VENUE #56 MANCHESTER CITY The Etihad Stadium

BARCLAYS PREMIER

Manchester City... 3

Crystal Palace... 0

Saturday 20th December

              2014

@ The Etihad Stadium

         Manchester

     What an absolute idiot I must be, travelling to the Etihad the ground of Manchester City just five days before Christmas day.  I managed to get a seat this time around on the train although the carriages were crammed with people, a lot of them having to stand for long periods as you would expect for this time of year.  No problems with delays as I've had on many of my train journey's this season, both trains were on time and things went pretty smoothly for a change.

     I had a ticket for Ashburys which is a station nearer to the Etihad than Manchester Piccadilly but decided to walk from Piccadilly for it was only a twenty minute walk and the route was easier to follow and the area was more populated and less "back streets". 

     I had my route worked out on Google so as to find the Etihad easy from Piccadilly but when I left the station I couldn't recognise where I actually was, I hung around a bit and saw a man wearing a Crystal Palace scarf with a young girl, probably his daughter, so I followed them hoping that they knew where they were going.  After about five minutes in pursuit I started to realise where I was and began to make my own way in the quicker manner that I'm used to and made it to the Etihad in good time.

 

The North stand joining the West

 Last Saturday City took on Leicester at the King Power Stadium and won 1-0, Manuel Pellegrini has made a staggering six changes to the team from that game most of them forced by injuries, missing out are Bacary Sagna, Vincent Kompany, Gael Clichy, Fernando, Frank Lampard and Edin Djeko to be replaced by Pablo Zabaleta, Martin Demichelis, Aleksandar Kolarov, Fernandinho, Jesus Navas and James Milner.  Crystal Palace were at home last weekend earning a one all draw with Stoke City and boss Neil Warnock only makes the two changes, Wilfred Zaha starts from the bench replaced by Jason Puncheon and Marouane Chamakh ruled out with Fraizer Campbell brought in.

      The first half was a little disappointing with City without a recognised striker in the team failing to impress and hit the back of the net with Crystal Palace at times looking the better side and it was Palace mid-way through the first half who had the ball in the net only to be ruled offside by the linesman who was a little late raising his flag.

     But in the second half it was more like the City we know, with Pellegrinis's words ringing in their ears it only took them four minutes to take the lead, Fernandinho found Zabaleta charging down the right flank and he cut the ball back to David Silva who's shot struck a sliding Scott Dann and the ball looped over keeper julian Speroni into the corner of the net.

Players coming out the tunnel

     Twelve minutes later and Silva made it 2-0 and this time it was Kolarov on the opposite side of the pitch making his way to the by-line and cutting the ball back again to the City midfielder who struck the ball cleanly past Speroni for his and his team's second of the afternoon.

     It was all City after that and for all their dominance it was another twenty minutes before they finally put the game to bed with a third goal, Frank Lampard coming on as sub for Silva in the 69th minute won the ball in his own half and combined with Navas and Milner to the brink of the Palace penalty area where the ball was fed to Yaya Toure who drilled a powerful shot via the post into the Palace net.

     One more goal would have put them ahead of Chelsea in the table on goal difference for a couple of hours but it ended 3-0 and at the end of the day City remain three points adrift of the league leaders.

   

Countdown to kick off

The Etihad is a marvellous Stadium and I would say the best I've seen so far, built in 2002 for the commonwealth games City moved in August the following year moving away from Main road which had been their home for the previous 80 years.  It is a 48,000 capacity all seated stadium costing around 90 million pounds.  The ground has a bowl design and totally enclosed with the two stands running the length of the pitch being three tiered and the two stands behind the goal being two tiered.  I was sat in the East stand right up with the Gods in the third tier, across the pitch is the main stand, (Colin Bell), and the two at each end are the North and the South.  One corner of the South stand that leads on to the East is reserved for away supporters which seems a bit small so I supposed that a larger area would be designated for teams with a larger away following such as neighbours United.  

     Although the Palace fans numbers were on the small side they did out-sing the City fans especially in the first half when they looked the better team.

                                                        Match Details

          

VENUE #55 MACCLESFIELD TOWN Moss Rose

VANARAMA

CONFERENCE

Macclesfield Town... 2

Woking... 1

Saturday 6th December

             2014

@ Moss Rose Ground

        Macclesfield

     Travelling to football matches using the train as my main form of transport is becoming a real pain and I'm seriously considering a change.  I always check on Nation Rail Enquiries website before I set out on a journey to see if there are any problems that may cause delays to the trains that I plan to catch and on doing so today I find that my train from Wolverhampton to Macclesfield had the yellow triangle with the black exclamation mark warning sign saying that this train could be delayed due to a person being hit by a train in the Coventry area.  You may remember that I had a similar problem last time out when I was stuck in Peterborough on a train for more than a hour and a half which subsequently meant I missed almost half hour of the game. This time however the train was only half a hour late and made up ten minutes during the journey.  

     Although there seemed to be an awful lot of people alighting the train at Wolverhampton when I finally managed to get aboard I found the carriage that I'd selected still rammed with people.  There were no seats and people standing in the passageways and in between the carriages.  This could have been a knock on effect from delays and cancellations of trains due to the earlier incident in Coventry or it might have been the fact that it was three weeks to Christmas and the trains final destination was Manchester Piccadilly.  I stood by the door and luggage compartment for three parts of the journey managing to get a seat at Stoke-on-Trent for the last twenty minutes.

 

pictures on the wall outside the ground 

   Macclesfield Town going into today's game are currently fifth in the table with a chance of going second if today's results go for them and if they manage to topple Woking who currently hold that second spot.  Manager John Askey makes just the one change from the 3-1 defeat at the hands of the league leaders Barnet at the Hive Stadium last Saturday, Andy Hall comes in for Alex Grant who sits it out on the bench for this one.  Garry Hill boss of Woking makes two changes from Tuesday night's 2-0 home win over Altrincham, Jack Marriott and Scott Rendell retire to the bench while Joe McNerney and Dean Morgan start the game.

     This wasn't a "Silky" performance at all by the home side for it was Woking who started the brighter and in the first ten minutes of the game Macclesfield found it hard to get out of their own half but after 13 minutes and with their first attack of the game they took the lead when Danny Whitaker found himself in space with the ball just outside the Woking penalty area, he fired a low left footed drive which was only parried by the Cardinal's keeper Ross Worner and into the path of the Silkmen's striker Matthew Barnes-Homer who slotted the ball home from six yards for his third goal of the season.

Teams shaking hands before match

     Macclesfield had several more chances before the break to increase their lead and started to look stronger than their opponents but failed to take the initiative and put the game beyond Woking and ultimately paid the price for six minutes into the second half and Woking were level  Dean Morgan found himself in the Macclesfield box with the ball at his feet and he fired a shot which was blocked and came straight back to him but this time he hit the ball wide of the Macc's keeper Rhys Taylor and into the bottom corner of the net.

     The game went from one end to the other after the equaliser and both teams squandered good chances and it looked like a draw would be the final outcome until the last minute of the game when Barnes-Homer got free down the right and pulled the ball back and towards  Paul Turnbull via a mistimed clearance and he fired the ball through a crowd of players and inside the bottom near post to send the Macclesfield fans wild for their side hung on till the final whistle and extended their unbeaten home run.

   

The John Askey stand

 Macclesfield Town have been playing football at Moss Rose since 1891, it has a capacity of around 6,335 of which just over 2,500 are seated.  The Silk FM main stand is covered and stretches a third of the length of the pitch and straddles the half way line.  Across on the other side of the pitch is the Henshaw's stand and is where I watched the game, it is a fully covered, single tiered and a all seated stand which was built in 2001.  At one end behind the goal to the right as you're sitting in the Henshaw's stand is the Macclesfield Audi stand which is a mix between seating and terracing with the terracing being behind the seats, (strange), and is fully covered.  At the other end behind the goal is the John Askey's terrace which is uncovered and designated to away supporters as is a third of the Henshaw's stand. 

                                                           Match Details

         

VENUE #54 IPSWICH TOWN Portman Road

SKY BET CHAMPIONSHIP

Ipswich Town... 2

Huddersfield Town... 2

Saturday 25th October

             2014

@ Portman Road Stadium

             Ipswich

     I had a bad feeling about this journey, I just couldn't get to sleep all night with things churning over in my mind, nightmares about the four and a half hour trip to Portman Road and I found out why during the course of the train ride out there.  The sun was in the sky which was almost totally blue apart from the odd cloud which looked like a small sailing vessel in a vast ocean, although the temperature was quite cool in the morning as you would expect on the last Saturday of October when the clocks were due to go back a hour in the small hours of the morning signalling that winter was well and truly on it's way.

     The first two trains were OK, both arrived at the station when they should and made good time on the trek towards East Anglia.  I got off the second train that was heading for Stanford airport at Peterborough, there was a scheduled wait of around 35 minutes for the departure of the third train that would take me on to Ipswich and so I made my way to platform six to await it's arrival.  But as the time grew nearer for the train to arrive there was an announcement on the tan ahoy that the train would be held at Peterborough station until further notice as a young person had been hit by a train between March and Ely.  I was sat on that train in the station for 1 hour and 40 minutes before we were allowed to move on and complete the journey which meant I missed the first 25 minutes of the game including the first goal.

   

Sir Bobby Robson Stand

 Ipswich manager Mick McCarthy made three changes to the team that lost 3-1 to Cardiff City at the City Stadium on Tuesday night, Tyrone Mings, Kevin Bru and Jonny Williams are replaced by Tommy Smith, Teddy Bishop and Luke Hyam.  Chris Powell the Huddersfield boss also made three changes to his team that drew 1-1 at Brighton in the mid-week game, Jack Robinson, Sean Scannell and and Harry Bunn were placed on the subs bench while Lee Peltier, Paul Dixon and Nahki Wells were given the go ahead.

     As I mentioned earlier I missed the first goal by Tommy Smith for Ipswich but did manage to view via TV highlights and basically a corner from the left from Teddy bishop found the head of Smith at the near post who made no mistake.  He should have made it two on the half hour when Bishop once again found him with a free kick this time which Smith deflected onto the post which had Alex Smithies in the Huddersfield goal scrambling to gather the rebound. 

     Nine minutes after the half time interval it was 2-0 to Ipswich when yet again a left sided corner from Bishop floated over to the far post found Jonathan Parr who clipped the ball over the static Huddersfield defence to David McGoldrick who controlled it and made a low cross which found Christophe Berra unmarked and he fired home from close range.

     Although Ipswich had a two goal advantage they never really looked like being able to keep it, there was a nervousness about them probably brought about from past games were they have been in this position before of something similar only to let the opposition back into the game and throw away points and today was no exception for in the 70th minute a deep cross into the Ipswich area saw Grant Holt and Luke Chambers challenging for the ball and they both ended up on the floor and referee Richard Clark, who personally I thought had a poor game and his assistants, gave a very dodgy penalty.  Up stepped Nahki Wells who fired the ball to the right of the keeper who went the same way but was beaten by sheer power and brought Huddersfield within touching distance of at least a  point.

     And that touching distance was well and truly achieved twelve minutes later when another cross from the right found Nahki Wells unmarked at the near post to head home to make his and Huddersfield's tally two for the afternoon.

Sir Alf Ramsey stand top tier

     Portman Road is a 30,300 all seated Stadium and although it's been around since 1888 it does look fairly modern thanks to redevelopment work done in the early stages of the new millennium.  The East of England Co-op stand where I watched the game from is three tiered and fully covered.  Across the pitch is the Cobbold stand which is two Tiered and only partially covered.

     At the two ends of the pitch behind the goals are the Sir Alf Ramsey stand and the Sir Bobby Robson stand  which are two tiered and fully covered.  Both Robson and Ramsey were former managers of Ipswich and both went on to manage the England National side and as we all know, Sir Alf Ramsey was the manager when England won the world cup in 1966.

     

     What I will say about the people in Ipswich which I found out to my annoyance for while being late for the kick off and in a bit of a rush as to get to the ground so I wouldn't miss any more of the game, the majority seemed so laid back that it's a wonder they weren't horizontal.  They will not be rushed and are quite happy to delay you even further for they haven't, or so it seems, a care in the world.

                                                         Match Details

 

VENUE #53 FALKIRK The Falkirk Stadium

SCOTTISH CHAMPIONSHIP

Falkirk... 1
Queen of the South... 1

Saturday 13th September
              2014

@ The Falkirk Stadium
            Falkirk

     I've been greatly looking forward to this game, not just because it's my first trip to Scotland in the new season but I've recently acquired a Galaxy Tab 3 and have been wanting to try it out on a long train journey just to see what I can do with the contraption.  Yes, as my Son would say, "The technophobe has just joined the 21st century", and is willing to try out new gadgets to maybe make short time of all the computer work that builds up when I return home from one of these trips, if I could get it all done on the train home it would leave time for other things.
     First thing to do is upgrade my ticket to first class for it is only £15 each way on Virgin trains at the weekend and the wi-fi is free.  I did manage to play tracks on Spotify after a hour, couldn't stream any live football though or watch X-Factor on the way home for the wi-fi on Virgin trains is pretty poor at the moment but they are trying to improve things for the future.  As for making short work of all the computer stuff which you don't need the internet for but you do need Microsoft office which isn't installed on my Tab and so I'll have to upgrade and maybe I could do so in the future.
   
   

View from in front of the open end

 Another warm day as it has been all week, fairly cloudy but the sun has been able to break through here in Fife to make it a pleasant afternoon and here's hoping that the football can add to it.  Peter Houston the Falkirk boss made three changes to the team that lost 1-0 to Stranraer at Stair Park in the Petrofac Training cup last weekend, new signings Owain Tudur-Jones and David Smith come into the main eleven forcing Blair Alston and Alex Cooper onto the bench and Botti Bia Bi replaces Ryan Blair.
     With the departure of manager Jim McIntyre this week Queen of the South name James Fowler as caretaker player coach for this game and he makes two changes to the side that lost 4-2 at Ibrox two weeks ago bringing himself and Ian McShane into the team at the expense of Kevin Dzierzawski and Lewis Kidd.
     Not much happened in the first half apart from a chance that came about because of a poor decision by the linesman who was running the line by where I was watching the game, the ball was played over the top of the Falkirk defence to Iain Russell who was five yards offside but his shot was blocked by Jamie MacDonald the Falkirk keeper and came to Ian McShane who collided with Falkirk's Joe Shaughnessy to which the referee gave a controversial free kick but the striker took it himself and blazed the ball over the bar.  The crowd got on the linesman's back over the incident to which he seemed to put his flag up for everything in response, well, up until half time anyway when I think the ref must have gave him a talking to for he got his composure back in the second half.

Getting ready to kick off

     It was 0-0 at the break and it looked as though it was going to stay that way until the Bairns got into the game a bit more half way through the second spell but seemed to hit a brick wall with some physical challenges from the Doonhamers defence.
     A bad clearance from MacDonald, who had a poor game considering he won the August player of the Month award, fell to the feet of Derek Lyle who's 30 yard shot went just wide of the post.  The keeper atoned himself with a good save from a rasping drive from Daniel Carmichael in the 69th minute then seconds later Queens were one up when Carmichael squared the ball across the Falkirk six yard box for Gavin Reilly to smash the ball into the top right hand corner of the net.
     Falkirk equalised in the 83rd minute, Queens defender Mark Durnan handled the ball 25 yards from goal and a powerful Craig Sibbald free kick struck Chris Higgins and spun high and wide of Zander Clark the Queens keeper and into the net.

   

Falkirk mascot Fergus Fox

 Falkirk Stadium is a lovely ground even though it's only got three sides, three big stands and a fence stretching along one touchline opposite the main stand.  Opened in July 2004 after their old ground Brockville was demolished and replaced with a Morrisons superstore, (Sounds familiar).  It has a 9,200 all seated capacity comprising of the three stands as mentioned .  The Main stand is two tiered and fully covered it's got lots of leg room in between seats and is one of the best places I've watched a game from yet and the toilets look brand new, clean and immaculate.
     The two end stands are the North and the South stands, both are identical, single tiered and fully covered with the South stand for away support use.
     The club shop is outside the ground and in front of the main (West) stand and it's also where you get your match tickets from but they don't sell match programmes, you have to get them from little one man stalls dotted about in front of the main stand.

                                                         Match Details

       

VENUE #52 KIDDERMINSTER HARRIERS Aggborough Stadium

VANARAMA

CONFERENCE

Kidderminster... 2

Gateshead... 1

Saturday 6th September

             2014

@ Aggborough Stadium

        Kidderminster

    

      When Planning this journey to Kidderminster I was surprised to find out that it could mean having to change trains twice.  A distance of 25 miles and the prospect of having to catch three trains there and back was a little harrowing to me and so I started to look at various other routes that I could take.  The initial route as laid down by national rail enquiries meant that I should start my journey from Walsall to change at Birmingham New Street for Droitwich Spa and change again for Kidderminster.  After fiddling about with the National Rail website I found that I could catch the 12:01 from Walsall to Wolverhampton and elite at Smethwick Galton Bridge where I could catch a train directly to Kidderminster and cut out one train from my journey.  This was a better prospect although it wasn't much quicker than the three train route it meant that it was one less worry about having to hope that your train was on time so as to meet your connection scenario, although the train was three minutes late pulling out of Birmingham New street which meant I'd only got 3 mins when I got to Galton Bridge, which was an unfamiliar station to me, to hunt around for the platform to catch the Kidderminster train off.

   

The East stand

Having arrived at my destination safely and on schedule I decided to find a place where I could eat and take advantage of the toilets as there was none at Kidderminster station and so I Googled public toilets in Kidderminster on my phone and came up with Morrisons which wasn't too far away from the station or the ground.  The loo's were great but the queue for food at their cafe was horrendous and slow moving and so I decided to move on to the ground and hopefully get something to eat there.

     Moving on to today's game, Harrier's manager Gary Whild makes one change from the team that beat Dover 1-0 at the Crabble Athletic ground last Saturday, Cheyenne Dunkley comes in for Aman Verma who moves to the bench.  Gary Mills names an unchanged Gateshead side to the one that beat Chester City 2-1 at the International Stadium also last Saturday.

     It was non league day today and so Kidderminster dropped the price of entry to their terraces at both ends of the ground from £14 to £10 and so I decided to take advantage of this offer and stand with the home supporters behind the goal in the North end, I soon moved closer to the corner flag to the right side of the goal as a young lad kept whacking me in the face with a big red flag.

     Nothing much to report about in the first half as both teams seemed to lack the ability to create goal chances and made a lot of wasted passes around the pitch to the opposition.  I don't think either goalkeeper had to make a save which was unfortunate as I had my camera at the ready hoping to catch some goalmouth action.

A corner for Kidderminster attacking the North stand

     I decided to put my camera away for the second half as this game smacked of a 0-0 draw which would be my first in three seasons of travelling around the grounds but then after 20 seconds of the restart Kidderminster score, Craig Reid found himself free in the Gateshead penalty area and turned to plant the ball in the net giving keeper Adam Bartlett no chance.  Three minutes later and it was 2-0, a cross from the right to the far post saw the impressive Nathan Blissett rise higher than the rest to strike a powerful header home from close range.  Jon Shaw pulled one back in the 64th minute for Gateshead but it turned out to be a mere consolation

   

The Harriers Arms

Aggborough Stadium is situated in an unfortunate named road, "Hoo Road", makes you feel as though you're going to visit the Grinch who stole Christmas.  It has a 6,238 capacity of which around half are seated and though it was built in the 1890's looks quite clean and tidy, MODERN, probably due to all the work that was done in the late 1990's and in the early stages of the new Millennium.  Two stands run along the touchline the East stand and the Reynolds stand, both are single tiered and covered, part of the East stand is for away support use.  At either end of the ground behind the goals are two small terraces which are also covered, the North which is used to house the home support and the South which is for the use of the away followers.

     There is a supporters club where away fans are welcome to drink and also behind the Reynolds stand there is a pub called the Harriers Arms of which the Gateshead fans were making use of from what I could hear when passing.

     The club shop is right by the main entrance not far from the Harriers Arms and was being manned by the managing director of the club, well that's what he told me when I went in to by my usual souvenirs from my journey's, a home scarf and a match programme.

                                                         Match Details

       

VENUE #51 OXFORD UNITED The Kassam Stadium

 SKY BET LEAGUE TWO

Oxford United... 3
Dagenham & Redbridge... 3

Saturday 30th August 2014

@ The Kassam Stadium
            Oxford


     After the events that took place on my last journey by train my Wife asked if she could join me on this venture to Oxford.  My confidence had taken a battering and I was not really up to facing another long period alone on a train and so was glad of her company.  It was a great excuse for her to go shopping and spend lots of cash in an unfamiliar environment, she is also a big fan of the TV programme Lewis and so it gave her a great opportunity to explore some of the places where the series was filmed while I do, what I do at my new venue.
     My game today from the Sky Bet league two takes me to the Kassam Stadium which is five miles from Oxford railway station and so I decided to take a taxi there and back which was a big mistake as it nearly cost me as much as the whole train journey..

Back of the Oxford Mail stand

     Oxford who are currently bottom of league two without a point in their first four matches take on a Dagenham & Redbridge side who are mid-table with six points.  Michael Appleton the U's head coach made three changes to the side that drew 1-1 after extra time only to lose 7-6 on penalties in the capital one cup at the Hawthorns on Tuesday night, Max Crocombe, Danny Rose and Junior Brown make way for George Long, Alex Jakubiak and Alfie Potter.  Wayne Burnett names an unchanged side to the one that beat Mansfield 2-0 at the London borough of Barking and Dagenham Stadium last Saturday.
     The game got off to a lively start with Oxford taking the lead after only three minutes with Alex Jakubiak sliding in to meet Joe Riley's right wing cross .
     After seven minutes it was 1-1 when Jamie Cureton's squared pass found Ashley Hemmings who side footed the ball past Long in the Oxford goal.
     That's how it stayed till half time but it was only the first minute after the break when Dagenham took the lead, Jamie Cureton firing home a Luke Howells pass from 14 yards.
     But this topsy- turvy affair hadn't finished yet for in the 55th minute Tom Newey's cross to the far side of the goal was met by the head of Danny Hylton who steered the ball back across O'Brien in goal for Dagenham and into the net, 2-2.
     Six minutes later and the lead returned to Oxford, Scott Doe brought down Jakubiak in the box and up stepped the home side's man of the match Hylton to strike the spot kick home for his second and the U's third of the afternoon.

View from the car park of the three stands

     You just knew that Dagenham weren't finished yet as for them to go away with nothing out of this game would have been a might unfair and it only took ten minutes for them to level the game once more, after some intense pressure from the Daggers the ball dropped kindly for Abu Ogogo just outside the Oxford 18 yard area and he fired a half volley over the top of George Long, (who was a "long" way off his line), and under the bar to give his team a well earned point.
     The Kassam Stadium is a 12,500 all seated Stadium that was built in 2001 to re-house United after they had to leave their previous home, the Manor ground, which had been their home tie venue for 76 years.
 

Picture from where I was sitting of the open car park end

 It's a wired looking place with three wonderfully sized stands on three sides of the pitch and a wooden fence behind the goal on the West side of the ground that leads directly onto the car park.  There is talk of completing the structure with a fourth stand but needs Oxford to be doing better than the league two status that they currently hold..
     I sat in the South stand to watch the game, it is a two tiered stand fully covered with a row of executive boxes and is rather impressive to look at, although seeing that it's only 13 years old you would have to say that it looks a lot older for it hasn't warn very well, the toilets are an absolute disgrace.

The North stand

     The North stand is single tiered and also fully covered and is where the away supporters watch the games from.  The Dagenham fans were down in the far corner of the stand right by the open car park end, mind, there were only 158 of them.
     At the other end to the car park is the Oxford Mail stand which is single tiered, fully covered and where the noisy, chanting home supporters congregate, they seem to have a competition between themselves to see who can out-sing the other, the right side or the left.
     I hope that after my last experience on the train to Milton Keynes that this sort of day is the norm, both me and my Wife had a lovely time and I'm looking forward to the next venue with renewed passion.

                                                         Match Details

     
         

VENUE #50 MILTON KEYNES DONS The Stadium MK

 SKY BET LEAGUE ONE

Milton Keynes Dons... 4
Gillingham... 2

Saturday 9th August 2014

@ The Stadium MK
      Milton Keynes


     First day of a new season and I'm all pumped up and ready to go for another ten months trekking around the football grounds of the UK.  It's a reasonably short trip down to Milton Keynes the team that took the place of Wimbledon in the football league moving from the tennis capital of Britain 62 miles North to the London overspill town in Buckinghamshire.
     Travelling as I do by train and on the second stage of my journey from Birmingham New street to Rugby, I find my seat and took off my coat as it's a bit on the warm side and place it in the luggage rack above my head and sit down to read the paper.  The train begins to move out of Birmingham and I think to myself, "Oh now we're moving I can go and visit the little boys room", and so i did, forgetting about my coat and , of cause, on my return to my seat I find that my coat had been taken.  I asked people in the carriage if they had seen anything to which the answer was, "no", so in a panic I start to race around trying to find it and it didn't take me long for it was on the floor between my carriage and the next with a drunken youth standing over it.  I questioned the youth about the coat and he said that it was lying there when he came past.  I promptly checked the coat to see if there was anything missing and found that my mobile phone had gone along with a couple of pounds in change.  I asked the youth for my phone back and he said that he hadn't got it and that I could search him and started to turn out his pockets.  Then his drunken girlfriend arrived on the seen and after more confrontation from me she started emptying her pockets and bag but of course they didn't reveal my mobile phone.  I had no proof that these people had anything to do with the crime and so I returned to my seat and reported it to the transport police at Milton Keynes.
     As you can imagine I didn't really fancy carrying on with my journey but was persuaded to by the Virgin train staff.  the train had CCTV cameras and they were confident that the culprit would be caught.
     Like I mentioned at the beginning that this was the first game of a new season and therefore nothing to compare with from previous weeks and so I'll just go straight into the match report.

Picture of outside view of the Stadium MK

     Gillingham took the lead after 7 minutes, Cody McDonald brushing aside the last defender rather too easily to slot the ball past the Dons keeper David Martin.
     It was 2-0 after 29 minutes when again McDonald found himself free in the Dons penalty area but this time Martin brought him down giving the referee no other option but to book him and award a penalty to Gillingham.  Danny Kedwell converted it placing the ball into Martin's right hand corner.
     Then, just one minute before half time MK found an unlikely way back into the game when a cross from the right was fumbled by Gillingham keeper Stuart Nelson and hit the post to rebound and strike Kortney Hause as he tried to make up for his keeper's mistake but the ball ended up in the back of the net which made it 1-2 at the break.
     Nelson's error proved costly for him as manager Peter Taylor substituted him for Glenn Morris at half time and as the game restarted MK Dons looked like a new team, it seemed as though the goal had sparked life into them, (or the manager's half time team talk), and in a five minute spell starting in the 68th minute they turned the game around with three goals, the first from Will Grigg when he headed home a cross from Danny Green, then Green supplied again in the 70th minute for McFadzean this time who looped his header over the stranded Gillingham keeper and the rout was complete in the 73rd minute when a Danny Green set-piece was deflected into his own net by Leon Legge which meant that Gillingham were now losing 4-2 but had scored four of the goals.

The North Stand for Away Supporters

     The Stadium MK looks very impressive from a distance a big black, rounded structure that made you think you were approaching the ground of a Premier club and then you get a little closer to it and it looks like it's been dumped on some wasteland near Asda and Ikea.
     The interior again looks fantastic, it's vast with black seats, (not very comfortable), apart from the white ones that spell out MK Dons in the Stand where I was sitting which was the East.  It has two tiers and between those tiers is an area filled with food outlets and toilets which are the best I've seen at a football ground yet.
     There was 7,595 at the ground on Saturday and yet the place looked empty, it's a 30,500 all seated Stadium built in 2007 for a bigger status team than the one that is currently playing in league one of the English football league.

     Going back to the incident on the train, when I arrived home my Wife informed me that the person who had stole my phone had took pictures of herself and tried to post them on her Facebook account using my phone but these pictures ended up on my account because my phone is logged into my account.  It was the picture of the girlfriend of the drunken youth that was standing over my coat in between the train carriages.  She was wearing a hat with the word DOPE on it, well, she got that one right.

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VENUE #49 LUTON TOWN Kenilworth Road

SKRILL PREMIER

Luton Town... 2
Braintree Town... 3

Saturday 12th April 2014

@ Kenilworth Road                   Stadium, Luton


     Had a near disaster on the way to the game today, my train left Birmingham New Street from platform 7, the problem being so did two other trains and the train to Stansted, which was the one I had to catch was supposed to be the one in the middle but as I arrived on the platform there were only two trains there.  I looked at the electronic boards on the platform and the one by the first train said Stansted Airport and the board by the train at the bottom of the platform said Hereford and so I got on the Stansted one.  There was lots of confusion as people kept coming aboard the train and asking where it was going and I told them Stansted , to my knowledge.  This one chap came on  though and said is this the train to Hereford and I said no, I believe that train is at the bottom of the platform and so he took off.  He came back five minutes later and got in the same carriage to find me and said, "This is the Hereford train mate the Stansted one is down there".  I looked at the time and I had one minute to race down to the bottom train before it left the station and as I rose to leave the Hereford train so did a number of other people and we all made for the door.  Seeing I was the oldest out of all of them, and some were quite a lot younger than me I still managed to beat them all to the Stansted train which was about five minutes late leaving the station anyway.

Oak Road with gate entrances built between houses

     Going into this game Luton only need three more points to be promoted to Sky Bet league two.  Braintree on the other hand are hoping to get one of the play-off places.  Luton are ten points clear of second place Cambridge United so just one more win or a defeat for the U's will take them up.
     Luton make two changes to the starting line up that beat Tamworth 2-0 here at Kenilworth road on Tuesday night, Alex Lawless takes the place of Luke Rooney and Mark Cullen is in for Andre Gray.  Braintree make one change to the side that lost at home to Macclesfield 1-0 in mid-week, Ryan Peters in for Kenny Davis.
     The Brains are considered a bit of a bogey side by Town winning three of the previous five meetings between the clubs and they started this game as though they were going to keep their reputation.  With only sixteen minutes on the clock Dean Wells rose to meet a Daniel Sparkes cross from the left to head Braintree in front.  Five minutes later it was 2-0 when Bret Holman crossed also from the left hand side to find James Mulley who pushed the ball beyond Mark Tyler in goal for Luton and into the back of the net.
     But in the 30th minute Braintree's luck changed when Paul Benson rounded the Iron's keeper to be left with an open goal only to be scythed down by the keeper Nik Hamman.  The referee produced a straight red card even though there was a Braintree defender level with Benson at the time.  The Brains striker Dan Holman was made the sacrificial lamb being brought off for Nathan McDonald to replace the unfortunate Hamman in goal  The free kick was hit straight at the wall and came to nothing.

Main Stand entrance

     Although Luton were two down and didn't have a shot on target until the 44th minute when Matt Robinson's volley brought a comfortable save from the Iron's substitute keeper, as they left the pitch for the half time break the ten thousand plus crowd, their biggest for twenty years all stood up and applauded whilst cheering them off the field.
     After the break it seemed like Luton might get back into the game as they pushed forward and piled on the pressure to ten man Braintree and came very close to reducing the deficit in the 50th minute when Paul Benson latched on to a Matt Robinson cross but his shot was pushed onto the bar by McDonald.
     Six minutes later and things got considerably worse for the Hatters getting caught on the counter attack as they pressed forward and left themselves exposed at the back when a long ball found Chez Isaac one on one with Tyler and the Iron's midfielder slotted the ball home for Braintree's third.
   

Pillar obscuring view of Kenilworth road goal

      Luton manager John Still looked to the bench for the answer and brought on Alex Wall for Luke Rooney who himself came on for the injured Alex Lawless in the 13th minute and Pelly Ruddock came on for Cameron McGeehan and it worked, two minutes after the switch Ryan Peters handled the ball in his own penalty area and Jake Howells spot kick sent the keeper the wrong way.  Two minutes later and it was 2-3 when Howells raced on to the ball losing control but managing to find substitute Wall who saw the keeper off his line and lobbed the ball over him and into the net.
     Town had several good chances afterwards one of them hitting the post again with a shot by Cullen as Wall broke through the Braintree defence to set him up.
     In the later stages Luton started to run out of steam and although the fans were electric with their support they couldn't lift Luton enough to get anything out of the game.

     Kenilworth road is a 10,226 all seated stadium but from what I could see they desperately need re-housing.  It's as though someone has dropped a football ground at the end of a terraced housing estate and sort of intermingled it amongst the houses.  Oak Road as ground entrances built in between houses and it looks very strange indeed.

Players changing ends for kick off

     I watched the game from the main stand, the seats are old and uncomfortable and if you're taller than 5 foot 6  then you're going to have your knees stuck up under your chin for the course of the game, I was lucky, I asked for a aisle seat and sat with my legs sticking out in the aisle.  The view from the stand is not good for there are several pillars which obscure your vision pending on where you sit and where I was sitting the Kenilworth road goal was blocked by one of these pillars.
     Across the field from the main stand is the executive area which is filled with executive boxes and has netting above it to stop the ball going over and into the gardens of the houses.
     Behind the goal to the right of the main stand is the Kenilworth Road stand and is for home supporters usually but if the opposing team have a vast fan base then it has been known to be used for away fans.  At the other end is Oak road and this is the usual away fans stand, well, to the right of the goal as you look at it.

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VENUE #48 BURTON ALBION The Pirelli Stadium

SKY BET LEAGUE TWO

Burton Albion... 1

Plymouth Argyle... 0

Saturday 5th April 2014

@ The Pirelli Stadium

       Burton-On-Trent

     My son Ross picked out Burton's Pirelli ground for a visit last season but I'd already been to see a league two game and so decided to go the short distance into Derbyshire this time around.  They have there advantages these short trips, not costing much money is one and being home for half past six is another.

   

Front of the main stand

 It's a fare old walk to the ground from the railway station, a good twenty five minutes give or take a couple.  I passed a few pubs on route and was very tempted to pop in and try some of the famous Burton ale everyone raves about but resisted the temptation like a good little boy, I'm sure the Wife will be pleased to hear.  A female motorist pulled over and called to me as I was hurtling along my merry way, I out-stretched my arms in a manner to suggest that it's no use asking me directions as I'm new to this area also, but then she said, "Do you know the way to the railway station?" and I said, "Ah yes, I've just come from there", but whether she understood my directions of not is another thing, she did look more bewildered than before she asked me, poor sole.

Players lining up before shaking hands

     Burton go into this game lying in 5th place in the league table and looking to consolidate their play-off place with a win today.  Manager Gary Rowett makes two changes to the side that took a goalless point from York City last weekend, Jimmy Phillips steps in for Phil Edwards and Gary Alexander partners Billy Kee up front instead of Adam McGurk.

     This is Plymouth's first game in eleven days when they were defeated 2-1 at Home park by near neighbours and relegation strugglers Exeter City and that makes it three games without a win now for the Pilgrims.  Argyle are currently 9th in league two and desperately need a win today to keep any hopes alive of reaching the play-off's.  John Sheridan makes three changes to his team, Paul Wotton, Matthew Parsons and Tope Obadeyi who returned to Bury after his loan spell ended, are replaced by Durrell Berry, Ben Purrington and Enoch Showumni who makes his debut after being loaned out by Notts County for the rest of the season.

     It was a tentative start and Burton seemed obsessed with keeping the ball in the air and playing to Argyle's strengths as the Devonshire side have a number of tall players but they did get their act together after ten minutes and started to keep the ball on the floor and play some wonderful football especially in the midfield.  They almost made it pay when a shot on the turn by Billy Kee was tipped onto the top of the net by the Argyle keeper Jake Cole. 

     Cole was busy again minutes later when he finger tipped a fierce shot from Jimmy Phillips onto the post and stopped an almost certain opening goal for the home side.  Burton were starting to dominate while Plymouth were showing cracks in their armour and it was defensive frailties of the Pilgrims that gave the Brewers the opportunity to score the goal, Neal Trotman made a pass to Luke Young but the Argyle midfielder fell over and the ball was pounced upon by Matty Palmer who's shot was blocked by Trotman but rebounded outside the Argyle penalty area to Callum McFadzean to drill past Cole into the bottom corner in the 27th minute.

      Six minutes later and it was nearly 2-0 when Trotman committed a foul about 30 yards outside the Argyle penalty area and the free kick was blasted goalwards by Damien McCrory but the ball was pushed onto the bar by the busy Jake Cole who also denied Cole in the dying minutes of the half.

     In the second half Burton sat back and defended their narrow 1-0 lead, Plymouth came close a few times to levelling the game but couldn't find that golden final touch that was needed.  It's no wonder that Burton have won 1-0 so many times this season, they must have rode their luck on many occasions.

West stand.  Part of the concrete shell

     The Pirelli Stadium as a 6,912 capacity with just over 2,000 seated.  It was built in 2005 to replace their Eton Park ground which had been their home for 47 years.  The main stand looks quite impressive and is where I watched the game from, with it's black coloured plastic seats with some painted yellow to form the words Burton Albion, it looks clean and new as you would expect from a ground that's only nine years old.  The other parts of the ground are covered terracing that looks a bit like a plain concrete shell.  There is the Popular terrace that is opposite the main stand and the two ends behind the goal are the West and the East terraces.  The East terrace is to the left of the main stand as you look at it and houses the away fans as does the left quarter of the main stand. 

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