Game Fifty Four - Bristol Rovers away

21 February 2009

As I have been telling people for a while now, when we last hit our dodgy patch of form earlier in the season, it was the game at home against Bristol Rovers which brought the team together again and instilled a sense of belief in the players. Those two minutes at the end of the game where Matty Fryatt scored two goals to turn the game on it's head kick started our winning streak and propelled us to the top of the table where we remained ever since. Now, on the back of a number of draws, we find ourselves in that position again where some fans are starting to nervously look over their shoulders at what the other teams are doing behind us. Scenarios are being drawn out based on what would happen if Millwall and MK Dons were to beat us in coming weeks... 19 games unbeaten and we're still nervous! To be a football fan eh? Boy did we need a win... does lightning strike twice though?

So much for the lie ins of recent weeks on this saturday as I was up and about early as if I was heading into the office for the day. With no lift coming my way, I headed over to Syston train station for the quick journey into the city centre only to find that the train didn't seem to want to arrive. After waiting for 15 minutes I got bored and jumped onto the bus and made my way to the Walkers that way to meet up with Jodie, Chloe and Bert. Turns out that Jobber was on the coach too so laughs were guarenteed on the journey.... when we finally departed.


The journey was pretty good really - didn't seem to take too long as we had the good company to keep us going along with a dvd of leicester goals from down the years to keep us entertained. Alan also brought along some of his souvenirs from his years of following City including some of the special items that were for sale to celebrate us reaching the FA Cup final back in the 60s... must be worth a fortune. Also turns out that he was one of the lucky people to have been at Wembley in 1966 to see England beat Germany in the World Cup final - he is my new hero! Also on the journey we briefly bumped into Katy (Titch) and little Ella (Midge) at the services on the way to Ella's first away league game.

We arrived at the ground in decent time and the tractor outside the ground was possibly the most sterotypical thing I've ever seen at football having heard the accent of some of the locals.

The four of us headed off in search of a pre-game pub only to discover that they were all home fans only so we had plenty of time to kill as we made our way back towards the Memorial ground with those three going in whilst I waited for Katy and Ella to arrive and had a quick look round at what is quite a unique ground.

They wern't too far away and we had a quick natter but due to the large support, the fans were split into two sections with some standing in the open terrace and others in the seating behind the goal. Naturally, I was on the terraces as it's the best way to watch football and gather with friends, Katy however was heading over to the seating along with others who hadn't managed to swap tickets over.... although many people managed to sneak over later with stories of owing money or having keys belonging to other people... sneaky!

Above is the view that Katy had of us in the terrace before she moved over.... and below is the view we had of her in the seating. I think it's safe to say that the sun drenched terrace was the place to be!

Within minutes of me meeting up with the three I travelled with in the ground, we were joined by lots of others from the Foxestalk website including all the usual suspects along with a few extras who I hadn't seen around for a while. Lil'Dave though insisted on sitting on the barrier in the terrace - which is ironic as he refuses to sit when there are seats provided! He appeared to be in a contemplative mood ahead of the crucial game though.

With the banter and laughs filling the terrace, combined with the stories of Paris, the players making their way onto the pitch seemed to be almost a distraction to the gathering of people. This soon changed though as the first chants filled the air, a decent noise considering the lack of a roof.

Both teams cancelled themselves out in the first 10 minutes or so and we amused ourselves keeping Ella entertained seeing as she had gone off the thought of watching a game thanks to the lack of Max Gradel on the pitch. This turned into quite the activity as everyone joined in, especially Alex who dedicated most of the second half to playing catch with a cuddly Filbert Fox.

I also managed to spot Helen in the crowd after she'd had a long journey to Bristol thanks to trains not running as they should be.

Back to the match though and the first chance of any real note came around the 20 minute mark when Kerrea Gilbert fired a long range effort way over the bar. Two minutes later though, and City had the lead. A long Oakley free kick was headed on by Howard and Fryatt was in quickly to volley the ball over the keeper. A great finish from the man who has found goals hard to come by in the last couple of months.

Bristol rarely put together any decent chances and instead we took to having some fun with some of their players. Chants of "There's only one decent Lescott" when Aaron Lescott came over to take a throw in. He's a decent player but will never reach the standards set by his brother at Everton.

A couple of long range efforts from Fryatt and Lloyd Dyer nearly found the corner of the net. That was it though for the first half and the teams went off to good applause as we all gathered together once more in the sun with Helen finding her way over to us too.

Chloe's lucky hat was proudly on display by Bert again - never lost in the league when that has been in attendance apparently... never lose him in the crowd!

And Lil' Dave actually stumped up and paid for some food at the ground - I don't think I've ever seen that!

The second half started slowly once more with both sides cancelling each other out but 10 minutes in, Bristol Rovers were awarded a penalty after Jack Hobbs brought down Duffy in the area. It was a clumsy challenge at worst as the ball bobbled on the crap pitch and we were shocked to see the red card brandished and you just got that sense that it was a case of "here we go again." Top scorer in the league, Lambert, stepped up to take it but Bunn got down brilliantly to save it. The power on the shot would normally have been enough to see it in but it was a great save and the celebrations were as if we'd scored a second with people ending up on the floor in the huddle.

With Hobbs off, Pearson brought Morisson on for Dyer and we looked to ensure that we were solid at the back and could see off the threat from Bristol... but we need not have worried as they offered very little going forward and couldn't breach the best defence in the league.

In fact, if any teams was going to add to the scoreline, it looked like it would be us as Cleverly missed a great chance when through on goal with his shot lacking any real power or direction. Fryatt missed a similar chance when a quick counter attack left him through on goal but he wasted the chance when he should have played it across for Howard.

Meanwhile Howard and the Bristol keeper were having some heated words after a strong challenge from the Leicester striker. Howard stood his ground and told the keeper to come over and say those things to his face but he didn't have the back bone for that much to the delight of our fans. "Howard's gonna get ya" was soon ringing out everytime the ball was in the keepers hands and he seemed to be getting quite rattled by it. After his shameful time wasting at the Walkers Stadium earlier this season, it was nice to have had the final say on the matter.

City saw the final few minutes out without any real danger though and were soon celebraing another away win as the sun started to set over the stands and the players came across to show their appreciation of our support. Players and fans - this season, we are as one! They play for us and we travel everywhere to watch them.

This was a massive result for us and we celebrated long after the final whistle had sounded.

As we all said our goodbyes until the next game, Fez, Alex, Ella and Katy were left in the stadium chatting and probably still throwing Filbert about between them. Poor thing!

We piled back onto the coaches, all checking the scores and cheers rang out as news spread that the results had gone our way and the lead at the top was extended further still before heading off out of the car park, waving at all the locals on the way. The memorial stadium is a very unique stadium but it once again will provide memories of a great day out on the league one tour.
For the first time in a while at an way game, I dozed off on the way back to the Walkers, exhausted from the early start and the fun on the terraces. I think it's hard to imagine anything better than being on a terrace in the sunshine, watching the team you love surrounded by people with the same ideals. 800 people standing there, all singing together and having fun, united in their will to win and have fun. That's what league one seems to be about - proper football, proper fans, proper fun. Next week - top of the table clash as first take on second: MK Dons v Leicester... tense!

Game Fifty Three - Hartlepool Away

17 February 2009

And so here we go again, the second trip to Hartlepool of the season and a chance to extend the unbeaten run to 19 games and equal the club record for consecutive league games without defeat. The Johnstones Paint trip to Hartlepool back near the start of the season turned into one of the more memorable efforts from the season as everything from that night turned into something memorable, whether it be the journey with friends, the fun in the pub or the 3-0 win. All contributed to a great night!

But could this one match it? Well the lie in start to the day helped as I opted to take a days holiday for this one as it saved leaving at lunch and gave me a chance to enjoy the day fully. Leaving home in the late morning hours, I made my way over to Syston station to catch the train into town and then make my way over to the Walkers to meet up with the Fox Travel folk for the day: Me, Jodie, Helen and Colleen.

Despite it's northern position in the country, the journey up to Hartlepool didn't seem that long at all especially as we were all given a ridiculously tricky quiz to keep us entertained on the way. Whilst it started off as me and Jodie against Helen and her Mum, they soon joined up with us when they realised that about an hour into the thing, they'd only managed to answer about 3 questions... and some of those were wrong (Uttoxeter is NOT a football team for the record!)

We made our usual stop at the services which gave Jodie a chance to feed her gambling habbit at the bookies (who actually remembered her from when she made the trip in September - how the hell can the people working there remember that far back???). We also bumped into Jobber at the services who had come up in the car at some mammoth speed to catch us after leaving late in the afternoon.

After carrying on with the quiz and some recolections of days past with the resident historian Alan, we arrived in Hartlepool in decent time and found our way to the same pub as last time where we met up with Chloe, Joe B and Daggers from FoxesTalk and I also happened to run into an old friend Shiv, who I hadn't seen in a good couple of years - it's odd how you manage to see these people around just like with Sez at Arsenal earlier in the season!

We didn't stay in there long though as the place was rammed and we all headed out to the turnstiles to wait for the other lot as we had their tickets. While outside though, we had some great laughs, buy the biggest was reserved for the famous barking horse. You probably had to be there but we heard these dogs barking behind us, turned round and just saw these two horses nodding their heads in time with the noise. We were in fits of laughter... especially Jodie which just made us laugh further.

When the others finally arrived, we made our way in to find a place to stand for the evening and it was clear straight away that more fans had made the effort for the league clash then had for the cup adventure.

By pure coincidence, we ended up huddling together in a near identical spot to the last game and even found Micky Ruddle with a crazy collection of inflatables! Me and Joe B resorted to a game of head tennis with a beach ball to amuse ourselves although little dave wasn't amused when a large man moved in front of him blocking most of the view of the pitch.

The game started as quite a tight affair with neither team giving the other any time on the ball and no chance to create any efforts on goal. In fact it wasn't until after around 10 minutes that the first effort on goal was registered. A deep Oakley corner was headed goalwards by Brown but the keeper was equal to it and palmed it round the post.

City started to take a slight grip on the game and stroked the ball around quite nicely, with no better example of this coming with the first goal of the night. Some neat passing resulted in Oakley playing the ball through to Steve Howard who smashed it past the keeper at the near post. From our view point at the other end of the ground, we assumed it had gone wide so there was quite the delay before the celebrations really began.

Conceeding seemed to kickstart Hartlepool slightly and they forced a bit of pressure with a couple of corners but City debutant in goal Mark Bunn, was never called into any action.

5 minutes later though and he was soon facing his toughest test as Joel Porter slipped over in the box with the referee bizarrely pointing to the penalty spot to the disgust of the fuming fans behind the goal. How can he make such a crap mistake when it was clear that no contact was made?? Awful call! Anyhow, Porter picked himself up and smashed the penalty into the top corner - no keeper in the world would have saved that one. You can make out some of Ruddles inflatables as he tried to distract Porter in his run up.

Hartlepool were on top for the remainder of the first half as they pushed onwards sensing that an upset could be on the cards at the Victoria Ground.

At half time people just chatted about random stuff and waited for the players to emerge for the second half.

City started the second half strongly with Fryatt curling one just wide and Howard breaking through the defence, only to see the keeper save his shot when clear on goal - he probably should have scored in all honesty but you cannot fault the guy at the moment.

Hartlepool responded and had numerous efforts to take the lead with Bunn making a couple of good saves and an effort going just wide of the target. On 80 minutes though, the referee made up for his earlier cock up for the Hartlepool penalty by giving us a dodgy one too! Berner burst down the left and prodded the ball past the keeper, who promptly brought him down. The ball was already out of play but the ref had no hesitation on pointing to the spot and we rushed down to the front to get the best view of the penalty....

BANG. 2-1 and the sounds of "Super Stevie Howard!" rang out the away end At this point we really thought that we had the three points in the bag but as we moved into injury time, Andy Monkhouse popped up to volley home an unstoppable shot to snatch a point. To be honest it was no less that they deserved as a draw was about fair at the end of the day and we left the ground not too downhearted at the result.

Back on the coaches and we had the results of the earlier quiz with our team coming a respectable third so can't complain with that one really. The rest of the journey was spent being childish with cameras and taking embarrassing pictures of Helen.... I think that this one is the worst of the lot....

Got back to the Walkers in the early hours of Wednesday and jumped in a taxi back to Sunny Syston to grab some much needed sleep before work in the morning.

I must admit that I do now have a soft spot for Hartlepool after two great nights out there and it will be a shame that it looks like we won't be returning to that ground any time in the near future. In fact there's many grounds that we've discovered this season that I wouldnt mind going to again but in some respects I hope I wont have to! We're going through a slight dip in form though with so many draws but we did this earlier in the run of unbeaten games and we solved it with a good win over Bristol Rovers.... ironically our next opponents! Could they kick start us again......?

Game Fifty Two - Swindon Town Home

14 February 2009

Valentines day arrives at the Walkers Stadium and it seems there is a massive love in at the club these days after a string of unbeaten games. There is a bit of a buzz around the place again and after two nil nil draws, everyone at the ground was eager to see us get back on track with a strong victory. Swindon Town, battling away against relegation seemed like the perfect chance to kick start the title bid.

I met up with Jodie at the stadium as per normal to exchange money - seem to be doing that a lot recentley. Chloe and Raj also made an appearance before I headed off to find my seat and after a rousing minutes applause to acknowledge the memory of Neville Hamilton who passed away during the week, we were into the action. After a rather tentative start involving very little goal mouth action, the game bounded into life midway through the first half when an Oakley corner was headed back across goal by Howard for King to volley against the post when he really should have scored. The post and Andy King would go on to feature throughout the 90 minutes!

Not long after that, City had the ball in the net after another Oakley cross caused mahem in the Swindon box. Howard went up for the ball with the keeper, who spilled it to Fryatt to roll in only for the referee to judge that Howard's challenge was illegal.
Swindon were always dangerous on the counter attack though with the speed of Simon Cox always causing the centre backs trouble with his tricks and rapid change of pace. And that proved to be our undoing when a long ball over the top released Cox who drilled his effort at David Martin only to see the rebound fall straight to his feet and left him the simple task of putting the visitors ahead. Very frustrating but the defence were not alert enough and we paid the price.

And that's the way things stayed until the half time whistle went and I headed down to the concourse for my usual bit of banter with Katy to catch up on whats been going on in the world. Her trip to Paris was the main topic as the nerves were starting to get to her - I'm sure she's having a great time out there now though with Fez for good company! Some cheeky comments and 15 minutes later and back to the seats for what would hopefully be an improved 45 minutes in front of goal.

The crossbar was all that denied Michael Morrisson from equalising with a header from a corner and you started to sense that it wouldn't be our day as the rebound was handled in a desperate attempt to force it home.
The injured David Martin was then replaced in goal by the inexperienced Carl Pentney to make his debut between the sticks. Not a great situation to claim your first appearance but his chance to make a stake for starting against Hartlepool in mid-week should Martin's injury be deemed to be serious.

The new keeper did well though to deny Cox twice as he threatened to really put the game beyond our reach. At one down, we always had a chance of continuing this mini run though and only a great fingertip save from the Swindon keeper kept a looping Howard header out with ten minutes to go.

As the clock counted down, the woodwork was struck for the third and final time as similar to the first time, a Howard header across goal saw King head against the outside of the goal frame. It's almost unheard of for the post to take a battering like that in one game but you have days when things do not run for you in the slightest and we resigned ourselves to getting the first defeat in months..... until five minutes to go and King finally got his goal. Oakley tried to force the ball through a crowded goalmouth and the ball fell to King who took one touch to beat the nearest defender before placing his shot into the corner with the outside of his foot. Neat goal and one that was badly needed.

City continued to push forward in the dying minutes to get the illusive winner but it wasn't to be and the closest we came was a Morisson effort that was well saved by the keepers feet. Another home game without a win though, the third draw on the bounce and signs that complacency has started to take hold of the players slightly. Is it just the case that they're struggling to find a way over the finishing line or are they just tired from their efforts throughout the season? Either way with the teams chasing us failing to register victories, once again we seem to have gotten away with things and continue to be strong favourites to take promotion and the league title.

And that's the lot for now - I've been a bit busy recentley and havent had the chance to update this till tonight and so will have to cut this short and work on writing Hartlepool later in the week.... one point closer to promotion though and one step closer to the unbeaten record. See you back up north!

Game Fifty One - Oldham Athletic home

7 February 2009

With another two wins on the road putting our promotion bid back on track, it was back to the Walkers Stadium for what we believed would be a competitive match against fellow promotion hopefuls Oldham Athletic. After heavy snow fall across the midlands once more, the undersoil heating had been working overtime to ensure that this fixture would go ahead.... even more so as the Sky Cameras were descending upon the Walkers Stadium once more resulting in the annoying kick off time of 5:20pm. Always good that loyal fans can be put out for the TV cameras!

So after an extra long lie in and the chance to watch Jeff Stelling on Sky Sports News for the first time in over a year, we headed off on our usual treck to Filbert Way for the fun and games awaiting. As is becoming custom what with me dashing off to Nottingham after the games, we parked on the train station car park and made our way across the City, including the snow covered Nelson Mandela park with the Tiger's new ground rapidly taking shape on the horizon. I've a feeling it's going to be annoyingly impressive!

Met up with Jodie pre game to sort out what was happening with regards to the tickets for future games - there are so many games coming up that it's hard to keep track with where we're heading week on week. Bristol... Hartlepool... Merseyside...? Just got to go with the flow! I left Jodie just before kick off and went over to meet the old man in our usual seats. The pre-game entertainment mainly consisted of Filbert Fox pretending he was stuck in the snow on the side of the pitch. Childish fun but it kept us amused watching him perform his act in front of the frozen Kop.

It was clear from the off that Oldham were up for the game and hadn't arrived at the Walkers Stadium happy to sit back and play for the point like so many teams had over the course of the season. With Lee Hughes and Dean Windass up front, they had the experience to unlock any defence in this league so it was vital that the back four were on their guard throughout.

There were no real chances in the first 20 minutes as long range shots and near miss throughballs seemed to be the order of the day until a long punt forward by Martin was flicked on by Howard, only for the ball to fall off a defender back into the big strikers path. He took one touch to get it out from under his feet and then struck the ball against the inside of the post from 20 yards with the ball rebounding across the goal and out for a goal kick.

Fryatt came close to opening the scoring when a long ball over the top found him in some space. He tried to play with the defenders and then curled his shot narrowly high and wide when he probably should have crossed the ball in.

Minutes later, Fryatt came close again when Howard flicked a ball on to him, but his shot was lashed high over the bar from a tight angle. Cleverly was next to come close when he lifted the ball over the advancing keeper after a poor back pass, but he came a close second in the race to the ball and couldnt quite force it across the line.

And that was all for the first 45 minutes. Oldham caused us problems without ever really testing Martin in the goal and the few chances that we created were also wasted. I made my way down to the concourse to meet up with a rather drunk Katy. Swaying back and forth and getting her hair caught in the advertising board was rather amusing and she's now been re-christened Kateeth due to how much she smiles when she's had a few!

Leicester's resident alcoholic fan Bernie also made an appearance, walking through the concourse grunting and squeaking in his own unique fashion. He's a strange bloke that's for sure but always generates a laugh when he's spotted (usually without him realising that it's at his expense!)

The second half started in a very dramatic way when Fryatt latched onto an awful back pass, prodded the ball past the keeper and was clattered by Fleming when all he had to do was roll the ball into the empty net. Clear penalty and a straight red card for the guilty keeper. Oddly, Oldham didn't have a sub keeper on the bench so it fell to Dean Windass to put himself between the sticks and face the penalty.

After a bit of gamesmanship with Windass taking an age to get ready and chatting to Fryatt throughout, it seemed inevitable that he would miss having far too long to think about what to do with the penalty. We all know that instinct plays a major part in scoring goals so give a striker to much time and it goes to pot...

... and so it seemed as Fryatt fired his penalty a mile and a half wide. It was almost as if he was scared of Windass saving it so tried to hard to place it right into the corner.

With no real goalkeeper inbetween the sticks, we were willing shots to come in but the players refused to shoot from any distance and instead tried to walk it into the net. A free kick on the edge of the box creating the first major chance to test Windass and to be fair to him, he pulled off a decent save from King's effort and even better to smother the rebound from Fryatt.

As longer passed, and we became more and more frustrated, Oldham came back into the game and looked threatening once more. Long balls over the top were being chased by Hughes and he was winning everything and proving to be a real hand full. Forget the hit and run incident which makes him hated by all football fans, the way he plays is enough to wind up any opposition fans.

Time and time again, they breached our back line but didn't make us pay for our errors and meanwhile, Windass was having an easy time at the back - hardly having to move for any ball and was never put under any real pressure. The one time we did force the ball into the net, Fryatt was given offside. You just knew things weren't going to go our way with that.

It really was disappointing to not take advantage of the situation and it was clearly two points dropped rather than a point gained. Still, with other games being called off due to the bad weather, we moved further clear of the chasing pack. 11 points now ahead now and 17 games unbeaten.... it's hard to complain much when you see things written down like that... and yet this result left me feeling rather nervous as it was a game we should have won. Three points in the next game though and it will all be forgotten!! What a difference a season makes.... there were times that we'd kill for any point and a clean sheet - 8 months on and it just leaves you feeling flat. Roll on next season if we go up eh?

Game Fifty - Walsall away

3 February 2009

So that's the land mark reached - 50 games in a season! A personal record for me, beating last seasons total of 49 and with 3 months of the season still remaining. I think that it's now safe to say that I will never have a season like this again in my lifetime. It's been a drain on time and money but I knew that at the start of the season and jumped in with both feet! This is the kind of thing that you arguably only get to do once in your lifetime and so I've grasped the chance with both hands.

After some pretty hefty snow fall throughout the midlands, there was some debate on the morning of the game as to whether the ground staff at The Bescott would be able to get this game on but credit to them as at 1:30pm, it was announced that it was game on! Left work at 4 and was given a lift straight to the stadium to save me from trudging through the snow - much appreciated by the way Baskett!! Quickly got changed in the hotel as I hadn't had time at the office and then made my way over to join Katy on our next adventure together to Walsall (doesn't sound quite as impressive as Carlisle really).

We set off in decent time and me and Katy had the chance to catch up on things as it had been a while since we'd been able to have a proper natter with only the stolen 10 minutes here and there at home games to keep us going. Was good to be reunited for our travels and we randomly nattered and killed time on the journey plus invented the rather snazzy (haven't used that word in years) phone hammock. An essential addition to any fox travel journey!!

Arrived in Walsall far too early than was good for us and had to hang around waiting for the completely unneccessary police escort to take us down the final road. Glad to see the money I have to pay over in tax each month is being put to expert use!! Cheers lads! Got off the coaches and me, Katy and Jodie headed over to the hotel next to the ground to meet up with Lisa, Carl and Daggers / Danny Baker.

Ended up queueing for 30 minutes just to get a drink - in the meantime JoeB arrived, and bumped into Matt - an old end from school so it wasn't a total waste and there was some good humour and banter as we all waited to get served. Clearly understaffed but to be fair they did only have 8 months to prepare for the night!

Shortly after that we headed into the ground to find our seats which for once were actually in a decent position. First time at the Bescott Stadium and ground number 66 for me - really starting to add up now. The ground itself is smaller than you imagine as you go past on the M6 with the big stand opposite where we were housed giving a false impression as to the scale of the place. The two other three stands are typical league one affairs though with only about 12 rows each.

Just the three of us from the coach this time as the place was too rammed to shift around again but JoeB soon squeezed infront of us.

Also Bert, Chloe, Fez and co were all within sight so it was good to be able to turn any direction and spot someone you know. Oh and we wern't far away from Matt and (i'm assuming) his Dad as well...

The atmosphere amongst the travelling fans was pretty decent considering the cold and it was only a shame that there were only a few thousand Walsall fans who had braved the snow to see their side in action. Fresh from beating Leeds at the weekend, you thought that might have inspired a few more of them to crawl out but it wasn't to be.

The game itself started pretty well with City having near all the possession and all the action being at the far end away from the away fans as we lay seige to Clayton Ince's goal (more on him later!) In fact it only took 12 minutes for the deadlock to be broken. A deep free kick from Oakley was headed back across by Hobbs and there was Matty Fryatt to turn it in against his former club.

Some superb one touch passing from Howard, Oakley and Fryatt combined with an brilliant run from King nearly added a second but Ince did well to block the shot from close range and Cleverley saw the rebound effort blocked.

King didn't have to wait too long for his goal though and again Walsall simply couldn't handle the slick pass and move play that we had adopted for the nights action. The ball was sprayed around nicely on the edge of the box before it came to Howard who casually chipped it over the defence to the onrushing Andy King who, controlled it beautifully on his left foot to bamboozle the defender before smashing it past Ince with his right. Brilliant goal and what we deserved after a dominant first 30 minutes.

Oakley went close with a free kick just before the break and Walsall would have been relieved just to have kept the score down. Poor David Martin though must have been freezing though as he hardly had to move all game - his only work being catching a cross that was straight at him!!

At half time, Katy moaned about the fact that I couldn't be bothered to move and find others (and refused to go by herself for the record despite what mammoth Pinocchio style lies she may tell you!) Lil Dave and Helen however made their way over to see us... Dave mainly so he could read my programme I think...

Other half time entertainment was from the Joe B song that me and Katy took the time to invent: "Oh Joey Baker. You are wearing a hat, oh Joey Baker. It makes you look like a twat, oh Joey Baker. We are winning two nillllllllllll." I think you had to be there in all honesty but it was one of those things that even had the random people around us chuckling at the time!!

The second half carried on in the same way that the second had finished - with City pushing forward and it only took a few minutes for us to get the third goal of the night. Some more neat passing resulted in Fryatt flicking the ball through to Cleverley whose first touch took him away from the defender and left him with the simple task of beating Ince with a placed effort. Three nil. Game over!

And just a few minutes later, Steve Howard joined the party. After working so hard all night, it was great for him to get on the scoresheet in front of the fans that he has finally managed to get on side after taking quite a bit of stick last season. Cleverley played a long ball forward, Big Steve beat Ince to the ball but saw his initial effort well saved before turning home the rebound from what seemed an impossible position. A Steve goal always gets epic celebrations from fans and players including Shingler near the front doing a Titanic impression it seems... crazy kids!

It was nearly five when Howard just headed over from an Oakley free kick. Truth be told it was men against boys and if we hadn't taken our foot off of the pedal, we could have been looking at about eight nil. As it was with the game already won, Pearson decided to make changes to keep the players fresh for the next game on Saturday - a sensible move in all honesty but would have been nice to make it a real thrashing!

With everything going Leicester's way, we soon started to make our own amusement in the stands singing "Come on Walsall" everytime they got into our half and adopting Clayton Ince as a cult hero as he defended the goal in front of us. "Your goal's too big for you" and "Incey, what's the score" were song at deafening volume which he seemed to enjoy as he cheekily signalled 4 goals behind his back out of sight of the Walsall fans. He also started shaking his ass at one point in time to us singing "Incey, Incey, Incey" when Walsall made a rare attack. Always great when opposition players take things in good spirits and resond to the crowd - too many get the arse and start moaning but he was up for a laugh despite seeing his side being played off the park.

This additional support from the away fans spurred Walsall on and they got their reward when a deep cross fell kindly for Mattis to volley home. They put a big of pressure on after that but it was Cleverley who came closest to scoring the final goal of the game but Ince did well to turn his shot round the post to a hero's reception! Legend!

As the final whistle blew, we made our way down to the front where all the snow cleared from the pitch was gathered and it inevitable turned into a snowball fight amongst the City fans who were in brilliant spirits after a great win. It even turned into quite a battle between the fans behind the goal and those in the side stands and god help any Steward who tried to stop it as they just ended up getting pelted!

Outside the ground we bumped into Helen, Colleen, Jobber, Bert and Chloe and Fez came over to chat to Katy about the game and plans for the weekend.

We were soon back on the coaches though and making our way back to Leicester causing mischief on the way and generally having such a laugh with Katy. In fact I don't think we stopped laughing until we got off the coaches and were smacked full in the face by the cold again. Had the pleasure of scraping her car for her before we continued her journey. Now some people use Ice Scrapers. Some use bank cards or something similar. Us? We use wooden kitchen implements! I'm not even sure what it was but it seemed to work ok and we didn't crash on the ice rink type roads so all credit for Titch for that one! Don't envy her driving on those roads.

Quick stop at mcdonalds and it was time to call it a night with another 3 points under our belts and another quality away day to treasure. We really have been spoilt this season with so many wins and so much fun on the terraces - it will be hard to see it repeated in any other season for a while. Someone asked me the other day if I was glad that we got relegated..... for the record I'm not glad but I don't regret that it happened. It's made me love football and this club again in a time where I was starting to get bored with it all. League One has restored my passion for the game and to all the Southampton and Norwich fans scared of going down, I suggest you embrace it - it could just well make it the best season you will ever remember!