VENUE #65 NEWTOWN Latham Park

DAFABET WELSH PREMIER

12th September 2015

Latham Park, Newtown

Ground Built:-  1951  

Ground Capacity:- 3,000 (1,300 Seated)

Kick Off;- 17:15

Entry Fee:- £7

Programme:- £2

Ground:- # 65

NEWTOWN ... 1         RHYL ... 2

     Top of the table Newtown came unstuck this evening at Latham Park against a well drilled Rhyl

side who started the game second from bottom.  Newtown having won all three of their first games of the campaign without conceding a goal were expected to win this game quite comfortably but came across a dogged Rhyl side inspired by a brilliant man of the match performance by Terry McCormick in goal.
     In an evenly contested first half Newtown had the best chance to break the deadlock when Luke Boundford lobbed a ball over the Rhyl defence for Jason Oswell to find himself one on one with Terry McCormick the Rhyl goalkeeper, his first shot was blocked by the keeper and rebounded straight back to him but with the goal gaping the young striker fired the ball into the arms of the grateful goalkeeper.
   

With just four minutes left of the half the Robins got careless in defence and gave the ball away to Rhyl which resulted in Derek Taylor hitting the back of the Newtown net with a deflected shot.
     With the sun setting casting long shadows over the newly laid 3G pitch and the floodlights flickering on around the ground the second half got on the way with no bright lights showing in the Newtown side who were now striking toward their home end with their fans egging them on totally dissing the poor linesmen and referee trying to fire some response into their team but ten minutes into the half the Robins woes were doubled when a long ball found Aaron Bowen on his own to flash the ball past a motionless David Jones in the Newport goal.
     Five minutes later the deficit should have been halved when Matthew Hearsey was tripped in the

visitors six yard box and the ref awarded a penalty.  McCormick to the annoyance of the home support employed the old delaying tac tic trying to intimidate Matty Owen the Newtown penalty taker and his antics paid off as Owen placed a poor penalty to the keeper's right who went the same way and pushed the ball wide of the post.
     It seemed as though the Lilywhites keeper was keeping a charmed goal as effort after effort failed to cross the Rhyl goal line especially when McCormick fumbled the ball and Hearsey pounced but saw his chance ricochet of the post.
     The home faithful were now predicting their first defeat of the season acknowledging that there was no way this keeper was going to be beaten until the 72nd minute when Owen swung the ball into the visitor's penalty area a flicked header saw the ball drop for Luke Boundford who swept the ball with his left foot into the net via deflection
     This gave a little hope to the home support but Rhyl hung on till the final whistle and achieved their first win of the season and issued Newtown with their first defeat.

 

    What a lovely, quiet and beautiful part of the world Newtown is as soon as you step off the train you just know that you're in Wales, what a fabulous country.  It's only a ten minute walk from the station to the ground which is set out of the way although amidst a couple of housing estates and backing on to a police station.  The people are friendly especially the stewards who went out of their way to make sure that my visit was a special one.

     Latham Park lies in a most picturesque setting as most of the Welsh Premier league grounds do.  If

you enter by the Park Lane gate entrance to the left running along the touchline starting at the near side is a single tier of around 200 blue and red seats that leads on to a turnstile block and then another row of single tiered seats with a TV gantry in it's roof that straggles the half way line, the last third of this side consists of a flat standing area backed by a hedge.  This side is known as the police station side as there is a police HQ situated at the back of it.

   

 On the other side of the pitch is the main stand side which has two stands  an old and a new.  Both hold about 400 people although the new stand looks a lot bigger and is fully covered, it's situated leading on to the Park Lane end with the old stand straggling the half way line and is not so well covered for the people nearest the pitch will get wet in bad weather.  Players descend from the top of the new stand from the changing rooms.  Further on from the old stand is the clubhouse and the club offices, the toilets to the clubhouse are small but adequate as the average gate is around 200 to 300.

     At the Park lane end there is a flat standing area with a car park and a housing estate to the rear this end is for away support but segregation doesn't seem to matter much as fans just settle where they please.  At the other end of the ground there are two flat standing areas with an open seating area in between behind the goal.  This end is called the Llanidloes Road end and has a beautiful welsh hillside land drop to it's rear.

                            MATCH DETAILS

VENUE #64 WYCOMBE WANDERERS Adams Park

SKY BET LEAGUE TWO

5th September 2015

Adams Park Stadium, High Wycombe

Ground Built:-  1990

Ground Capacity:-  10, 284

Kick Off:-  15:00

Entry Fee:-  £20

Programme:-  £3
                   
Ground # 64

WYCOMBE WANDERERS ... 2       HARTLEPOOL UTD ... 1

    Done the wrong thing today, while thinking of the hour and a half journey on the train I thought "I'll buy the Sun newspaper and do the sudoku's that will kill the time", but I got so engrossed with the Japanese puzzles that I lost track of where I was and what I was doing and so as I was finishing the third puzzle, (The Torture), just entering the last number I glanced up out of the window as the train was leaving the station and saw the sign High Wycombe and realised that I had missed my stop.  I ended up travelling to London Marylebone and catching the next train back to High Wycombe.  Arriving at the station at two minutes to three and with a 45 minute walk ahead of me as the ground is 2 and a half miles from the station I decided to jump into a taxi in the hope that I wouldn't miss too much of the first half.  Going through the industrial estate I saw the sign Adams Park at the very end of the road and so alighting the taxi minus a arm and a leg made my way to the ticket office to retrieve my pre-booked tickets and managed to get inside the ground for quarter past three, not too bad considering.

     These two sides have made a good start to the season with Wycombe in third place before kick off

and Hartlepool in sixth which is a sharp contrast to the season before when the Pools narrowly avoided dropping out of the football league and into the National league that was the conference.  Wycombe are continuing challenging for a top three place as they did last season when they were odds on favourites for automatic promotion but they only managed a play-off place finishing fourth and losing to Southend in the play-off final 7-6 on penalties.

     The game was already fifteen minutes gone when I took my seat in the main stand and looked

very lively, open with the ball rapidly travelling from end to end and I only had to wait eleven minutes for the first goal when a long ball played into the Hartlepool box for Michael Harriman to drill a first time shot inside the keepers nearside post.

     Just before half time and the scores were level when Carl Magnay played a one-two with Rakish

Wycombe celebrate second goal

Bingham and blasted the ball past Matt Ingham in the Wycombe goal from twelve yards.

     Eleven minutes inside the second half and it was two for Wycombe and Michael Harriman as a long ball was intercepted on the right and the QPR loanee looped a shot over Adam Bartlet in the Hartlepool goal into the far top corner of the net from eighteen yards.

     Hartlepool had obviously come to ruffle the Wycombe players feathers with some aggressive challenges and behaviour, the referee had a poor game and tended not to see a lot of what was going on on the pitch either intentionally or maybe he needs a trip to Specsavers but however he lost control of the game with his constant overlooking of incidents, the game was stopped at least a couple of times with players taking the law into their own

Fight breaks out after aggressive antics in goalmouth scramble 

hands and ending up in a brawl with half the players on the pitch getting involved.  In the 86th minute two Wycombe players were on the floor with the referee encouraging play to continue until the linesman brought it to his attention that Carl Magnay had decked Ryan Sellers, although initially he claims not to have seen the incident he red carded the Hartlepool goal scorer who abused Wycombe players verbally has he left the pitch.

     With the drum beating on the terraces encouraging the Wycombe fans to get behind their team the home players were quite happy with what they had got and tried to see out the game in the corners which brought more frustrated late challenges from the visitors and extended the injury time period but see it out they did and now Wycombe hold second place in the league two table.

        

     The Frank Adams stand is a two tiered fully covered affair which was built in the mid 90's.  It is a
much bigger stand than the other three with a capacity of 5,000 all seated fans and has a set of executive boxes situated between an upper and lower seating area.  The stand and ground are named after a former goalkeeper who donated to Wycombe their previous ground at Loakes Park.

   

 Opposite the Frank Adams stand is the main stand (Beachdean Stand) which has a raised seating area accessed by a small flight of stairs at the front.  It is single tiered and fully covered and has a large video screen in between it and the Dreams stand.  The stand is all seated with just under 1,300 seats and houses all main facilities such as food stalls, club shop and changing rooms.  Although the seated area is elevated the lower seats view is impeded by the dug outs for about a third of the near-side of the pitch.

     To the left of the Beachdean stand as you look toward the pitch is the Panache stand or Dreams stand as it was first named.  Originally a terrace when the ground opened in 1990 was converted into a stand six years later with just over a 2, 000 fully seated capacity.  Also fully covered the Panache is allocated to away supporters with a further 350 seats designated in the Beachdean stand if fan base requires.

   At the opposite end to the Panache stand is the Bucks New Uni Terrace AKA the Greene King IPA Terrace which is also fully covered and holds just under 2, 000 standing supporters.  The terrace exits at the same place as the main stand at the corner where the two meet and as you almost reach the gates there is a toilet which is very small but clean and modern, it was the only one I saw but I didn't get much chance to look around under the circumstances.


     Adams Park is a lovely looking, quite modern ground with very friendly and helpful staff.  The supporters are friendly and welcoming also and I must say that I've quite enjoyed my day out in Buckinghamshire apart from my blunder on the train coming that is.  My only real gripe is that I wish that the railway station was a lot closer to the ground.    

       

   
                                             MATCH DETAILS

VENUE #63 OLDHAM ATHLETIC The Sports Direct.Com Park

SKY BET LEAGUE ONE

Oldham Athletic ...1     Fleetwood Town ...0

Saturday 15th August 2015

@The Sports Direct.Com Park

Kick Off 15:00

BRIEF HISTORY
     Formed as Pine Villa in 1895 the club changed it's name and colours four years later, becoming Oldham Athletic and changing from red and white stripes with blue shorts and socks to a more familiar blue and white stripes with white shorts and blue socks.
      The club joined the football league's division two in 1907-08 season replacing Burslem Port Vale

View approaching from Boundary Park Road 

and worked their way up to the first division within three seasons.  In the 1914-15 season Oldham finished second in the table by one point behind Everton, this was the latics highest ever placing in the English football league.  War broke out and football was put on hold for five years and when it returned in the 1919-20 season Oldham found it hard with most of their squad retired or killed in the war and so the latics made a return to division two in 1923.
      Oldham then found themselves fluctuating between divisions two and three until the 1959-60 season when the then new fourth division was formed and the latics were relegated into it finishing in 23rd place and having to apply for re-election to the said league which they passed for the league decided to relegate Gateshead instead who had finished above Oldham.

View from Sheepfoot Lane

     The latics fortunes changed in the 60's and 70's since that close scare of non league football and arrived back in league two in the 1973-74 season under the management of Jimmy Frizzell.  Joe Royle ex Everton and England striker took over in 1982 and after nine years in charge brought Oldham back to the top flight of English football making them a founder member of the Premier league.
     Oldham made two Wembley appearances under Royle losing 1-0 in the 1990 league cup final to Nottingham Forest and drawing 1-1 in the 1994 FA cup Semi finals to Manchester United  United won the replay 4-1 at maine Road which demoralised Oldham who didn't win another game till the end of the season and saw them relegated back into division two (Now the Championship) on the last day.
     Athletic are now in league one which is the English third flight after being relegated in the 1996-97 season under Greame Sharp the ex Everton and Scotland striker, finishing in 15th place last season.

RUN UP TO THE GAME

     As I was travelling down to Exeter last weekend the latics visited my home town Walsall where a

Teams coming onto the pitch

late goal from Jonathan Forte who came off the bench to secure a share of the spoils equalising Ronaine Sawyers 8th minute goal for the Saddlers.  Darren Kelly makes three changes to his main eleven bringing in Connor Brown for Brian Wilson, Danny Philliskirk for Carl Winchester and Dominic Poleon for Rhys Turner up front.
     Fleetwood were at home to Southend to start their campaign this season and came away with the same result as the Latics, McManus putting Town ahead in the 33rd minute with David Worrall equalising from the bench for Southend with just six minutes of normal time remaining.  Graham Alexander has named an unchanged starting eleven for this match.  

THE MATCH

Oldham preparing to shake hands with opponents 

     This was a scrappy encounter for the opening league game of the season at the newly named Sports Direct.Com Park.  Both teams had chances early on in the first half with Fleetwood slightly edging it but their finishing can only be described as abysmal.  Players had nothing to blame for their wayward attempts on goal as the pitch looked immaculate and could be compared with the green baize of a billiards table  The only saving grace of the first half in fact of the whole match was the goal coming after 36 minutes when a long ball was flicked over the Fleetwood defence by Rhys Turner and Danny Philliskirk raced into the Town penalty area to smash home his second goal of the season.
     Lee Croft had a good chance soon after to double his sides advantage but again poor finishing saw

Two teams take part in usual pre match sporting gesture  

him squander it from close range.
     Fleetwood came out early to start the second half but their enthusiasm stopped there as the game carried on in the same vein as the first with neither side looking likely to add to the scoreline and when the referee blew for full time I think that everyone was relieved that it was finally over.  Not a good advert for British football at all and I can only hope that it doesn't get any worse than this on my travels this season.






THE SPORTS DIRECT.COM EXPERIENCE
   
     Wish I had looked deeper into my preparations for this trip as I could have saved some money and some energy cutting out a lot of the walking I had to do.  Mistake number one was taking a taxi from Piccadilly station to Victoria which cost me £8 when I could have taken the tram for £1.20.  I caught the train from Victoria station to Mills Hill which is the nearest train station to the ground but is a two and a half mile walk were as I could have taken the tram again from Picadilly to freehold which is only a twenty minute walk from the ground at a cost of  around £4 return.
     Boundary Park or the Sports Direct.Com Park as it's been renamed is a 10 and a half thousand

New stand still under construction

capacity all seated stadium built in 1906 which is under-going some much needed modernisation with a new stand being built on one side of the pitch, it looks quite impressive with what looks like executive boxes at the back of the blue plastic seating area that leads down to pitch side.  On the other side is the George Hill main stand which is two tiered and covered but only stretches about two thirds of the touch line evenly straddling the half way line with a business suite to the left (looking at the pitch), and some unused terracing at the other end.  There are supporting pillars which can restrict your view pending on where you are sitting, I was lucky and could see most of the main action areas. The seats are most uncomfortable and have very little leg room all are coloured blue in each stand with some white ones to spell out initials or names related to the club.  I had a shock when I visited the toilet on the way out of the ground for it was just one lavatory cubical for use by one person at a time, I'm glad I didn't get involved in the half time rush although there may be other toilets around I didn't move too far away from where I was sitting.
     At the business suite end of the main stand behind the goal is the Zen Office (Chaddy Road end)

Zen Office (Chaddy Road End)

which is an old structure with supporting pillars running across and houses the away support, the stand is covered and has around 16 hundred seats.  The opposite end is the Rochdale Road stand (Verlin Stand), which has been recently built and is a fair sized stand and fully covered.
     No club shop which was a big surprise they used to have one but closed it down, this is the first time I've come across this on my travels and , of course, I couldn't buy my usual souvenir scarf, managed to get a match programme inside the ground.
     I was told by people who had already visited Boundary Park to try the chicken balti pies which I did and must say that it was well worth the visit just for that reason although a mite expensive with one pie and a bottle of diet coke coming to £5.
     My ticket cost me £22 which is about right for league one football but I must say that although the ground is being modernised there are parts that are old and tired and need bringing up to date very soon.  Not the most memorable of trips but another ground ticked off the list and one in Greater Manchester at that.  Very tiring day, no problems getting there or back but could have made life a little easier and less expensive for myself.

                                                                    MATCH DETAILS

      

VENUE #62 EXETER CITY St. James Park

SKY BET LEAGUE TWO
Exeter City ... 3     Yeovil Town ... 2
Saturday 8th August 2015
@ St. James Park, Exeter
Kick Off 15:00

ORIGIN AND BRIEF HISTORY

     Exeter City were formed from two local teams, Exeter United and St Sidwell's United who played

Thatchers big bank stand from outside ground

each other in 1904 and at the end of the game decided to merge and go under the name of Exeter City.  They played their home games at St. James Park which was Exeter United's ground and City still play there today although it was just an open field back in those days.  To even the merge conditions a little City kept the St. Sidwell colours of green and white that is until 1910 when they changed to the familiar red and white stripes that we know today.

     City played their matches in the East Devon league switching to the Plymouth and district league after just one season where they remained for three seasons.  In 1908 they became members of the Southern league replacing none other than Tottenham Hotspur, they spent twelve years in this division when they where invited by the football league to become founder members of the Third Division.

Site that greets you as you emerge from railway station

     Exeter were to spend 83 years fluctuating between Divisions three and four never reaching the heights of the football leagues second tear and then in 2003 and in their centenary year disaster struck as City finished 23rd in Division four and were relegated to the Conference being the first team to be relegated in the bottom two after the league restructured their rules.
     The following season the club was taken over by the Exeter City Supporters Trust after two of their directors were convicted of fraudulent trading and leaving the club millions of pounds in debt.  The supporters trust managed to keep the club afloat until January 2005 when City were drawn away to Manchester United in the third round of the FA cup and astonishingly they managed a 0-0 draw bringing the Premiership giants back to St. James Park but lost the replay 2-0.  The revenue made from the two games was a great contributor to City clearing their debts by the end of the year.
     Exeter managed to return to the football league beating Cambridge United 1-0 in the 2008 play-off final at Wembley but are still bouncing up and down between the two lower divisions.  They are now in league Two finishing 10th last season.

RUN UP TO THE MATCH

      Exeter City are in a much healthier position at the start of this season than they were last.  City

Exeter warming up before kick off

took out a £100,000 loan from the Professional Footballers Association in June last year which placed them under a transfer embargo until the loan was paid back.  The sale of Matt Grimes to Swansea for a club record of £1.75 million in January has left manager Paul Tisdale with a much happier prospect for the start of 2015/16 season.  Tisdale has bought in Peterborough goalkeeper Bobby Olejnik, Brentford midfielder Manny Oleyeke and Cheltenham's defender Troy Brown without spending any of the clubs windfall from the sale of Grimes and promises that their will be more signings to come.  Leaving St. James's Park are long serving defenders Pat Baldwin and Scott Bennett as well as strikers Graham Cummins and Clinton Morrison.  Midfielder Liam Sercombe also says goodbye to his boyhood club after signing a two year deal with league two rivals Oxford United.
     After gaining promotion to the Sky Bet championship in the 2012/13 season Yeovil have been in

Yeovil preparing for start of the game

free fall finishing bottom of the league in the following two seasons.  Manager Paul Sturrock wielded the sword and releases 12 players from the squad at the end of last season including captain Joe Edwards with another 4 being told they were surplus to requirements.  This has made Sturrock a busy man in closed season trying to rebuild his team, he's so far brought in Matt Dolan from Bradford, Jack Compton from Hartlepool, Marc Laird from Tranmere, Ben Tozer from Northampton, Jordan Gibbons from QPR, Shaun Jeffers from Newport, Omar Sowumni from Ipswich, Ryan Bird from Cambridge, Wes Fogden from Portsmouth, Alex Lacey from Luton, Mark Beck from Carlisle and winger Iffy Allen from Barnet.  In fact only four players remain from the squad of the last game of last season, Nathan Smith, Stephen Arthurworry and the two goalkeepers Chris Wheale and Artur Krysiak.

THE MATCH

     The whole stadium applauded at two set times for the same player who was idolised at both clubs.  On seven minutes everyone clapped in appreciation for Adam Stansfield who tragically died from testicular cancer 5 years ago to the day on Monday 10th August.  He wore the number seven shirt for Yeovil between 2001-04 scoring 14 times in 55 games.  The applause rang out again after nine minutes the number of the shirt he wore for his final 4 years at Exeter city 2006-10 scoring 37 goals in 142 appearances.
   

Grecian the Lion waving to the croud

On the pitch the mood was a little subdued, maybe the occasion got to the players or maybe it was the weather for it had to be at least 26 degrees pitch side.  A voice behind me in the main stand rang out "It's got 0-0 written all over this game and you feared that his prediction would come true for the first half hour as both teams prodded away without much conviction but then on 31 minutes he was proved wrong when Alex Nichols was put through on goal in the Yeovil penalty area only to be held back by Yeovil new signing Connor Roberts.  Nichols despatched the spot kick himself sending Chris Weale in the Yeovil goal the wrong way.
     This seamed to inject some life into Exeter who went for the Yeovil jugular who looked stunned and unable to respond and four minutes before half time their troubles were doubled when David Wheeler beautifully controlled a well weighted ball from David Noble and slipped it passed the on coming Yeovil keeper who clattered the Exeter goal scorer leaving him riving in agony and needing treatment.
     2-0 at half time and most of the fans hadn't even made it back to their seats after the half time

St. James Park end filling up with away support

interval when Yeovil reduced the deficit with a well crafted goal from the kick off which saw Marc Laird turn sharply in the Exeter penalty area to curl the ball past the Grecian keeper.  Seven minutes later and they were level when substitute winger Harry Cornick was brought down in the Exeter penalty area by Christian Ribeiro, the referee awarded the penalty and Matt Dolan (no relation) stepped up to even up the tie.
     It looked as though a draw was inevitable especially when Wheeler's thunderous shot from twenty yards cannoned of Weale's right hand post and away from danger but with six minutes of normal time remaining substitute Will Hoskins chased a ball knocked over the Yeovil defence by Matt Oakley and coming face to face with the Yeovil keeper somehow managed to knock the ball over Chris Weale's head and into the back of the net stealing all three points for the Grecians.  Verdict: a fair result.  

THE ST. JAMES PARK EXPERIENCE

     What a glorious day to pick for a trip to the seaside.  Arriving early at Exeter St. David's I decided to catch the train to Exmouth and take in some sunshine and sea air as well as trying a regular portion of cod, battered chips and mushy peas from the local chippy Krispies and believe me they were well worth trying.
   

Scenic view from esplanade

I took a walk along the Esplanade or Exmouth's version of a promenade with some scenic views and the sun blazing away in an almost cloud free sky with the temperature around the 22 degree mark, I was seriously thinking about sitting outside a pub on the sea front and ditching the idea of the short train journey to St. James Park.  But like a true martyr to the cause I soon come round to my senses and headed for the game.  
     The ground has a capacity of nearly 9,000 of which 3,800 are seated.  On one side is the Grandstand which is the oldest part of the ground, it is all seated and fully covered but it only covers half of the pitch just straddling the half way line which leaves the other side toward the Thatchers Big  Bank end unused by spectators.
     The other side of the ground is the WTS stand (Main Stand) which was built in 2001 and is the newest and smartest part of the stadium, it is also all seated and fully covered and is where I watched the game.
     At the end to the right of the WTS stand as you look at the pitch is the fore-mentioned Thatchers

Cramped conditions outside club shop

Big bank terrace which is fully covered with a capacity of around 4,000 which makes it the largest terrace still in existence in the English football league.  At the opposite end is the St James Road terrace which is small and open and allocated to away support as is the part of the Grandstand that leads onto the terrace.
     My ticket cost me £25 which I think is dear for a league two game, I'm off to Oldham next week who are a league higher than Exeter and the price of the ticket is £3 cheaper.
     The ground is lovely although a little cramped in places especially outside where fans congregate outside the bar with the club shop just across the road and the turnstiles in close proximity.  It was a good turn out for this match just over five and a half thousand, well it was the opening game of the season and both clubs were determined to give a fitting tribute for Adam.
     Although there was a lot of drinking going on the fans intermingled and there was not even a glimmer of any trouble.  Both sets of fans were well behaved and very friendly, a credit to their clubs

                                                                     MATCH DETAILS.

VENUE #61 DUNFERMLINE ATHLETIC East End Park

SCOTTISH LEAGUE ONE

Dunfermline Athletic... 1    Forfar Athletic... 3

Saturday 25th April 2015

@ East End Park Stadium, Dunfermline

Kick Off 15:00

LOCAL HISTORY

      Alighting the train at Dunfermline's Town railway station I couldn't resist a stroll to Dunfermline Abbey, even though it was in the opposite direction to East End Park I felt a need to view and picture another one of Scotland's fine cultural buildings.  The Abbey has been part of Scottish religious history since the reign of King David I almost 900 years ago and the foundation is said to have been even earlier than that and dates to the reign of King Malcolm III (1058-93).

   

Abbey view from car park

It is the last resting place of one of Scotland's national hero's Robert the Bruce AKA King Robert I (1274-1329).  Bruce seized claim to the Scottish thrown after his father died in 1304 and after bloody conflict with fellow Scottish enemies and the English was crowned king of Scots on March 25th 1306.  He was defeated in battle by Edward I's army and driven into exile but returned a year later to gain revenge on the English in the battle at Loudoun Hill and wage a successful guerilla war campaign against the English and Scottish enemies to maintain Scotland's status of an independent nation.

     Robert the Bruce died in 1329 and his body was buried under

Front view of Abbey

the choir at the site of the old Abbey and re-interred under the pulpit  in the new abbey when the skeleton was discovered in 1800's.  The pulpit has since been moved back and a brass monumental plate inserted to locate the Royal volt.  Although his body rests in Dunfermline Abbey his heart belongs to Melrose as it was cut out, embalmed and interred at Melrose Abbey after being taken to the crusades in the Holy land by his friend and lieutenant Sir James Douglas.  Douglas only reached as far as Granada where he was slain in the siege of Teba and his body along with the heart of Robert the Bruce were transported back to Scotland.

 ORIGIN AND BRIEF HISTORY

     In 1874 Dunfermline cricket club decided to take up football as a means of keeping fit in the winter months but then after eleven years disputes raged within the club and the footballers split from their cricket roots and formed Dunfermline Athletic on the 2nd June 1885.  They were initially playing their home games at Ladysmill (McKane Park) but since the split switched to East End park which was just West of where the ground of the same name stands today.

     As you can see in the picture (right), their kit bears no resemblance in style or colour to one worn these days, in fact the kit worn by Forfar who were also formed in 1885 is more the colour of Dunfermline's current kit.
     The Pars, which is the nickname that Dunfermline are known by, played their first game eleven days after formation against Edinburgh University beating them 2-1 at East End park.  The club grew in stature and finally became a professional outfit at the turn of the twentieth century.
     Their most successful period came in the 1960's when under the managerial influence of the great Jock Stein they won the Scottish cup in 1961 beating Celtic 2-0 in a replay at Hampden Park after the first game finished 0-0.  Then in 1968 they repeated the feat whilst managed by George Farm when they beat Hearts 3-1 again at Hampden Park.
     This led to a UEFA cup winners cup appearance the following year when they were beaten semi- finalists against Slovan Bratislava losing 1-0 in Czechoslovakia after a 1-1 draw at East End Park.  The Czechs went on to win the trophy beating Barcelona 3-2 at the St Jacob Stadium in Basel.

RUN UP TO THE GAME

     Dunfermline travelled to Glebe Park home of Brechin City last Saturday and came away with a 3-0 defeat.  Things started to go wrong for the Pars in the 13th minute when Ross Millen their 20 year old defender was sent off for violent conduct, this is the second time Millen has seen red this season after being sent off against Stranraer at the end of August.  John Potter makes five changes from last weekend, out are Ryan Scully, Ross Millen (suspended), Gregory Buchanan, Ryan Thomson and Allan Smith.  Replacing them are Jamie Wilson in goal, Ryan Williamson, Declan O'Kane, Josh Falkingham and Faissal El Bakhtaoui.  Dunfermline lie seventh in the table safe from relegation but with no chance of a play off place.

View as you approach the ground from Sinclair island

     Forfar also played away last Saturday at Balmoor Stadium, Peterhead and lost 1-0 meaning that they switched places at the top once more with fellow automatic promotion contenders Stranraer.  Dick Campbell makes three changes Stuart Malcolm for Iain Campbell, Danny Denholm for Omar Kader and Stephen Husband for Derek Young.  The Sky Blues currently hold second spot with a great chance of automatic promotion but if the Loons were to loose today and Stranraer win their home game against Morton then they would have to settle for the play off's.

THE MATCH

     It looked a bit like Dunfermline were an experimental side inexperienced and thrown together.  Their naivety at the back especially from their young goalkeeper cost them the first goal in the eighth minute when a free kick from thirty yards out taken by Martin Fotheringham was curled inside the keepers near side post with the keeper near the back post watching for in coming opponents.
    

Forfar defend a free kick during first half

Eleven minutes later and it was 2-0 when a ball played over the Pars defence which were all in Forfar's half of the pitch left Chris Templeman all on his own running on goal, by the time he rounded the keeper the defence had caught up with him but he calmly beat one defender and tucked the ball past Wilson who was trying to re position himself.
     In the thirty sixth minute Forfar had put the game beyond Dunfermline with a third, Templeman was about to tee himself up for a shot at goal when he was pushed in the back and over by Finn Graham and the referee had no hesitation and pointed to the penalty spot.  Dale Hilson stepped up and finished with aplomb.
     From what I saw in the first half I knew that this result was sealed but it was a matter of how Forfar would play out the game, would they carry on and take the game to Dunfermline further or would they just try to contain what they had and if I were a betting man then I would have won for I had a feeling that it would be the latter.  The Pars came in to the game and pushed for goals with their talented young striker Faissal El Bakhtaoui leading the way.  He came close to scoring half way through the second spell with a volley that was hit into the ground which brought a fine reflex save out of Rob Douglas in the Forfar goal.  But Douglas had no chance in the 77th minute when Bakhtaoui jinked his way into the opposition penalty area and curled a left foot shot into the far corner of the net.
     A disappointing ending to Dunfermline's home fixture list for the season but at least they'll live to fight another year in league one but they will have to improve vastly if they want to avoid relegation next season.

THE EAST END PARK EXPERIENCE

     The weather forecast predicted rain for today and so we had quite a nice sunny day with just a few drops of rain.  Dunfermline is a quaint little town steeped in it's nations history with the abbey on the hill and a host of past Scottish kings buried within and around it.  The football ground carries on the theme of quaintness although it is looking rather tired and in need of a little tarting up, TLC.  I got quite a shock when I went round the back of the north stand and saw the cemetery, I posted a picture of it on Facebook and commented that I hope it wasn't reserved for the away fans.
     East End Park is a 12,500 all seated Stadium built in 1885 but vastly improved in later years

You can see the graveyard at the back of the North stand

especially toward the end of the twentieth century.  The main (South) stand is two tiered and fully covered and runs down the side of the pitch as does the North stand which is a small single tiered stand and also fully covered.  At the two ends are the Norrie McCathie and the East stand which are very similar, they are both one tiered, fully covered and very steep looking stands.
     I watched the game from the South stand up with the Gods in row Z or S as it's known at East End Park.  I had to ask the steward where row S was for I couldn't find it and he was baffled too and showed me to a seat with the right number, 113, but with a heading of row R but still it didn't matter as there was no one within thirty feet of me anyway and so I could have sat anywhere.  In fact I did change seats as there was a big cooling fan behind me blowing cold air and it was bloody freezing.
    

Welcoming plaque at corner of main stand

The seats were quite comfortable and roomy, well it would be with no one sitting next to you and the toilets were clean and modern with blue and white patterned tiles on the walls, very nice.
     The crowd atmosphere was wonderful in the away end but in the home section, well, I can only liken it to the neighbours behind the North stand.  I did find it hard when they booed and jeered their team off the pitch at half time.
     The cafeteria is basic but the drinks are wet and the hot ones are so hot they take the roof of your mouth off and I don't recommend the sausage rolls for they are small, hard and at £2 a piece very unappetizing.
     It cost me £17 for my seat the view was good apart from a great big girder beam that obscured my sight of the centre circle but it wasn't too bad, it could have been a lot worse like at Luton.

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VENUE #60 LEICESTER CITY The King Power Stadium

BARCLAYS PREMIER

Leicester City... 2     Swansea City... 0

Saturday 18th April 2015

@ The King Power Stadium, Leicester

Kick off 15:00

LOCAL HISTORY

     You may of read or heard the story of the King of England who was found buried under a car park in Leicester in August 2012.  King Richard the III the last of the Plantagenet dynasty was found by archaeologists excavating the ruins of the Grey Friars Church where it was believed he was buried after being killed at the battle of Bosworth field in 1485.

Leicester Cathedral new resting place of Richard III

     Richard had only been crowned King two years earlier when his late brother's son the twelve year old Edward V who was to be proclaimed King was found to be illegitimate and were imprisoned in the Tower of London with his brother Richard of Shrewsbury as his claim to the throne was now deemed to be invalid.  In the light of this Richard III was crowned on the 6th July 1483 and the Princes in the Tower were never seen again allegedly killed at the orders of the new King.
     Richard the III was portrayed in a play written by William Shakespear and one of the most famous lines supposedly spoken by the evil hunched-backed King was "A horse, a horse, my Kingdom for a horse", ironic really that he should be found buried under a car park that when full would have held a massive amount of horse power, you could say he got his wish.
   

Statue of Richard III erected outside Cathedral

 He was re-buried  at Leicester Cathedral at the end of last month after protests that he should have been re-interred at York in accordance to his wishes.

ORIGIN AND BRIEF HISTORY

     Leicester were formed under the name of Leicester Fosse in 1884 and became known as Leicester City after the first world war when Fosse went into financial difficulties and the town of Leicester was given City status.
     Their highest finish in the top tier was in the 1928/29 season when they were runners up to the team known as Sheffield Wednesday these days.
     They have won the second tier of English football on a number of occasions the most recent being last season but their return to the top flight may be short lived as they are currently bottom of the league and expected to return to the Championship.
     City have a number of players in the English hall of fame member list,
     Arthur Rowley who played for Leicester between 1950 -58 and scored 251 goals in 303 appearances.  He also holds the record for scoring the most goals in one season, 44 in 42 league matches in the 1956/7 season.
     Gordon Banks who was named the IFFHS second best goalkeeper of the 20th century.  He earned 73 caps for his country including every game of the 1966 World cup glory and who can forget that fantastic save he made from Pele in the 1970 World Cup.  Banks played for Leicester between 1959 and 1967 when he was sold to Stoke City for £50,000.
     Peter Shilton another goalkeeper but this time one who came through the local ranks at schoolboy level and made his début in 1966 for the Foxes and eventually forcing the exit of Gordon Banks from the club when he was sold to Stoke City.  Shilton earned a record 125 caps for his country and also holds the record for most competitive appearances.
     Gary Lineker is another youth product from Leicester starting in the main team in 1978 at the age of 17 and scoring 95 goals in a seven year spell.  He moved to Everton in 1985 for a season scoring 30 goals in 41 appearances moving on to Barcelona for a three season spell netting 42 times in 105 games.  Lineker made 103 appearances for Tottenham between 1989/92 scoring 67 goals before ending up at Nagoya Grampus Eight to finish his footballing career.  He currently holds England's second highest scoring record of 48 goals behind Bobby Charlton on 49 but has Wayne Rooney in hot pursuit with 47 goals at the time of writing.

RUN UP TO GAME

     Last Saturday Leicester travelled the short distance to West Bromwich on a special day for their hosts.  Albion wore a replica kit from the 1968 cup final to commemorate one of their great players Jeff Astle but after leading the game 2-1 with ten minutes remaining let it slip and aloud Leicester a much needed win with an injury time winner from Jamie Vardy.  Nigel Pearson makes three changes for today's game Marcin Wasilewski the Polish defender who signed a contract in September after joining Leicester on a freebe takes the place of Ritchie De Laet who sits it out on the bench, Andy King replaces Matty James who's also on the bench and Andrej Kamaric the Croatian international takes the place of David Nugent who got injured in the warm up to today's game.
     Swansea were at home at the Liberty Stadium last weekend and came back from a goal behind to earn a 1-1 draw with Everton.  Gary Monk makes two forced changes from that game, the 23 year old Spanish national Jordi Amat steps in for the suspended Neil Taylor who picked up his tenth yellow card of the season against Everton and received a two match ban starting today.  Bafetimbi Gomis pulled up with a hamstring injury in the same game and is out for at least four weeks and is replaced today with Nelson Oliveira the Portuguese striker brought in on loan from Benfica after the departure of Wilfried Bony.

THE MATCH

     Leicester came out of the traps with gusto from the starting whistle and hustled Swansea who seemed startled at the way the Premiership relegation favourites intimidated them into making mistakes, you would have thought that these two teams had swapped positions in the league as Leicester looked the far better team and it wasn't long before they took the lead.  A long ball was played into the box and Wes Morgan held off his marker to allow Leonardo Ulloa to smash the ball into Fabianski's right hand corner of the net.

Players prepare to shake hands before kick off

     Leicester should have extended their lead before the break but couldn't capitalise on a dazed looking Swansea who looked lacking in the final third without preferred front man Gomis.
     After the break Leicester kept up their domination with fine chances from Albrighton and Kamarik which came to nothing.
     At the other end Swansea started to come into the game a little bringing some fine saves from Kasper Schmeichel which would have made his Dad a proud man thinking he was a real chip off the old block.
     Nerves were jangling amongst the Leicester City faithful as the Foxes pushed forward and squandered some great opportunities, they just couldn't seem to kill off this Swansea side a scene that the fans have have had to tolerate too many times this season with dire consequences.
     A penalty appeal was turned down by referee Lee Probert when Jamie Vardy was clean through on goal and was clattered from behind by Ashley Williams, it seemed to be a stalwart, blatant penalty and everyone in the colours of blue and white could only wonder why the appeals went upon deaf ears.
     The tension was quelled in the last minute when a powerful free kick from Esteban Cambiasso was fumbled by Fabianski into the path of Andy King who side footed the ball into the back of the net and sent the home fans wild and very happy as they made their way home.

THE KING POWER STADIUM EXPERIENCE

     Another beautiful sunny afternoon to watch football on although it was still a little chilly especially in the shade of the King Power Stadium stands.  I was glad that I took my coat but only wished that I had put a jumper on underneath it.
     I travelled by train again with no disruptions to the journey for the second time running which is a most welcome relief.  It is a 25 minute walk at a steady pace from the station to the ground with lots of busy roads to cross.  I passed the Leicester Tigers ground on the way, shame they are a rugby club and I can't cross them off my Venues To Visit list.
   

The Family stand

The crowd were absolutely electric and generated a lot of noise almost for the whole ninety minutes.  It was reminiscent of the Luton game last season when they where on the brink of returning to the football league and the fans were in a mood to party unlike Leicester who have been in the bottom three for most of the season and looking like candidates for a quick return to the Championship, mind you, after winning today they are now off the bottom and in 18th place on level points with Hull with a great possibility of regaining their top flight place next season.
     The King Power stadium is a 32,500 all seated, fully covered and totally enclosed ground that was almost filled to capacity today and for a club that was bottom of the league at the start of the game that's speaks volumes for their supporters.  Built in 2002 to replace their former home for the previous 111 years Filbert street, in almost the same location.

The Spion Kop end

     The East stand and the West stand run along the touch lines with the Spion Kop and the Family stand at each end behind the goals.  The away supporters are allocated a corner in between the family stand and the East stand but is stretched further into the East stand if the away following is great.  I watched the game from the West stand almost in the corner level with the goal line, the view wasn't brilliant but at a cost of £32 was adequate for my purposes, I could have had a seat in the East stand with a marvellous view but at £48 it was well over what I was willing to pay for a game of this calibre.  The cheapest seats were at the other end of the West stand at pitch level and were £26 but it would have been virtually impossible to take in the majority of the game from this vantage point.
     I have to mention that the seats were quite comfortable with adequate leg room but could have done with being a little wider as it did seem to get quite cramped after sitting there a while.  The toilets were modern and clean which is a big plus in my book.
     If you asked me if I thought I had value for money then I must say that I think I paid a little over the odds, between £25 and £28 especially for where I was sitting would have been a reasonable price.

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