium itself brilliant, but the atmosphere completely rubbish. However, I have to give it to the United fans, who, especially considering their poor form, were in great voice throughout. The way the stadium is set up means that sound stays inside each stand very much so it was difficult to hear any noise coming from the Stretford End opposite, but you could tell they were singing. I think this acoustic set up is why I expected the atmosphere to be poor because it means the stadium sounds quiet on TV. Only criticism of the United fans was that they did leave in big numbers very early so the last 10 minutes were quite dead. They all had a long drive back to Surrey though in fairness!. Also, a mention to the Cardiff fans who were also brilliant throughout despite the team’s performance.

I thought it would be weird going to a Cardiff game and not sitting with the Cardiff fans are really supporting the team but I really didn’t feel that odd at all, just felt like a regular groundhop as a neutral fan. Pretty sad that I feel this way but that’s just the way it is, Tan Out!

Anyway, after another awful journey home it was some 18 hours after leaving my house that I returned, with Old Trafford ticked off the list and actually quite high on my favourite stadia list.

The crucial kick-off pic

The Cardiff fans I could see

The South Stand

The Sir Alex Ferguson Stand

Half-empty Old Trafford at FT

Fairly obvious picture

Forest Green Rovers v Grimsby Town – Tuesday 14th January 2014 – Conference Premier

The first conference game of the season for the blog, and it arrived after a day of boredom during which I found out Forest Green isn’t actually that far away from Cardiff. So it was an hour’s drive down the M4 and then up into deepest, darkest Gloucestershire via Dunkirk (the Western England village), to the town of Nailsworth where the ‘Welcome to Nailsworth’ sign is accompanied by a sign warning of old people. As it turns out Forest Green is just a part of Nailsworth so it’d be like Pentwyn having a Conference side, which is a rubbish analogy unless you know Cardiff very well.

After leaving the car in the club car park, which was surprisingly full considering 90% of the home fans must come from Nailsworth and can’t live that much of a walk from the ground, I walked back around to the ticket office kiosk which doubles as a club shop and purchased the green-est scarf to go in my collection so far. Having poorly decided to get a ticket in the EESI stand behind the goal I ended up covering a fair bit of ground before getting into the imaginatively named, ‘New Lawn’, which I understand is due to no sponsor being found for the stadium yet. Having been built in 2006 it is a fairly modern stadium with two terraced stands behind the goals, with the Nympsfield Road Stand opposite myself housing the away supporters, and a large all-seater main stand, called the Western Thermal Stand to my right. The let down is the uncovered Barnfield Terrace opposite the main stand which is essentially just a few steps.

The green ticket office/club shop

The green main stand

The green away end

and the green uncovered terrace

The fan experience is a somewhat interesting one due to, and this explains the green-ness of the scarves, Forest Green Rovers being the only ‘eco-club’ that I am aware of. Green energy tycoon Dale Vince become Chairman and majority shareholder in 2010 and one of the initiatives brought in was to stop the selling of meat at the ground as well as only selling fairtrade products. I plumped for chips and curry sauce with a bottle of the finest UBUNTU cola!

The RedVeg kiosk of no meat

I don’t even want to know what a badger pasty is.

The pitch itself looked surprisingly good considering the amount of rain that had fallen over the the previous 10 days and the ground filled up quite nicely as Forest Green, looking comfortable in 15th place, took on play-off chasing Grimsby, who needed to take advantage of games in hand to keep the promotion push alive. Grimsby’s form reflected the decent number of away fans who had made the four hour journey from the North-East. The atmosphere was good at kick-off and I’d even go as far as to advocate the drum used by the Forest Green fans which does work in increasing the atmosphere at this level.

The game started well with both sides having early opportunities, but it was the visitors who took the lead after eight minutes when Ross Hannah’s good work on the wing lead to Lenell John-Lewis (his real name) being able to poke the ball home. The Forest Green fans’ song of ‘your name is a shop’ probably wasn’t that insulting but quite accurate. I resisted the temptation to point out to the annoying woman next to me that I actually work within the John Lewis Partnership. As the rain started to fall FGR hit back quickly through James Norwood’s excellent finish from 18 yards and more goals could’ve been added, especially ‘The Shop’ who might have had a hat-trick inside the opening 20 minutes on another night.

A large department store chain celebrates his goal

Three minutes later a man who’s name isn’t a shop celebrates the equaliser

Things started to go downhill on the half-hour mark, however, as the floodlights decided to interrupt the action by helpfully turning off. The referee took the players off briefly, although we were blessed with light once more and, in scenes resembling the hokey cokey, play continued for another four minutes until the lights had seen enough and the players departed once more. Despite continued assurances the problem was only temporary, and a detailed description of the electronic problem from the tannoy man which nobody understood or cared about, those lights were not for turning on and a game which had started so well was abandoned after 34 minutes with the score at 1-1. Of course Twitter was full of it, ‘somebody but another 10p in the eco-meter’ and ‘the cyclist keeping the power going must have got tired’ being the favourites.

At first we had all the lights…

…then there was two lights…

…and then we had no lights!

So it was home earlier than I had bargained for after getting a nice refund on my ticket, and before anyone says anything, I’m ticking The New Lawn off the list because 34 minutes of action is enough to say I’ve watched a game there. The Grimsby fans will have to make the long return trip on a different Tuesday night but I will now only ever make a visit to Nailsworth on a Saturday afternoon, or maybe I’ll never go back at protest over the lack of meat burgers.

The compulsory kick-off pic

The players go off…

…and then they come back!…

…and then they go off again. Woooaaaah the hokey cokey!!

Most of the disappointed Grimsby fans.

The Forest Green Rovers team bus gets ready for the next game.

Wolverhampton Wanderers v Leyton Orient – Sunday 29th December 2013 – League One

So this Sunday saw me and Dan (the usual writer of this blog) on the way from Cardiff to Wolverhampton for a top of the table, League One clash between the Wanderers and Leyton Orient. This was my second visit Molineux, although my first for an actual football match. The last time I was there was for a management seminar on benchmarking in the National Health Service in about 1993 (As exciting as it sounds, Ed.) – shortly after the completion of the major redevelopment of the ground. This is not entirely irrelevant – the design of the redeveloped ground itself set the benchmark for the look and feel of many of the new and upgraded stadia that followed later in the 1990s and into the new century. Clear lines of sight (unfettered by stanchions); more generous milling areas beneath the stands, with plentiful catering and toilet facilities; and lots of provision for corporate hospitality and income generation throughout the week.

The trip from Cardiff to Wolverhampton on this Sunday between Christmas and New Year was uneventful and (remarkably – given the weather in the week before and almost incessantly since) it was dry! The first very pleasant surprise on arriving in Wolverhampton city centre was the discovery that parking in the council car parks on Sundays and Bank Holidays is free! At the risk of incurring the wrath of Wanderers regulars and other ground hoppers in the future, this is surely something that – in these days of public sector cuts and austerity – needs to be reviewed. I’d have happily paid two or three pounds to park where we did – a ten minute walk from the ground and with easy access onto the ring road and away from the city at the end of the match.

Molineux – Home of Wolverhampton Wanderers

Wolverhampton Wanderers is a club steeped in history. Formed in 1877, the Wanderers were founder members of the football league and have been involved in some of the most significant developments in domestic and European football. During arguably the club’s most successful period in the 1950s, the club were consistent finishers near the top of the English first division (the equivalent to today’s Premiership), as well playing a series of high-profile games against European opposition that eventually led to the creation of the European Cup (now the UEFA Champions’ League). Unfortunately, the years since have seen periods of success divided by increasingly longer spells in the lower divisions as the consistency enjoyed under Stan Cullis between 1948 and 1964 has proved more and more elusive. The club was relegated from the Championship at the end of the 2012/13 season, and Kenny Jackett was brought in as manager at the start of the current season with the objective of getting the Wolves back into the Championship at the first attempt.

When Dan bought the tickets for this match at the start of December, there were well over 10,000 still available, and so it was a pleasant surprise to find that it was a sell-out by the time that match-day came around. Having arrived in Wolverhampton at about 1pm, completed the mandatory circuit of the ground (Wolves definitely takes the record for the highest number of mobile catering outlets in the vicinity of the stadium), and picked up a scarf from the club shop to add to Dan’s burgeoning collection, we made our way inside having checked with a steward that we could get some food inside too (“Yeah mate – it’s not cheap mind!” – being the helpful, if probably overly honest advice from a steward at the turnstile!). Actually, the prices were pretty reasonable, (£3 not bad, Ed.) certainly in the context of my previous professional ground attendances this season, and the minced beef and onion pie was very good.

The Megastore in the new Stan Cullis Stand

Looking across at the new stand from the corner of the Jack Harris Stand and Billy Wright Stand

The guest author examines the menu

Two things struck me as we made our way up into the stand about 40 minutes before kick-off. First, was the enormous picture of David Dickinson in the corner of the ground opposite the dug-outs, in all his orange glory (presumably chosen because his artificial colour is the nearest that human skin comes to the gold of the home team’s shirts). The second thing of note was the fact that the whole of the lower tier of the stand opposite the dug-outs was given over to the away supporters from east London. Fair play to Orient, they’d brought a great following with them, and that contributed to a terrific pre-match atmosphere. In the end, just shy of 29,000 people were in the ground at kick off – proof, if any were needed, that the demand for football in this part of the Black Country is as high and passionate as ever.

David Dickinson takes his seat for the game

The standard kick-off pic

Orient were top of the table with Wolves second at the start of the game, with only four goals separating the two sides. You wouldn’t have guessed it during the first half, however, with Wolves attacking with purpose, flair and poise from the first whistle. It was no surprise at all when they took the lead through right full-back Ebanks-Landell inside five minutes, following a move that developed down the Wolves left hand side before a rapid change in the focus of the attack released the defender who unleashed a pile driver into the corner of the net from 20 yards. Quite honestly, the match should have been settled in Wolves’ favour well before half time, as a number of gilt-edged chances were spurned by a combination of profligate finishing and inspired goalkeeping by Orient’s Larkins. It’s amazing how many games get turned on their head by half time, and it was no surprise to this neutral observer that Orient came out in the second half looking much more resolute than the almost disinterested team that had started the match.

Wolves celebrate their goal in front of the Orient fans

Much of the entertainment quotient in the first forty-five minutes had been provided by Wolves’ left winger Sako. His is a playing style that would justifiably be described as mercurial if it wasn’t for the fact that it’s not always obvious that even HE knows what he’s going to do next! There were times when his combination of step-overs, shimmies, and changes of pace while in possession, gave the impression that he wasn’t completely in control of his legs. Little wonder that Orient’s defenders appeared to be totally bemused. After the break, Orient changed their shape, matching Wolves man-for-man in midfield and stifling both the supply and space available to Sako. It was this tactical switch that changed the fate of the match.

Wolves did have two good chances to extend their lead in quick breaks at the start of the second period, but Orient gradually clawed their way back into the game, and their equaliser came at the end of a high quality move on the hour. A quickly taken free kick was moved quickly down the right touch line before an excellent cross by Odubajo was rolled into the net at the far post by Baudry. Thereafter, whilst Wolves huffed and puffed, they were never really able to create a clear cut chance and Orient seemed content to settle for a draw that had looked very unlikely for the first two thirds of the match.

Orient fans look slightly more pleased with this goal

The home crowd became increasingly frustrated as the match limped to a conclusion, and it was clear that the east London contingent were much the happier supporters at the final whistle. Whether the news that Brentford’s 3-1 victory over MK Dons had seen them leapfrog both Wolves and Orient to the top of the table took some of the shine off the away point here, I don’t know. But it will be interesting to see whether the two points dropped by the Wanderers on the last football day of 2013 will prove crucial come the end of the season.

 

The link to my Dad’s blog – http://andrewpearce16.wordpress.com/

Inside the Wolves megastore

Cheers to Craig Wootton for his thoughts

Expensive chocolate bars.

The new Stan Cullis Stand

The Steve Bull Stand – with away supporters on the bottom tier

The Jack Harris Stand

Match Action

Match Action – Sako fooling everyone, including himself

Match Action

Match Action

Match Action

Match Action

Full-time at Molineux

Molineux at night

 

 

Stoke City v Cardiff City – Wednesday 4th December 2013 – Premier League

Back to Premier League action, because I’ve got all big time and that’s how I roll now, on the blog. However, despite being the biggest, richest league in the World with some of the best players and well-known clubs, it’s not all prawn sandwiches and scones in the warm concourse at the Emirates Stadium. There is another side to the Premier League, and no better place to find out about the cold, miserable parts than at Stoke, which is exactly where I found myself heading towards on a coach.

I’ve been quite harsh on Stoke there and I should feel quite bad, or it could be taken as general inter-city banter, but I genuinely think Stoke is just rubbish. Just take Stoke-On-Trent’s Wikipedia page, ‘Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke), also called the Potteries, is a city in Staffordshire, England, which forms a linear conurbation stretching for 12 miles (19 km), with an area of 36 square miles (93 km2)’, that is almost as exciting as it gets, except when you find out that Stoke ‘is considered to be the home of the pottery industry in England and is commonly known as the Potteries. Formerly a primarily industrial conurbation, it is now a centre for service industries and distribution centres.’ Brilliant stuff, absolutely riveting.

Anyway, so it was the coach from Cardiff City Stadium on a cold Wednesday afternoon with two mates, Lewis and Wrighty, to the Britannia Stadium for what promised to be one of the worst games of the season. Both sides were lingering above the relegation zone on a wholly unimpressive 13 points from 13 games, and needed a win to just ease away from the bottom three. Cardiff were still trying to establish themselves as a Premier League side and had picked up good wins against Man City and Swansea but were without a win since that South Wales Derby a month previously. Stoke on the other hand were trying to re-establish themselves as a footballing team under Mark Hughes who had taken over at the Britannia Stadium from Tony ‘just punt the ball forward’ Pulis.

We arrived at Stoke City what felt like two days later after crawling through the deepest, darkest areas of the midlands and were hoping for a nice stretch of the legs, some fresh air, and a trip to the club shop. Instead, we were guided straight into the stadium by the police, presumably eager to not reveal just how awful the area surrounding the stadium is. Deprived of taking photos outside the ground, I stole one from Google which gives a very optimistic view of Stoke where somebody has added sun on photoshop.

The Britannia Stadium does not look like this

Inside the ground, the concourse was a bit small, similar to what I imagine a canteen in a prison to be like. Grey, cold, no seats and the kiosks have steel mesh separating the supporters, aka inmates, from the staff. Despite having to go to different kiosks for my pie and pint, they were actually quite nice, although somewhat overpriced (yet simultaneously averagely priced in a football context) at £7. From there it was into the actual stadium and to face the bitterly cold wind which is commonplace in a stadium with no corners, or in this case, just one corner. The difference between the Britannia Stadium and other big stadiums where there are no corners between stands, is that, like at Villa Park, the stands are close together and have sides that protect you from the elements, this isn’t the case at Stoke. The openness of the stadium just makes it all feel a bit disconnected, from where we were in the South Stand it seemed a long way from the main West Stand.

The jail-themed concourse

 

The pie and pint

 

The North and East Stands with the only corner

The far-away West Stand

The game started boringly and stayed that way for 90 minutes really. The first-half chances coming from Jordon Mutch, now getting more game time in a slightly advanced midfield role, having a good header, from Peter Whittingham’s only good set-piece of the match, saved rather comfortably by Asmir Begovic at the near post. Liverpool loanee Oussama Assaidi had Stoke’s best chance when one-on-one with David Marshall in the Cardiff goal, but the Moroccan delayed his shot too long and Marshall blocked easily, Assaidi also had a goal ruled out for offside before half-time.

The game’s major talking points came in the second half. Firstly, Stoke full-back Marc Wilson clumsily tangled with Frazier Campbell inside the penalty area, but referee Michael Oliver waved away the protests. Certainly could’ve been a penalty, although Campbell did try to initiate the contact by slowing down in front of Wilson. Mr. Oliver was back in the middle of the action not long after, although this time it is difficult to defend him. With players waiting for a Cardiff free-kick to be played in the area, Stoke midfielder Charlie Adam pushes over Frazier Campbell, an offence that could’ve brought a red card, at least a yellow which would’ve been the Scot’s second caution anyway. However, the referee inexplicably managed to mistake 5ft9, chubby, brown haired Charlie Adam, with 6ft7, lanky, blonde haired Peter Crouch, who did receive a caution. Fortunately for the match official, most of the 14 year-old ‘Cardiff Casuals’ were off their faces on panda pops so didn’t seem to notice. Adam nearly capitalised on his good fortune shortly after, producing a good save from a swerving free-kick, before Stephen Ireland blasted high and wide from the rebound. The last chance of the game fell to 18-year-old Welsh full-back Declan John, making his second Premier League appearance, who’s low right-footed shot forced Begovic into a smart save at his right-hand post.

So another draw, my eighth of the season, and this was definitely the worst. General consensus was that Malky Mackay certainly should’ve been a bit more adventurous, maybe taking one of the FIVE central midfielders off for the pace and directness of Craig Noone, as the game was certainly for the taking. Points need to be picked up wherever is possible and teams who have settled for the draw in games like this tend not to fare too well at the end of the season. Nevertheless a point away from home and we all got to leave Stoke – every Cardiff fan was a winner that night!

I wish the Army would bomb Stoke

The players enter the field, already wishing they could leave Stoke

We all stood because Stoke is rubbish

The necessary kick-off pic (Stoke is boring)

Match Action

Match Action

Match Action

It’s over, we can leave Stoke now!

Myself at Stoke brightening the place up no end!

Swansea City v Valencia – Thursday 28th November 2013 – UEFA Europa League

So a week after returning from Wembley to watch an England game, I decided to capitalise on my new found invincibility and head West from Cardiff to the Liberty Stadium to watch Swansea take on Spanish giants Valencia in the Europa League group stages. I have blogged about a trip to the Liberty before, but on that occasion with only 10,000 people at an international friendly, I didn’t really get a feel for the place so I felt a return was necessary, plus Europa League football for only £15, you can’t go wrong!

An hour down the M4, and then 20 minutes looking for a stadium park and ride that wasn’t actually open, I’d plugged the car on the building site of some new houses moonlighting as a car park, and walked across the world’s wobbliest bridge to get to the Stadium. With it situated right by a large retail park you won’t be short of food if you’re a Swansea fan, but I headed off on my lap of the stadium to find the club shop and probably the funniest moment of the day as a girl asked, in a strong Swansea accent, for a ‘Swansea wansea’, or a onesie to the rest of us. Anyway, after purchasing my scarf and discovering that new Swansea fans knew what ‘AFC’ stood for it was into the ground.

A slightly blurry Liberty Stadium

The packed out club shop

So after squeezing through the turnstiles, designed to make sure all Swansea fans are forced to be thin, although there definitely must’ve been wide load turnstiles somewhere looking at some of the people there, it was into the ‘modern stadium default style concourse’. The only difference in the Liberty Stadium is the menu, on which is noodles, a strange one to say the least! I found my seat, which unfortunately was normally the seat of someone else who couldn’t make it. After facing a number of questions from the people sat around me, firstly that I didn’t work for the DVLA who’s staff had been given free tickets for the game that night, and secondly that I wasn’t a Cardiff fan. I decided to say I was a Newport fan rather than face death, because I am actually a Cardiff fan, which, while preserving my life, meant I then had to talk about how County’s season was going for about 20 minutes.

Who on earth is eating Noodles at the football?

Onto the game and it was 1st v 2nd in Group A with Swansea starting the strongest, even beating Valencia convincingly away from home, but a few draws had allowed Valencia back in to compete for top spot and they were in fact a point ahead before kick-off. A draw would’ve guaranteed both sides qualification to the next round, but no unspoken truce was going to be seen as top spot meant being seeded in the knockouts and avoiding teams dropping down from the Champions League.

Swansea started stronger, keeping the ball better and had a great chance to go ahead when Roland Lamah’s corner was flapped at by Valenica keeper Diego Alves straight to Wilfried Bony but the striker couldn’t get his header on target. However, it was another poor punch, this time from Tremmel in the Swansea goal, that found Barnat on the edge of the box who’s deflected shot fell to Daniel Parejo and into the back of the net to put Valencia 1-0 up after 20 minutes. Valencia then went onto dominate possession leaving Swansea chasing shadows, their misery compounded just before half-time, firstly, by Bony limping off with a hamstring injury, and secondly by a quite bizarre decision from the assistant referee who ruled Vazquez offside when poking home a rebound of Shelvey’s shot, despite the Spaniard being at least a yard onside. Valencia had the best chance of the second half through ‘name of the season’ contender, Sofiane Feghouli, but his shot found it’s way past the post as he was 1-on-1 with Tremmel. Swansea’s late chance came from Vazquez but his shot was well cleared off the line by Ruiz.

The Kick-off pic

 

Valencia celebrate their goal

Defeat leaves Swansea needing at least a point from their last game away in Switzerland against St. Gallen although (SPOILER ALERT) I’m writing this blog after that game and they did indeed qualify in second place from the group and face Napoli in the next round. I’d imagine the Liberty Stadium would have a bit more atmosphere than it did on this frustrating night for Swansea fans, and maybe some noodles might have to be eaten to calm the nerves!

Playing with a massive parachute as the teams come out.

The stand to the left

The Valencia fans in the stand to the right

Match Action

Match Action

Match Action

Match Action

Match Action

End of the match action

England v Germany – Tuesday 19th November 2013 – International Friendly

A bit of a weird groundhop this one as, although it took me to my favourite stadium in the World, it also involved Wales’ biggest rivals. England v Germany at Wembley probably not the best game to go to for a Wales fan, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make my 5th visit to the Home of Football and the best stadium in Britain.

Driving up from Cardiff with my Dad and following the compulsory pre-Wembley ritual of parking at Hillingdon, having a Pizza Hut out at Uxbridge and then getting the tube to Wembley, I was looking forward to this visit in a slightly different way to the previous ones as it was the first time I could properly enjoy the stadium and a decent game of football there rather than anxiously watching Cardiff fail at the last hurdle again in a Final. The more relaxed nature of this visit even made walking down Wembley Way more enjoyable as everyone was on the same side, bar us undercover Welshmen, rather than the silent tension of walking alongside 40,000 opposition fans.

One of the best sights in World football

The game itself was shaping up to be very interesting, despite being a friendly. England were looking to finish the the Football Association’s 150th Anniversary Year on a high and bounce back from a home defeat to Chile a few days previously, while a young and inexperienced German side carried many players wanting to stake a claim for a World Cup place in the absence of big names such as Ozil, Lahm and Schweinsteiger, and, of course, no England v Germany game is ever really a ‘friendly’. England made a few changes from the team that lost to an Alexis Sanchez-inspired Chile, bringing in the experience of Ashley Cole, Joe Hart and returning captain Steven Gerrard to support the inexperience of Andros Townsend and Adam Lallana.

Wembley looked fantastic as ever with a near-capacity crowd of 85,000, yet one of the things that makes it such a good stadium is that it doesn’t seem to be that big, you’re never really far from the pitch and always have a good view. However, one point where this visit didn’t quite meet expectations was atmosphere. Previously with Wembley split between two club sides the atmospheres were immense, however on this night the England fans were particularly quiet and were easily outsung by the 1,000 or so travelling Germans, seated on the other side of the Stadium from us. I think this is something to do with the fans, certainly sat near us, being more interested in their club players rather than the National side. I have to say they seemed to be a majority Arsenal fans and on the 2 occasions I have been to Arsenal they have been very quiet so maybe this rubs off on their support of the National team. Not knocking them though, I’d take 85,000 quiet fans turn up to watch Wales than the 10,000 we get currently.

Before kick-off there was a real favourite for ‘pre-match/half-time entertainment of the year’ with Bongo Cam! Basically fans were encouraged to ‘play the bongos’ on the screen when the camera was on them, kind of EyeToy on PS2 style. Sounds a bit odd, but funny viewing!

Bongo Cam!!

The game itself started quite tentatively with England having the best of the possession in the midfield but not really being threatening in the final third while Germany were always dangerous on the break. England’s best chance, if you could call it that, was a looping Rooney header from 12 yards that never really looked like going in, but the deadlock was eventually broken by Per Metersacker just before half-time. Moments after Hart had kept out the Germany captain with a fine save, another corner was headed out to Gotze who curled in an inviting cross which the Arsenal defender met perfectly to put Germany 1-0 up. Steven Gerrard tried to put England back on level terms with a strike from 20 yards but it never looked like dipping enough to trouble Weidenfeller as Germany maintained their lead at half-time.

The anthems

Best stadium in the World

Germany celebrate their goal

Germany came out looking to double their lead at the start of the second half as Gotze danced through the centre of the England defence before a desperate Jagielka tackle found it’s way straight to the feet of Reus who produced a smart stop from the on rushing Hart. England went closest as Andros Townsend, fast cementing his place on the right wing ahead of Brazil, cut inside onto his favoured left foot and managed to dig out a fantastic low shot that beat Weidenfeller all ends up but struck the foot of the post to deny England an equaliser. The last chance of the game fell to Gotze, who provided constant quality in a second half that, as ever in International Friendlies, was ruined by multiple substitutes, but the Bayern Munich man was kept out by Joe Hart who would’ve gained much confidence from this performance after being dropped first by Manchester City and then by England.

As we left Wembley it provided another reason why it is the best Stadium in the world as 85,000 fans were seamlessly ushered down Wembley Way and into Wembley Park station without any sort of crush on the platform. There was even some decent banter from the England fans on the way out. Now to start planning next year’s Wembley visit…

England for the early-birds

The Germany fans

Biggest attendance of the season so far for me

Good advertising for Adam’s everywhere