Game Forty Eight - Brighton home

27th January 2009

Brighton away... it's where our incredible unbeaten league run started. How ironic if it was to be them that were to end it 3 months later on a similar cold night to when we visited the Withdean back at the end of October. A lot has happened in such a short space of time both around the club in general and out on the pitch. Many of us look back to that night as the moment that kick started our season. Blowing a two goal lead proved that we were not the untouchables that we imagined ourselves to be and woke us up to the realisation that there was a lot of fight in the teams from league one. It was just what we needed!

I left work at normal time for the game, not in the mood to stay any later than needed and headed into the city centre to get food and to visit the bookies for a cheeky bet. Met up with Jimmy in town and we made the walk to the Walkers in the rain. I had to return my coach ticket for saturday so headed into the ticket office and bumped into the two Joes. Also ended up having a quick chat with bald Jim who took great pleasure in pointing out that I was in the programme for the game.... Oh joy!! I think this is actually the only crowd picture from Yeovil that doesn't feature Lil' Dave in some way - the media whore!

After the fun in the ticket office, we headed into the 1884 bar to chill out for a bit before kick off where we soon ran into Helen and Jobber who seemed to have a similar idea. With 25 minutes to go, I headed round to the turnstiles to meet up with Katy ahead of the game instead of at half time. We had a good laugh at the awful photos and randomly chatted before heading up to meet the old man and enjoy what would hopefully be as entertaining a game as Saturdays.... I was wrong. Brace yourself for possibly the shortest match report so far....

The main thing to recall from the game was that Brighton were wearing leicester's away kit due to a kit clash with the one they had brought with them. That was about as exciting as things got!

The first real chance was a defleceted effort by Andy Kind midway through the first half which looped up and hit the crossbar. The rebound falling to Matty Fryatt who headed it straight at the keeper with the goal at his mercy! A brilliant chance wasted.... and that's the first half report done. It really was as poor as that!!

In the second half, Dickov tested the keeper with a diving header but that was his only real contribution of the game - he's a shadow of the player who played for us in his previous spell at the club. All the buzz about him returning here has long gone and he's no longer cheered onto the pitch like a hero.

Brighton closest efforts came from some good crosses that no one managed to get on the end of.... and King scraped the post with another deflected effort.... and thats the second half done.

Awful game and not deserving of any more of my time in all truth - Brighton came here with a game plan to not get beating and they succeeded thanks to a lack of ideas up front from us and their insistance on playing with many men behind the ball. We can't complain though as it's a tactic that we have used ourselves in the past and we always knew that teams would try that when they came to the Walkers this season. Hard to believe that Brighton have taken four points off of us this season! I just hope that we get slightly more entertainment in the game next Saturday against Northampton - a game that I should be looking forward to but for some reason is feeling rather flat at the moment. I just hope that that feeling changes come kick off.... at least it will be a new ground for game 49 of the season!

Game Forty Seven - Huddersfield Town home

24 January 2009

It seems almost a lifetime ago that we headed up north to see our side take on Huddersfield back in October. So much has happened and yet the same outcome would be there at the final whistle... no matter what the score, we would be top of the league come 5pm.

Headed down to the walkers a bit earlier than normal to meet up with Jodie and to get a copy of the Yeovil game on dvd from Joe - very much appreciated Mr Baker! After collecting that, we headed back round the front of the stadium and bumped into the only and only Tunchev. He clearly didn't seem to understand a word I said to him but took the opportunity to get a quick photo with the man mountain.

Headed further round towards the away turnstiles and bumped into the Cator's and Jobber just as some more Huddersfield fans arrived.... The police were clearly keen to make an early impression and several arrests appeared to be made for what looked like nothing before they even reached the turnstiles. A quick chat there and I headed off to meet my old man who was waiting in the usual seats.... I wonder if he had a shower that day as no one seemed keen to sit close.

The 3000 or so Huddersfield fans were in good voice and creating a decent atmosphere at the far end of the ground and with both teams on form, there was the potential for a cracking match. The visitors were clearly up for it and could have scored three inside the first 5 minutes as defending that can only be described as an embarrassment presented Huddersfield with some terrific chances that were wasted - Roberts in particular heading wide with the goal at his mercy.

It wasn't long though before the travelling fans were in raptures as they saw their side take the lead. A corner was swung into the box and attempted clearances by Gilbert and Howard didn't even clear the area and an acrobatic overhead kick from Phil Jevons found the top corner of the net. Great finish.

From then on the competitive edge to the game was clear to see as the tackles flying in thick and fast with the referee never fully looking in control as he dished out cards like it was christmas. There was no consistency at all in his performance and neither set of fans were pleased with him come the final whistle.

Back to the action though and Huddersfield continued to be on top - stopping us from playing our normal passing game and keeping us pegged back inside our own half. On 11 minutes though and against the run of play, we found ourselves level. A deep free kick from Oakley was fired into the box, a hashed clearance fell to Berner whose mishit shot was turned in from close range by Michael Morrison for his first goal for the club.

It was Huddersfield who looked like increasing the scoring when some good work down the right in what was a classic battle between ex Leicester player Danny Cadamateri and Bruno Berner, resulted in the ball being pulled back for Keigan Parker only for David Martin to produce a stunning save at his near post.

Minutes later, and Martin had to be alert again to save a 30 yard pile driver thrown his way when no one closed the Town player down. It was all Huddersfield at this point and we were more than relieved to get to half time on level terms knowing full well that this was the best side to have come to the Walkers so far this season.

Headed down to the concourse in the 15 minute break to see Katy and sort out the Walsall tickets and the like, and then we were back in our respective seats for the start of the second half.... none of us prepared for what was to come...

In the 52nd minute, Huddersfield reclaimed their lead. As with the other two goals, a set piece wasn't cleared when the chance came and the ball fell to Parker on the edge of the area who curled a beauty of an effort into the top corner. Great finish but not what we needed. They then took time to toy with us, playing keep ball and restricting us from creating anything on our own patch - it was at this point that I turned to my dad and we both said we were getting nothing from this game!

Within seconds of this, a long free kick was put into the box, Howard flicked it on and Berner looped a header over the keeper to make it 2-2. So much for defending - this game had none of it!

Two minutes later and we should have had the lead in what was a manic turnaround. Yet another cross was swung in which the keeper failed to claim and King just failed to squeeze his shot past the defenders on the line.

The visitors were clearly rattled at this point and a quick free kick released Dyer down the left. His pull back was fired goalwards by Howard only for Fryatt to somehow bundle it home with the defence claiming the use of an arm was involved.... who cares though? The net was rippling and within the space of minutes, we'd gone from being a beaten side to the team in the driving seat!

This five minute onslaught rattled Huddersfield and they were starting to lose the will to battle. Mistakes started to be made and they looked a shadow of the side that had battered us for the first 55 minutes. Howard forced a good save from the keeper who followed that up by nearly scoring an own goal when he mis-controlled a routine back pass.

It was clear that there were more goals to come though and with just the one goal advantage, we were not even close to safely taking the three points... but in the 73rd minute, we took one step closer. Another set piece, this time Oakleys corner, was again won in the air by Howard who headed the ball back across goal for Hobbs to head in for his first goal. It was great to see the return of a goal that had served us so well in the Martin O'Neill days with Taggart and Elliott combining in such a fashion.

And with that goal, we pretty much just saw the game out. Neither looking like conceeding or keen to add to the lead any further. To make matters worse for Huddersfield, they finished the game with ten men as Roberts was dismissed for two offences in the space of 30 seconds. First a yellow for kicking the ball away followed by a red for foul and abusive language towards the referee (although to be fair everyone in the stadium was guilty of that on Saturday!) His red card signalled the time for many others to leave too... I wonder if they were Town fans who had snuck into the home end....

As the final whistle blew, I made a quick escape to get to the train station to make my way to Nottingham again as is fast becoming the tradition of 2009 home games. Bumped into Jimmy outside the ground and we walked that way together analysing the game and praising Huddersfield's brilliance for the majority of the game. Two games we've had with them now and come out 7-4 winners on aggregate... shame we can't play each other every week with scores like that.

It's hard to imagine anyone catching us at the top now, especially if we win our next home game on Tuesday night against Brighton and Hove Albion at the Walkers.... the return of Micky Adams and it will be interesting to see if we get the traditional 1-0 defeat when we come up against sides like this. One thing is for sure, after they turned us over 3-2 back in October, we owe them one!

Game Forty Six - Yeovil away

19 January 2008

One of the most eagerly anticipated games in the calendar is finally upon us and thanks to the morons at Sky TV, we're having to make the long trip down south to Yeovil on a monday night instead of the traditional saturday afternoon. Open terraces are not a common thing in league football now so there's always a buzz when we're unleashed upon them and we wern't going to let common sense rule and sit down in front of the TV becomming armchair fans.

After a rather busy morning at work, I left at lunch to head to the Walkers to meet up with Jodie and collect our tickets to Northampton and Walsall (the former being like gold dust so I was rather relieved to get my hands on mine!) and then onto the coaches with a random traveller - Joe B.
As is tradition at fox travel, we left 15 minutes later than planned but were soon underway and in good spirits on the coaches with some good banter between Jim and the other folk - 20p ponchos on sale brought many jokes especially when Jim went on the mic declaring that the price had now gone up to £5 each as the rain had just started.

After a couple of hours on the road and a broken Joe B I-pod later and we made our usual stop off on the way to get something to eat and stretch our legs. Bumped into Katy and some others at the services and she set the tone for the day with her camera in hand, taking photos of anything and everything that moved.

45 minutes, and a KFC later and we were back on our way, travelling further and further south passing along a road with Wales on one side and England on the other! Lots of laughs and jokes on the journey which you probably had to be there to understand but Jodies fear of cameras was one, and her asking where we were every five minutes and getting stupid answers in return. Classic.

We arrived in Yeovil at about 6 and met up with Katy and co off the coaches and set about looking for the nearest pub.... easier said than done as all the locals insisted on pointing us in different directions. A call to 118 and google maps on Carl's phone and we were soon sitting in the warmth counting down the minutes.



Me, Katy, Carl, Lisa, Joe and Jodie didn't stay too long though as we headed back towards the ground to meet up with C-Man to give him his ticket and some of the other Foxestalk lot.

I don't envy the presenters of Sky having to stay in this hastily built studio though.... serves them right for messing up our weekend plans though!

The away end was the third time this season that we'd been left without a roof and with the night air full of rain it seemed inevitable that our luck wouldn't hold out this time and we'd feel the full effects of the elements. Apart from the quirk of that away stand, the stadium at Huish Park is pretty much like any other in this league and bares quite a resemblance to that of Colchester's new one at the Cuckoo Farm. At least it was another one to tick off the list though and hopefully one that we won't have to visit many times in our future unless Yeovil turn into a team capable of competing in the higher levels.

Inside the ground we met up with a huge collection of Foxestalk regulars including the elusive Jamie who insisted on standing for the game without a coat on - madness. C-man in fact was the complete opposite and insisted on spending the whole match with his hood up in case he was spotted on TV when he should have been at Uni studying for an exam the next day - now that is hardcore and earns massive respect!! Even Daggers and Hullfox could be seen wandering around - it really was an impressive turnout.

Yeovil also appear to take the award for worst mascot so far in league one if not the entire football league with this ridiculous thing.... and don't get me started on the giant cigarette!

As kick off approached, we were all enjoying a good laugh and Katy was enjoying taking photos of the night - this one I've stolen of a few of us gathered together... Jodie's hair on the left after running off scared of the camera, me, Andy (SUAS), JoeB at the back, Lil' Dave at the front (reading my stolen programme!) and Mikey on the right. The Ivory Coast scarf proudly on display which was apparentley spotted on sky by people watching at him and insulted by Jim on the coach down - not impressed Mr Donnelly!

The teams emerged from the tunnel but we were having such a laugh on the terraces that its fair to say that the thought of a game going on was playing second fiddle - it was great just be together as a massive group having fun. It's nights like this that are truly memorable as a football fans and you knew it would be a good night regardless of the result.

With city attacking the goal furtherst away from us, our view was very limited what with being low down. We weren't going to miss Matt Oakley's miss then - his second open goal miss in two games as the keeper palmed out a Fryatt shot into his path only to hit the shot high and wide. A few minutes later, Lloyd Dyer came close to opening the scoring but screwed his volley into the side netting when it could be argued that he had time to control the ball and placing his shot rather than simply lashing at it. Mark Davies then nearly grabbed his second goal for the foxes with a simply brilliant run. Picking the ball up inside his own half with nowhere to go, he put his head down and charged through the defence like Moses parting the red sea. They had no answer to his pace and quick feet and only a good save from the keeper kept him out.

Meanwhile in the terraces......

.... Fez and the famous foxestalk flag were unleashed on the fans and Katy took the opportunity to wrap up in the massive thing creating the image of being the Virgin Mary... nice try but no ones buying that one!

Midway through the first half, Howard had a header hit the top of the bar as his ridiculous bad luck in front of goal continued - no one can have had as many disallowed goals or hit the woodwork as much as he has. Yeovil meanwhile offered nothing at all - the closest they came was a wayward volley which flew wildly over the bar.

At half time we all regrouped and took stock of things.... except for Lil Dave who insisted on trying to steal my scarf like a man possessed. Sorry... did I just say man? I mean boy!

Obi-Wan C-man was still under his hood and the jokes were still running thick and fast as the players emerged back for the second half - all we needed was for three points and then this had the potential to be one of THE classic away games.

Katy "The Camera girl" was still being snap happy and with her Princess Leia style ear muffs, she barely moved from this pose throughout the night.

City started the second half quite brightly and forced a few corners which resulted from nothing other than heading practice for the defence.

Ironically though, it was from one such corner that the breakthrough came. A corner was headed out but came straight back at the defence.... some great play by Howard and Davies down the left resulted in the ball being pulled back to Big Steve who crashed a low shot into the corner with the aid of a couple of deflections. Now this is where terraces come into their elements - bodies everywhere as we all dived around like maniacs jumping on each other in celebration. Arms flying smacked into faces and we all piled in together in one massive pile - painful but brilliant!! Bring back the terracing if we can do that when we score!

Happy times!! City nearly doubled the lead not long later when Oakley's free kick was headed just wide by Matty Fryatt who is actually due a goal after his incredible run earlier in the season.

Me and Katy took our random picture of the Yeovil game - doing Chandler's sex face from friends.... random but that pretty much sums up the entire night. Standing on terraces in Yeovil on a monday night? If that's not random then nothing is!!

Tom Cleverley came on for his City debut with not long remaining and had a hand in making sure the game was beyond doubt. He squared the ball to fellow substitue Joe Mattock who bamboozled his defender before curling his shot right footed past the keeper - a great goal resulting in mass celebrations once more. No smack in the face this time but got a dead leg somehow - worth it though!

And then came out moment of fame. As the clock ticked down, we got the flag out propally and held it aloft in the wind while dancing underneath. Sky picked up on this and showed us on screen for about 6 seconds bouncing away which was spotted by everyone back home - brilliant!

That wasn't the end of our night of fame though as when the final whistle sounded, the legend that is Jimmy Bullard was on hand to take pictures of us celebrating by the pitch which soon appeared on the official site. Not a great picture but the thought was there Jimmy!

A great night and the Leicester faithful were in great voice standing long after the players had left the pitch. Truly was a night for the hardcore Leicester fans and I'm so glad that it was as that made it even more special. With it being on sky, it would have been so easy to have stayed at home or gone to the pub, but we'd done the hard thing and travelled over 400 miles to be there and experience what was a truly amazing night as a Leicester fan.

And with that we headed away from the stadium and back towards the coaches for the long journey back to Leicester. There was a real buzz on the coach and no one could wipe the smiles off of our faces. The journey home was too much for some people though and it wasn't long before Joe B was sound asleep - face down on the seat in front! Good work that man!!

It had truly been one of those nights that you could say "yes - i was there." Another success story in what is a truly amazing season to be a Leicester fan. It seems like the away games are just getting better and better all the time and we're yet to have a bad one. From Hartlepool to Brighton, Carlisle to Yeovil, each game has left us with our hearts filled with the magic of being a football fan and memories that will last a lifetime. Leagues may change, players may come and go, but nothing can take away the friends that I have made through football - each one special in their own unique way... the same with all the memories too. With nights like this, and things happening in my personal life, I can safely say that at this moment in time, I've never been happier.... I just hope that that can continue!

See you back at the Walkers for Huddersfield!!

Game Forty Five - West Ham v Fulham (Premiership)

18 January 2009

Random game number two of 2009 and one that I was quietly looking forward too. After seeing films like Green Street, West Ham United seem to have acquired a rough reputation but to me the films had left me with a sense of local pride in the team. A local team supported by local people - a proper club so to speak.

I dragged myself away from the other half at about 8am and headed over to Nottingham train station to travel back to Leicester in order to catch my designated train to the capital. The streets were deserted at that time of day and that was hardly a suprise with the bitter cold wind sweeping through the city.
Got the train from Leicester station to London at 9:20 and was soon on the underground and heading to Leicester Square to meet up with Helen... or so was the plan except that thanks to repair works on the lines, I seemed to be travelling in every direction except for where I needed to go! Nightmare.
Finally found her 15 minutes later than I intended and we headed straight down to the tube to head off to Upton Park. As we got closer and closer to our stop, the cockney accents got stronger and stronger and I had to laugh when I overheard one phone conversation including the phrases "Faaaack off you caaant" and "Jag on you maaag" - the most sterotypical think you can say in this area and thats exactly what we heard.

Headed down Green Street until we made it to the ground and headed straight in past the most lack security in the world compared to Palace the other night. The guy asked to look in my bag (which was full of random crap from spending the night in Notts), took one look and waved me in. If this was Selhurst Park then I reckon the contents of the bag would have been rummaged through and my dirty boxers would have been displayed to the world! Such a contrast.

Made our way up to our seats and were instantly blinded by the sun as we became used to our surroundings. Cracking ground this - the away fans below us, the two big screens giving replays and a concourse reminiscant of Filbert Street back in the good old days.

We took the opportunity for the classic random game picture as we normally do ... they are all starting to blend into one though and this one looks oddly like the one from Lincoln last season. Weird.

As the teams came out, the moment I'd personally been waiting for came about as the fans all stood and sand "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" one of my favourite football songs and sounded so much better than the disappointing "YNWA" at Anfield last month.

The game kicked off to quite a roar and the sounds of "Fuck off Craig Bellamy" rang out around the ground in response to the striker who has turned his back on West Ham to join the revolution at Manchester City. They made sure that he wasn't missed right from the start though and six minutes in, a cross was chested back towards goal by Pantsil only for Di Michele to race in and intercept before passing it into the empty net. Great start.

West Ham were well on top at this stage and pushed forward constantly looking for a second goal. Some neat passing and build up play was only let down by the strikers as Di Michele in particular was guilty of missing a couple of half chances by some distance.

Having offered nothing going forward, Fulham suddenly found themselves level in brilliant circumstances. Paul Konchesky, playing against his former club, picked up the ball inside his own half and started moving forward. When he was 35 yards out, he lashed it forward like a rocket with his left foot and from where we were sat, we could see it swerve into the top corner past Robert Green. Amazing goal.

Not much else happened after that in the first half. Green remained untested and for all of West Ham's neat build up play, the visiting defence held firm and wouldnt let them through.

Neither team could really get going for the first few minutes of the second half but a long ball was miss-controlled by the Fulham defence and Carlton Cole stole the ball and stormed forward towards goal only to be brought down by Konchesky when he was about to pull the trigger. Clear penalty and the only suprise was that the defender stayed on the pitch.

Mark Noble stepped up and confidentally fired it past the keeper to put the Hammers back into the lead.

The West Ham fans were brilliant throughout and were having some fantastic banter with the Fulham fans. They loved to taunt the away following about how they were sitting down throughout the game and even started singing "Stand up if you love Fulham" to give them a helping hand. When this caught on and the away fans finally find their feet, the chants soon changed to "Sit down, shut up" which oddly the Fulham fans did much to everyones amusement! "You only do what we tell you" soon followed as the entertainment in the stands matched that on the pitch.

The penalty inspired West Ham and they soon continued to seal the game with a third goal. Neat counter attacking football creating several chances and it was from one such attack that the game was wrapped up. Collison picked the ball up and threaded a delightful ball through to Di Michele who timed his ball through to Cole perfectley leaving him with the simple task of slotting past Schwarzer. A great goal to finish off a very entertaining game.

When the final whistle went, we made our way out of the ground and round the front of the stadum to have a proper look around. The club shop was less than exciting and there wasn't exactly much to do round there so we soon headed back to Upton Park tube station and back towards central London.

With a couple of hours to kill before our respective trains back to the midlands, we decided to do the tourist thing and spent some time wandering around the capital taking some cool pictures of the sights in the fading light.

After a bit of time around the Southbank we made our way to Trafalgar Square (stopping off to take some silly photos including "going into the map" like Joey did in friends - so childish) and then onto Buckingham Palace with me doing impressions of the Queen all the way there.

Needless to say she wasn't at home to visitors so we hung out there for a bit, watching the guards march in the dark and taking silly pictures of us pretending to be statues - they can all be found on my facebook page if you're interested.

And with that, we headed back to the tube and back to our stations - me to St Pancras and Helen to Euston Street. It was really nice to spend some proper time together as our adventures following Leicester appear to have been quite limited so far this season and it's only our random games that we see each other for more than a few minutes.

With that, it was back to Leicester and a quiet night at home to prepare for a night in Yeovil on the open terraces... forecast says cold with heavy rain .... joy!

Game Forty Four - Crystal Palace away (FA Cup 3rd Round Reply)

14 January 2009

When I signed up to do the 100% attendance this season, there were certain things that I didn't bank on. Yeovil away being moved to a monday night? Brighton away on a tuesday night? TWO midweek trips to Hartlepool? All possible and kind of exciting in a strange backwards way but when Crystal Palace away in a 3rd round cup replay on a cold Wednesday night in January came about, the cold sweats started. Famously known to be one of the hardest grounds to get too combined with trying to get time off work at short notice meant that by the time this rolled around, I could really have done without it.

Thanks to work being rather forgiving and understanding, I managed to leave at lunch time and head over to the Walkers Stadium with some slight fog in the air. The train was a realistic option but having already done the trip once in pre-season and after a busy few days in the office, just climbing onto a coach and relaxing appealed and boy did I need some sleep.

As we headed further and further south, the damp and fog grew stronger and at one point there was a real danger it seemed that the game might be called off.

As we stopped though, the weather had cleared slightly and any danger of postponement seemed to have vanished. A quick stop and chat with Lisa over a KFC and we were back on our way to Selhurt Park. Dozing in and out of sleep and with a Peter Kay dvd to entertain us, the journey flew by and we arrived at the ground in good time leaving us plenty of time to head off into Croydon for liquid refreshments. The 'spoons near Thornton Heath tube station was the venue of choice and me, Carl and Lisa stopped off there for a quick one and chat before venturing back towards Selhurst Park.

At the turnstiles, the stewards were out in force and gave us one of the most thorough searches that you're ever likely to get at a football ground. We had to remove keys from pockets, coats had to be opened and every inch of bags were searched. Now I know that the area has had a problem with Knife Crime recentley but anyone travelling all that way on a Wednesday night just to cause trouble needs their head screwing on. An attendance of 6,000 is hardly likely to start a ruck are they?

Inside the ground it wasn't long before the rest of the Foxestalk mob arrived, along with others like Jobber and Jodie and many of us congregated at the front for a change. Front row barmy army!

Two times i've been to Selhurst Park now, and neither time have I managed to actually get into the away end and we've found ourselves put behind the goal.

The teams emerged and Martin took his place in front of the travelling fans as a weakened Leicester side without Fryatt, Davies, Gilbert and Dyer looked to upset the odds against the team from the Championship.

The one thing to cheer us up was knowing that the game couldn't be any worse than the first game which produced only one shot on target of any memory.... or so we thought as with 20 minutes gone, there hadn't been a single effort on goal. Then, something happened that was worse than conceeding. In a routine header, Tunchev landed badly and went down clutching his knee clearly in some pain. A stretcher came on and took him from the pitch and our fears were later confirmed that he would be out of action for months rather than weeks. A bitter blow when everything seemed to be going so well for us. I know that one man doesn't make a team but with Tunchev in our back four, we rarely looked like conceeding goals.

With so little goal mouth action and neither side looking like scoring any time soon, you just had a feeling that it would be a defensive error that would be the difference.... and I was almost right. After 40 minutes, Paul Ifill, cut in and hit a shot which deflected off King's outstretched foot and diverted past the dive of Martin. A cruel way to fall behind but sometimes when you're the underdogs, you don't have the luck.

The goal did set up some quality banter with the people in the boxes behind us. As it's generally a home stand, the executive boxes are situated on the tier above us with the fans hanging over to watch the game. One "gent" took it upon himself to try and wind up the 1500 away fans and was prompty put in his place by the visitors and the stewards.... it came as great amusement when he didn't emerge from his box for the second half!

To sum up the first half can only be done by one mans facial expressions:

And so to the second half, surely that couldn't be any worse could it? And then it did.... on 54 minutes, out of nowhere Palace doubled the lead. A ball was played down the wing to the onrushing Scannell. He soon outpaced the defence and from our position, he seemed like he had no chance of doing anything.... but soon the home fans were up cheering. God knows how but he'd managed to divert the ball past Martin and into the net. Game over pretty much.

With that second goal though, we seemed to wake up slightly and started to look more like a team. Dickov came close after a great turn with the ball but prodded wide, but the moment that turned the game slightly was the introduction of Ashley Chambers. The young striker played with no fear and ran at the defence in the way that Maxi Gradel had in the pre-season friendly all those months ago.

Chances started to be created and corners were won as City looked for a way back into the game. Chambers forced Speroni into the save of the game as he fired across the keeper onto to see his shot turned around the post.

And from a Chambers cross, Howard beat Speroni to the ball in the air and Oakley somehow prodded wide with the goal gaping. That was our one chance to get something from the game and we knew it was gone.

In the 94th minute though we did get some consolation, that man again, Ashley Chambers swung in a cross which Maxi Gradel managed to get on the end of and squirm it past Speroni into the corner. It was to be the last kick of the game though and at least we could walk away with our heads held high. No shame in losing at Selhurst Park and the players all came over to appreciate our efforts. We made up 25% of the crowd that night which sums up the change in attitude of the travelling fans now that wins are coming our way.

For the journey home, I was joined by Jodie (Anstehhh) on the coach and a bunch of drunken lads who'd spent the day in the capital.... in fact they even snuck on a bottle of champagne onto the coaches and had gotten through that by the time we had left the Croydon area. The rest of the journey home was spent singing and keeping everyone else awake with running between ends of the coaches and even getting a conga going at one point - was a classic journey... until I realised I had work in the morning and needed sleep!! D'oh!

Arrived home to the Walkers at about 1am and made my way into the deserted city centre to find a taxi to perform the final leg of my journey and was tucked up in bed nicely by 2... not to bad all things considering!

And so from never having been to Selhurst Park at the start of this blog, I've now made it twice in the space of a few months. Both times have brought about some memorable moments and while I don't share the excitement of some others about going to the ground, it certainly has something about it.... As for the magic of the FA Cup... the 3rd round failed to produce any this year and is proving quite the hurdle for us to overcome having not reached the 4th round now since that famous night against Spurs at the Walkers Stadium - a game that to this day remains as one of my fondest memories of Leicester City. It's still a brilliant competition though and I enjoyed the first two rounds so it hasn't been a complete waste by any stretch (although lets start at the 3rd next season please!!)