Game Thirty Six - Southend Home

6 December 2008

It almost feels weird to be reporting on Leicester for the league once more after so much seems to have happened since the last time we were at the Walkers Stadium for a saturday league game. For the visit of Southend though, we were opting for something different - a funky 2:30pm kick off thanks to our lessor neighbours having a game at home in the early evening. Alright it wasn't very exciting but it's the only thing of note worth mentioning in the build up to the game... other than the fact that winter was well and truly upon us now!

Arrived about 20 minutes before kick off and headed over to the L1 concourse to collect money from Jodie for the Leeds tickets and also happened to bump into Chloe fresh from the goal course too. Starting to wonder if she ever spends any time in Birmingham these days!
City started brightly and really took the game to Southend from the off. A deep, hanging cross was headed just wide from Matt Oakley as early as the 5th minute, but we were not to be denied for long. A ball was played out wide to Fryatt who picked it up, cut inside past the defender and curled a beautiful effort past the dive of the despairing keeper. 20 goals for the season - where would we be without his cool touch in front of goal in the recent weeks?

We won a couple of free kicks mid way through the first half which resulted in nothing - Berner having his shot charged down before he could make a clean connection on it, and Dyer only managing to find the keeper with his curling effort. Southend offered little going forward and it appeared that it was only a matter of time before the lead was extended but that wasn't to happen before the half time whistle sounded.

Half time saw the what is now traditional meet up with Katy in the concourse. She was armed as ever with what it fast turning into the lucky scarf what with it having a 100% record at games this season so far. Usual fun and games pursued and we even bumped into Kokopops who had popped outside for a "breath of fresh air."

Southend came closest to opening the second half scoring with a shot that had to be palmed out by David Martin in the Leicester goal. This slight groin strain of Hendo's is proving to be annoyingly long in keeping him out.

Substitute Mark Davies (sounds almost like Mark De Vries if said quickly - random fact for the day), also came close to doubling the lead. Stealing the ball in the Southend penalty area, he then skipped past a standing defender and fired against the keepers legs when he arguably should have done better.

We didn't have to wait long though to hear the rather bizzare goal horn / chelsea dagger mix though as a long ball forward was flicked on by Steve Howard to the feet of the in form Fryatt. He skimmied past the defender and then lashed an effort across the keeper from the edge of the area to make it 5 in two games for him.

And four minutes later, it was 6 in two as he made it an incredible two hat-tricks in two games. I've heard of it done in consecutive home games by Torres at Liverpool and Doyle at Reading but never in consecutive matches in recent years - I may be proved wrong on this though. As like his last one, this hat-trick contained a penalty as a hooked shot from Fryatt was blocked by the arms of Barrett. The man himself instantly grabbed the ball and placed it down before firing confidentally to the keepers right hand side. (Apologies for the picture quality of this - who can contain their excitement with the prospect of the new goal tune coming up??)

From then on it was just a case of seeing the game out - a few long range efforts from Southend narrowly fizzed by the post, but Martin remained untroubled and the final whistle was greeted by the cheers of home fans marking the 6th consecutive home victory - only been done in the first ever 6 home games at the Walkers Stadium.

Results from other grounds around the league meant that we have not produced a 4 point gap from the play off places and things are looking good ahead of the massive trip up north to Carlisle at the weekend. 450 mile or so round trip? The thinks we do for this club. Onwards and upwards!

Game Thirty Five - Manchester City v PSG (UEFA Cup Group Stages)

3rd December 2008

As mentioned in an earlier blog, I would without doubt be heading back up the City of Manchester Stadium at some point during the season after falling in love with the place back when they played Stoke earlier this year. I was also keen to show off the place to everyone possible and share the Manchester City love so on a cold Wednesday afternoon, the study leave was put to great use again and me and Katy headed up north for the UEFA Cup tie against PSG.

Some fun and games with the windscreen washer fluid refill delayed us slightly but we were soon off in good time for the random journey which seemed to avoid every motorway possible on the way there.
It did however offer us some great views as we headed through the Derbyshire hills, covered in snow creating the impressive Winter Wonderland scenes.

I'm just glad we were snug in the car though after seeing the temperature drop further and further the higher we climbed up into the hills. I think the lowest it reached was minus four... so windows were immedieately opened to test the theory. Freezing!

We finally reached civilisation of Macclesfield and then onto Stockport which has the most Speed Cameras in the world with what seemed to be one every five minutes (not that we were complaining by the end of it after a kind of speed camera game developed. Very interesting game it was too.)

After travelling through Stockport for what seemed an age, we finally spotted the signs for Sport City, the area of Manchester that we were aiming for and pulled into the first "Man City Associated" Car Park that we found, complete with giant frozen puddle in the middle. We then headed off in the general direction of the game, with Katy gripping on to me for dear life so as not to slip over as the floor started to ice over.

What a stadium though:

We wandered around outside for a bit, bought another random scarf and checked out the club shop at all the lovely christmas tat that they had for sale. A rather odd cuddly Uncle Albert and Moonchester seemed to be the pick of the bunch though. Outside, we found the giant picture of a "goon" that would direct us back to the car after the game and Katy got confused by the sudden appearance of many French men who had arrived on the selection of coaches. One came over and we think tried to sell us a ticket although he could have been insulting our families - we just couldn't understand him!

With that, we headed inside of the stadium to warm up and get something to drink before leaving the concourse and getting the sight of that magical stadium. Although my heart will always be with Leicester City, being at the COM stadium is always something special and they are fast becomming my second team. (A very long way behind Leicester still for the record).

Moonchester though - absolute quality. No Filbert Fox but he's a pretty cool mascot none-the-less.

Customary away photo at random stadium of me and the person I'm with. Mine and Katy's first random game together.

In fact I think the Man City love is catching and the stadium got the thumbs up from her - the official Katy seal of approval.

The teams came out and I must say I was slightly disappointed that some of the main men were injured for this one. No Robinho. No Shaun Wright-Phillips. No Micah Richards. On the plus side though, the likes of Daniel Sturridge and Stephen Ireland were still included and it was my first chance to see Jo in action for Man City.

The PSG fans were brilliant throughout the game and at kick off they all stood, cramped together, scarfs aloft singing their anthem - was pretty special. They were superb though and bounced and sang all game, and even at one point, turned their back on the game as it looked like Man City might score. It's about the most crushing insult that they could have done.

The game itself was pretty dull to be honest and apart from a bright first 10 minutes, Man City didn't offer much going forward. Elano threaded a great ball through to Sturridge but his first touch was too heavy and it allowed the keeper to get a block in. The excitement did cause me to knock my bottle of coke over though and lose half the contents seeing as they had confiscated the lid (god knows why seeing as the stadium was half empty). It did break the ice with the guy in the seat next to us though and we chatted throughout the game about the fortunes of our two clubs and how they were in our position not too long ago.

A free kick fired wide by Elano was the only other noteable effort in front of us during the first half. PSG had a few efforts at the other end but to be honest it had nil nil written all over it.

The second half started in much the same way with neither seem looking like scoring even if we played all night. After 70 minutes though Giuly and Hoarau came on though and changed the game. From that moment on, it was all PSG and only some good goal-keeping and woeful finishing in front of goal stopped the visitors from taking all three points from this group tie.

The PSG fans went away though the happiest of the two sets of fans though even if they were kept behind after the game for 15 minutes for no real reason. They were a credit to french football though and came here to enjoy their night regardless of the result.

And so for the second random game running, it had ended goalless but once again I didn't regret going. It had been a great night with Katy and the journey home was such a laugh too as new ways were invented to keep her awake as she started to fade due to the long journey. This time we stuck to the motorway though and made good time on the way back to Leicester, leaving Katy with the long final treck to do on her own back to her neck of the woods.

Sadly this looks like being my final random adventure of 2008 and I'll be sticking to just the Leicester games until the new year. Some big games coming up though such as the "local" derby with Peterborough and the big clash with Leeds on boxing day. Should be some fun times, especially if we can keep the fun going. Next game up: Leicester v Southend. Please not another 0-0!

Game Thirty Four - Liverpool v West Ham

1 December 2008

When the calender year started, me and Helen made several new years resolutions dedicated to football events that we wanted to get done in the commencing 12 months. Most of them were random things such as see Hereford play or go to the majority of Leicester's away games. In fact all of them had been acheived to date except one..... and with a month remaining, that final challenge was completed. Anfield!

The trip itself would be bigger than any football adventure planned to date and it had the potential to go so badly wrong if trains were delayed or there was an issue with hotels and the like. The plan was for me to arrive early, head to Goodison Park and do a ground tour (13 minutes to get from the train station to the ground), then wait for Helen to arrive late on in the evening, watch the game and then make our way back to the hotel somehow.... the 13 minutes to get across the city was ambitious to say the least. Only one way to find out if it would work though.

So at 9am, the adventure began and I headed into Leicester for my first change of train and on to Nuneaton. So far so good.... until I saw that the next train was due to be delayed by 8 minutes.... With 13 minutes to get across Liverpool as it was, losing 8 minutes would make it near impossible. Bugger!

When the train finally arrived, I jumped on and found that without realising, I'd booked first class tickets (cheap as houses thanks to advanced booking and Young Person railcards) so had the luxury of plenty of room for the long journey to Scouse Land.

With the tour starting at 1pm, the train pulled into Liverpool lime street at 12:53 so it was a case of sprinting across the platform, diving head first into a taxi and just hoping they would let me join up slightly late..... Thankfully they did!

The tour started in the players lounge before heading up to look at all the trophys the club have in their possession. Nothing of major interest as all of them seemed to be token gifts from other clubs or for pre-season tournaments rather than for anything else. They also keep the players player of the year trophy on display but Arteta thought that was his to keep so its sitting proudly at his place in Spain rather than at Goodison and no one has the heart to ask for it back.

After that we headed out to the Dixie Dean suite and to the directors stand when all the executives sit. Great seats and all the home executives have special things under their seats which blow out hot air to keep them warm during the winter months... funnily enough this service isn't given to the away teams directors and they have to do with Everton blankets if they feel the chill. Classic!

Cracking views from up here in the middle tier of the main stand even if there is a pillar in view. Incidentally, there's always a spare seat kept for David Moyes due to the amount of times he gets sent to the stands.

Other random fact is that there's a rumour that went round about a second tier for the stand in the picture below. The "old wives tale" is that somewhere in Liverpool, there's a lock up where it's kept in pieces ready to be added on should the decision ever get the go ahead. No-one is fully sure how true this is though.

From here it was onto the away teams dressing room which was rather cramped considering about 20 people have to fit in here on match days. Its a far cry from the luxury you may expect in the premiership and isn't even soundproof so you can hear the crowd walking about overhead. They also still do the age old trick of putting the heating on in the summer and turning it off in the winter claiming that it's broken. Gotta love clubs that still stick with the old school pranks.

From here it was onto the home team dressing room which was much more what you'd expect from a team pushing for Europe. Plenty of space, massive widescreen TV, fridges and plenty of space for treatement should it be needed. This was also conveniently soundproofed... must be the credit crunch that stopped them doing both and nothing more sinister....

Random fact time - according to the Kit Man, Duncan Ferguson is the most generous player he's known and would always throw in a hundred quid or so to any whip round amongst the players. Not a lot by their weekly wages but apparentley most of them are tight as anything. In fact he says that if any of the tighter players swap shirts then he'll charge them the £50 for a replacement, but lets some of the others off.

Also the amount of XL and XXL shirts in that changing room was quite a shock!

After the dressing rooms it was time to head down the tunnel to the sound of Z cars blasting out the speakers - a nice touch. Does send a shiver down your spine coming out to that tune.

The view from the away teams dugout - I left the Everton fans to the home one and settled into the oppositions zone.

After that it was just a case of walking round the outside of the pitch. Had to cross over a gravel trap used to slow down pitch invaders which was rather odd it must be said.

The view from the away end.... where wooden seats are still at a premium.

Everton - The People's Club? I wonder if that's a small dig at their neighbours across the road?

A quick final photo of the Dixie Dean statue, a look in the club shop and then it was the short walk across Stanley Park to check out what Anfield had to offer ahead of the game later.

The famous slogan over one of many gates to the stadium. This is what it was all about - been quite a while since I've felt that buzz when arriving at a new ground.

I took a few minutes to stand and look at the Hillsborough memorial. It truly is one of those things that sends a shiver down you spine as you read the names and ages of the people who died on that fateful day. It's easier to get carried away at football but these things kind of put it all into perspective. Nice to see bunches of flowers left from Marseille fans too -these kind of incidents really unite the footballing world.

The surrounding area is 100% Liverpool FC and even the shops were dedicated to the club. While the main man would be out injured tonight, this is without a doubt the best chant in football.

Gotta get a picture or the famous kop logo while you're there don't ya?

Another statue - this time of the legend that was Bill Shankly. As the quote says, "He made the people happy" and boy did he. He's possibly the greatest manager ever seen in english football. A quick look around the club shop and purchase of another random scarf and the visit was nearly done for now.

After that it was a case of finding my way back into the city centre to check into the hotel. Now, never having been to this city before, the only clue I had as to where to go was from that rushed taxi journey earlier. The football ground guide website had commented that it was too far to walk and boy was it right. True I ventured off of the main roads a few times to take in some of the city but it must have taken about an hour and a half of walking around the random places. Some nice views around though

The hotel itself was amazing considering how cheap it was but I didnt have long to spend in there as I had to grab some food and head off to meet Helen from the train station before showing her the way to the hotel and let her get changed before we set off to the game. There was no way I was walking that route again so it was decided to get a taxi... now having done the journey once already I knew that it cost about £7 so when we were quoted £15 by one guy, he was soon sent on his way and we jumped in another one with a couple of Irish people and a local who was also heading to the game. Turned out to be cheaper than last time so god knows what the first taxi driver was trying to pull. Bore off son!

We spent a bit of time letting Helen look round the ground and then it was into the famous stadium - it was still hard to believe that we'd managed to get tickets for a premiership game here.

The concourse was small and cramped and very old fashioned.... as were the wooden seats in areas of the stand we were in - not what I expected at all.

Had to do the usual tourist picture of me with the ground as everyone else in the stadium seemed to be doing the same thing - the amount of different accents was unbelievable, especially the germans trying to sing behind us.

Just before kick off, the home fans brought out a massive Liverpool flag which rippled throughout the kop and put our efforts at the walkers stadium to shame.

Then it was the main event - the battle of the anthems. "I'm forever blowing bubbles" v "You'll Never Walk Alone." Sadly, the first was at the other end of the ground and didn't carry and the latter wasn't as impressive as it appears on TV. Maybe because it was just another league game and not a massive European night but it left me feeling a bit disappointed.

And then the game was underway and the Liverpool fans livened up accordingly with some deafening chants along the way. In full flow they really are quite impressive... sadly the same couldnt be said for what happened as the pitch.

Liverpool had all the early pressure and twice had efforts cleared off the line from Sammy Hyppia headers but just couldn't seem to convert. Gerrard fired into the side netting from close range and the game was pretty much played out in the west ham half from the start. A rare attack or two forward produced long range efforts from the visitors, the only one of note being a 30 yard thunderbolt from ex-liverpool player Craig Bellammy which smashed into the post and flashed across the face of the goal drawing gasps of relief from the Kop.

And so it remained goal-less at half time and we got a picture of the happy tourists together.

The second half followed the same story as Liverpool pushed forward with little reward. Free kicks were wasted, corners were cleared and when Benayoun fired a volley goalwards, Robert Green produced a brilliant save to push it over the bar. In fact, any effort thrown at Green, he was equal too as he later kept out Dirk Kuyt with his feet as the striker looked to slip the ball under him.

Even Steve Gerrard couldn't inspire the scousers tonight as he peppered the goal with wayward shots and he even did a comical airshot which saw him fall flat on his backside.

As the game crept towards injury time, West Ham came more and more alive. Carlton Cole headed the ball just wide, and another chance was wasted but it was not to be and the final whistle was met with a chorus of jeers from the home end. Hard to believe that this point had put them top of the premiership - some of these fans don't know how good they have it at times and it was really annoying to hear them react in this way.

But that was that and we had one quick final snap of the ground before heading for the exits and somehow getting back to the hotel.

Through sheer luck, we stumbled across a bus heading for Lime Street Station and so jumped on that and made the slow trip through traffic back to the city centre before the short walk back to our hotel.

With neither of us that tired, we headed down to the bar for a quick drink and to reflect on the day that had passed and also on famous away day trips from the past.... and what nice surroundings to do it in as well. Finally after a day of rushing round we could relax and enjoy what little remained of the evening.

Another photo in the hotel and then it was time to turn in for the night.

And so that was Anfield. The one stadium that we both really wanted and to be honest, it wasn't as brilliant as I thought it would be. Maybe it had been built up too much or maybe it was the fact that due to the nature of the game, we never got to see the Kop in full song celebrating another victory. I don't regret going though as it was such a great day in whole. Everything went to plan and it was another two grounds to tick off the list and a good laugh with a great friend. It was what football is all about.

Next up is another random trip and a journey back up north to the City of Manchester stadium once more.