Game Twenty Six - Rotherham away (JP Trophy quarter final)

4th November 2008

Having already disposed of Hartlepool and Lincoln, we now faced League Two side Rotherham in the area quarter finals of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy. Now this competition has split the Leicester fans in half. Some see it as a useless waste of time and an un-neccessary distraction from the league, whereas others see it as a chance of a day out at Wembley and a bit of glory in a darker period in our history. Me? I'm of the latter breed having never seen us in action at the national stadium despite all the times we played their in the 90s. This was the only realistic chance of us making it there at the moment and so I wanted to clutch onto it with both hands.

After knocking off work slightly early, I made the short walk to the train station in order to head up to Sheffield where Rotherham are temporarily based at the Don Valley Stadium. The train was the perfect opportunity to relax and get a bit of sleep in what was to be a hectic two days of football action.

I'd agreed to meet Tash and Foz at sheffield train station and my train got in just as they arrived to meet me and we headed off to Sheffield Hallam student union for a quick drink and random chat before it was time to leave for the stadium.

The "SuperTram" would be our transport for the night but whoever named it super was clearly having an off day in the intelligence department. Nothing super about it as trams seemed to be travelling back and forth without any heading in our destination... didn't help that Foz had us on the wrong platform at one point though but we finally found the right one as the drizzle started.


With only small clues as to where we were going, we made the decision to follow the guy in the Rotherham hat as we assumed that he would be heading to the ground.... until he get off before everyone else leaving us confused.... there he goes....

Finally made it into the ground with about five minutes to kick off and found Katy who had been waiting for me in our seats. She was clearly so thrilled to see me!!

The Don Valley stadium is another strange one and one not made for football. Originally designed for athletics, the stadium is a 25,000 seater one which leads to a strange atmosphere with the 3/4000 fans that occupy it for Rotherham United games. Whilst most of the stadium is open to the elements, the area that we were in for the first half was covered and offered a fair bit of shelter.

Now I've seen some poor games in my time and this one was right up there. City didn't look interested in the slightest at making any further progress in the competition. Having already disposed of Leeds, Wolves and Southampton in cup competitions this season, Rotherham played with no fear and looked far more dangerous than us in all departments of the pitch with our only threat of the first half coming from a couple of Barry Hayles efforts.

It was left to me and Katy to create our own entertainment in the stands and the man in front of us timing the game with his stop-watch had us chuckling to ourselves.... well until Rotherham took the lead in first half injury time. A deep cross found the defence asleep and it was left for Broughton to smash the ball past a helpless Henderson.

Half time fun taking random photos was had with Titch and we then made our way down to near the front of the open stand to join the rest of the FoxesTalk lot for a bit of banter for the second half. For a midweek game there was a fair few of us who had made our way up north and so the focus was taken away from the game in parts as it was good to all be together standing in a group.

In the mean time, Rotherham added a second goal while once more, City offered little in the final third apart from a long range Oakley effort that nearly squeezed into the net. In fact until the final 5 minutes, we never looked like getting back into the game and then they finally woke up. Howard and Ashley Chambers should have both done better when it great positions and then with the clock ticking down, we were awarded a penalty (which was ironically celebrated as if we'd won the world cup to keep us amused)

and a slim chance of making a comeback....

.... but Fryatt saw his penalty saved to cap a woeful performace from the Foxes. Another chance deep into stoppage time was cleared off the line, and a goal mouth scramble was somehow cleared to send us on our way out of the competition.

Me and Katy then met up with Scoweh, Shrek, Tash and Foz and we made the long walk around the stadium to the exits before I said my goodbyes to Tash and Foz and we set off for the car park. Lift home? Yes then! (to steal a phrase once more!).

A very drunk Shrek made it an interesting journey home as he was desperate for KFC and insisted on calling everyone in his contacts list telling them how rubbish LCFC are. After a quick stop for food, we were off back to the land of Leicestershire where Katy, bless her heart, spent time dropping us all back home adding plenty of time on to her own journey. Very much appreciated though and we had a lovely sing song on the last leg of the journey after dropping the other two off. Kaiser Chiefs ("I want crisps") and the Kooks ("In all situuuuuuaaaaaaaations") made sure that the giggles didn't stop until we were back in sunny Syston complete with near empty petrol tank after her major day of travel.

A quick chat and reflection on the day and a photo for the blog and she was on her way on her long journey back home. Ta love! Major wubbage for the lift!

So that's another competition that is no more for us. Our main realistic chance of reaching a Wembley final this year is out the window and whilst it would have been fun to have continued the adventure, I found myself not all that disappointed to be out. The night itself was such a good laugh that it really took the edge off what would normally have been a bitterly disappointing result. Now don't get me wrong, it was a hideous performance, and a farce that the team put in a display like that in front of 1,500 travelling fans but at the end of the day, we need to start focussing our attention on the league. We're starting to look tired and these extra games could be the difference between success and failure in league one. Im not looking to make excuses for our recent performances but fatigue is clearly setting in... amongst me as well as the players and if it came to a trophy and another year of league one, or promotion, it really is no contest.

Good luck to Rotherham though - they played some neat football and thoroughly deserved their win. Let's just hope we lost to the eventual winners!! Next stop on the football tour.... another random game. This time, my Champions League debut.... Arsenal v Fenerbahce!!