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!!)

Game Forty Three - Leyton Orient Home

10 January 2008

Firstly, sorry for the delay in posting this report. The site hasn't been letting me upload the pictures so have had to keep putting it off.... until now!!

After many late nights during the week, a long lie in was needed ahead of this game so a very slow start to the day was the course of action to undertake. We headed off to Filbert Way at the normal time with me still wiping the sleep from my eyes - the way Saturdays should be in my view!

The big news pre game was that Matty Fryatt was back in the first team after his slight injury and Oakley was also recalled. Bad weather meant that games were being called off around the country by the second, so whilst ours went ahead, this was a great chance to put some space between us and the chasing pack!

I met up with Helen and her mum outside of the ground and gave her her birthday present after her 21st birthday last week. Finally coming of age and still hasn't grown out of following Leicester? Good work Helen's parents!! As soon as we were through the turnstiles, I bumped into Jodie and Chloe and had a good laugh thinking back to earlier in the season when we used to travel to games together - Dexter's treats - happy times!

And so to the important thing, the match action. Fond memories of the away day at Orient filled my head as the teams came out, two late goals to seal the points in the blazing sun - it didnt get much better than that!

Early goals seem to be a common occurence at the Walkers these days for league games and once again we only had to wait six minutes for the deadlock to be broken. A bouncing ball was mis-controlled by the Orient defender, Fryatt nipped in and threaded a ball out wide to Oakley who lashed it home. He's been a revelation since his move to the right hand side of midfield and key to our dominance in home games.

Mark Davies, who has extended his loan until the start of February, weaved through the defence after 20 minutes but his shot lacked any real conviction and the chance went begging. He really is a player of great promise though and far too good for this league if truth be told. (But to be fair that could be said of a few of our players at the moment.)

He got his reward 10 minutes before half time though as he opened his account for his adopted team. A deep cross was won in the air by Steve Howard as the keeper flapped, and the ball fell to the onrushing midfielder who bravely got his head on the ball to divert the ball into the empty net. Muted celebrations though as Davies was left in a heap on the floor after a raised boot had made contact with his head as he dived in.

That was pretty much all until half time as the away side didn't even come close to adding any goals to the game. At half time, I headed down to the concourse for my usual rendezvous with Katy. Cheeky giggles, random conversation and the usual banter before heading up to join the old man for the second half.

As the second half went on, Pearson made a couple of changes, bringing on Gradel and Mattock for Berner and Dyer, which seemed to have a positive effect on proceedings as City started to push on looking for more goals to cement the win.

No major goal scoring chances were created early in the second half. Howard fired a long range effort wide and Orient had a small spell of pressure without forcing Martin into any saves.

Dickov nearly broke clear on goal but was hauled down by arguably the last man but no major punishment was handed out.... 5 minutes later though, the same man brought down Davies inside the area to give away a penalty. Gradel rushed to take the resulting penalty only for Dickov to snatch the ball away and take it himself....

3-0. Job done! Got to love the steward who guards the corner flag too....

With seconds left, a wonderful flowing move nearly saw Matt Oakley volley in his second goal of the game which would have been a contendor for goal of the season... football at its finest on display at the Walkers.

So as the final whistle went, we found ourselves five points clear at the top and it's hard to imagine how anyone can stop us at the moment - at home we look unbeatable, and away we are picking up points too. And we're already clear of relegation - go us! A mad dash to the train station, and I was off to Nottingham to spend the remained of the weekend with my other half - a lie in, 3-0 win at home and spending the weekend with her.... it's hard to imagine a more perfect weekend!

Next stop - the one I've dreaded..... the replay with Crystal Palace on a Wednesday night. Whoop De Doo!

Game Forty Two - Crystal Palace home (FA Cup 3rd Round)

3rd Janurary 2009

FA Cup weekend. The highlight of the football calendar for many football fans in this country as for one weekend, the majority of the football leagues are stopped to make room for these fixtures. The pressure is off, and it's an opportunity to pit your team against (in most cases) a team you wouldn't be playing during the course of the season.

If you have read the previous blog from the spurs game, you'll know that I stopped at Helen's for the night which I have been ordered to write a retraction about.... she doesn't live in Birmingham at all! Tipton near Dudley is the accurate way of describing it which is nothing like Birmingham apparently. Picky!

We all got up in decent time though and made our way down to Leicester early as Helen had to be at the Walkers Stadium at 11am for a tour and meal thing she had planned before hand. Being the typical woman she didn't have time to get ready in time and so had to do her make up in the car.
We picked Jobber up from Braunstone on the way down and I left them at the stadium as I had to collect my tickets and then go and meet my old man.

As it was a cup game, we decided to try something different and sit closer to the half way line then we normally would. When we first started going to games together, he always wanted to sit at the halfway line whereas I fancied the Kop behind the goal... as a result, we compromised and so sat half way in between the two. Nice to have a bit of change every now and again although neither of us felt happy with where we ended up... something was missing.

I think this has the potential to be the smallest blog I've done for a very long time as nothing actually happened in the game. In the first half, a few long shots were had by both teams but neither keeper was troubled in the slightest. Possesion wise, it seemed to be mostly in our favour but there was never any danger of a breakthrough coming.

The second half continued in the same way.... neither side could get the ball down and put together a string of passes which threatened the goal in anyway. Finally though, after an hour of football, we were presented with a genuine chance. Good work by Dickov fed the ball through to Howard who was clean through on goal only for him to blaze a shot over. Nil nil written all over it from then on and only a long range effort from Gradel forced a save from a keeper. Disappointing and left us facing the prospect of the long trip down to Selhurst Park for the replay - gutting!!

The only real highlight I can take is finding a fiver on the way out of the stadium which contributes nicely towards the ticket cost of the replay providing I could get time off work. Would just be typical if my 100% record attempt was dashed by the competition that I love so much..... fingers crossed eh?

Game Forty One - Tottenham Hotspur v Wigan (FA Cup 3rd round)

2nd January 2009

A new year and what better way to start it off with a new ground as we take one step closer to acheiving the 92 league grounds. FA Cup third round is a great time to be a football fan as games come thick and fast and there's that amazing sense of optimism as some of the smaller teams have the chance to knock the bigger boys off their high horses.

Back at work, and back onto the football trail as I left the office slightly early after working through lunch to ensure that I was on time for the train to St Pancras in plenty of time. This was probably the worst planned random away day I've ever had as all I had to guide me to White Hart Lane was a sheet of paper Helen had printed for me that I hadn't even read yet! I was just gonna go with the flow and see what happened - not clever if you recall our pre-season trip to Crystal Palace earlier in the year where we failed miserably in trying to find the ground as part of a random day of adventures.

The train journey was very standard though and gave me the chance to catch up on a bit of sleep and as I arrived at St Pancras, I just hopped onto the tube to Seven Sisters and took it from there. The instructions mentioned something about walking from this point but that didn't appeal and instead just heard a man shouting about train to White Hart Lane left in three minutes from platform two so decided to take the chance and rushed to the platform and dived onto a train to Enfield without a clue where I would end up. 5 minutes later, a mass exodus of people suggested it would be wise to leave the train here.
Luckily enough, signs started appearing to point me in the right direction and I was at the ground within minutes. Massive walk? No thanks!! Random trains are the way forward!!

The area around the ground is exactly how football should be. Burger vans everywhere, shops lining the streets with queues outside, and random market stalls selling souvenirs of the team. There was a real buzz around the place and everyone seemed to be a real local football fan rather than the collection of tourists from around the globe who plagued the Emirates and Anfield on our trips. The highlight of this area being the old petrol station where people had gathered. Full of burger vans, and a spurs merchandise shop built into the place.

With Helen and her dad running late, I wandered around the ground for a bit in the sub-zero temperatures and then made my way up to the North stand upper tier and found my seat for the game.

The ground itself appears bigger than I imagined as the relatively low capacity of the place leaves yourself imaginging a smaller venue.... maybe its the massive screens at the ends of the ground that gives the illusion of being bigger of the two tiers of bowl as opposed to the one at the walkers.

It's quite a nice ground though and a pleasant atmosphere around full of optimism of a good cup run again. Suprisingly the home end proved to be close to sell out ... unlike the travelling fans who must have sold no more than 200 tickets for the match.

Helen finally made an appearance with about 10 minutes till kick off and the teams emerged from the tunnel to get the FA Cup third round underway for 2009. The home fans were creating quite a bit of noise, especially when compared to some of the other "bigger" teams I've seen in the course of the season.

Wigan started the game quite strongly, passing the ball around quite nicely and Henri Camara headed a free kick inches wide of the post.

Spurs created a few decent chances, with Bent forcing a decent save from the visiting keeper, and Modric hitting well wide from the edge of the area when he should have at the very least made the keeper work. Kilbane nearly put into his own net before Bent hobbled off injured and Spurs appeared to run out of ideas with him off the pitch.

Wigan started to come back into the game more and they came close to scoring with a free kick that Gomes got down well to stop.

At half time I knew this game was heading only one way... to a nil nil draw like in my previous three random games. Surley it couldn't happen again could it? Helen's dad came over to join us during the break and ended up staying with us for the remainder of the game. As the only Spurs fan amongst the three of us, he was used to seeing the lack of goals on display!

On 52 minutes, the moment I'd waited for for nearly four random games came. Frazier Campbell latched onto a through ball and tried to round Kingson in the Wigan goal but was caught and went down leaving the refereee with only one option... penalty!

Up stepped Pavlyuchenko and bured it low and hard to the keepers right.

And celebrated in front of the North stand as the sounds of "Spurs are on their way to Wembley" and "Que Sera Sera" rang out amongst the home fans.

Wigan responded positively forcing a few corners which resulted in little reward for the brave souls who had made the journey south on the cold friday night. Spurs always looked dangerous on the counter attack and it was from one of these that the second goal of the game came. As they charged forward, O'Hara fired a quality effort against the post from 30 yards and the rebound fell to Modric who headed it in having tripped over seconds before. A real stroke of luck as had he not tripped, he never would have been in the position to score the goal.... but that's what you need sometimes and they had the cushion they needed.

Hossam Ghaly was then due to be brought on for Spurs to see out the game but after an incident involving throwing his shirt to the ground in 2007, the Spurs fans wern't happy to see him back and voiced their displeasure as he stepped up to come on.... forcing Harry Redknapp to change his decision and bring on Aaron Lennon instead. Controversial to say the least.

With a couple of minutes remaining, Wigan pulled one back to set up an exciting finish to the match. A goal mouth scramble ended with Camara swinging a boot and prodding it past the helpless Gomes to give the visitors hope of snatching a replay.

They pressed on and on deep into injury time but the final say was down to that man with the hardest name to spell in football... Roman Pavlyuchenko. He smashed an effort home from thirty yards in the 4th minute of stoppage time to send all the Spurs fans home in a cheerful mood.

As the final whistle blew, we had to fight our way out the ground and back to White Hart Lane train station where we were to catch a train back to where Helen's dad had parked the car and he drove us all back to Birmingham where I was to spend the night before heading to the Leicester game in the morning. As is the tradition with any away travelling, I dozed off before too long! Wouldnt have been right if I hadn't! Was a good night out though and the curse of no goals was finally broken!

Although this year is only two days old, it's already given me plenty to think about. Some moments elevate you more than football ever can. As we delve deeped into our passions for the game, it can be hard to deviate between what is real and what is just essentially a hobby and for that reason, I think at the end of the season, I'll be looking to cut down on the adventures a bit. I've done 41 games so far this season and will continue in cramming games in for the rest of the season as I feel I owe that to myself after having come so far but as of May.... It's time to grow up a bit. I'll still have my season ticket at Leicester and do my fair share of away games but I can't see myself reaching the dizzy heights of 100% again in a hurry (assuming I acheive it this season.) We'll see though - circumastances may well change... time will tell.