Brentford 1-3 Reading: Bees stung after Blackman brace

Despite performing pretty well in every game so far this season, we were really struggling to convert that into results, and has only picked up three points from our four league games so far. Anyone that had been to watch us knew that results would come, but with only one game remaining before the international break it was important to get a result sooner rather than later. With a trip to Brentford upcoming – a ground where we were beaten 3-1 last season and our early season hopes had turned to dust – it was not particularly promising, and so I headed off to London hoping for the best but fearing the worst.

Brentford were formed in 1889, and whilst like most southern clubs spent they spent their early years in the Southern League, they were one of the founder members of the Third Division in 1920, having moved into their current ground Griffin Park in 1904 (making it one of the oldest in London). After that division was split and they were put into the Southern section, they spent the next decade as an unspectacular mid-table side. However, in the 1929-30 season they had an unbelievable record of winning every single home game, and despite missing out on promotion due to poor away results, ended up entering the second tier three seasons later. After a strong first season there, they won another promotion and in their first season in the top flight finished fifth. Successive sixth placed finishes followed before the Second World War, leaving Brentford entering a new era as a surprisingly successful team.

During the war, they were successful in the unofficial cup competitions, with Reading beating them in 1941 but winning the trophy the following season. The post-war period, on the other hand, saw a struggle for the West London club, with a relegation in their first full season back preceding an indifferent spell in the Second Division, and ultimately in 1953 they were relegated back to the third tier. A brief yo-yo saw them relegated to the Fourth Division in 1962, promoted again in 1963, and again spend another solitary year in the third tier in 1972-73, but after another few years of struggle in the basement division they were finally able to win another promotion and establish themselves in Division Three.

After another relegation in 1998, they bounced straight back up, and a further spell in League Two followed after a disastrous 2006-07 season saw yet another relegation. After an indifferent season there, they once again won promotion in 2009, and five years later it looked like glory days had returned to Griffin Park after Mark Warburton led the side to the Championship. Last season, the Bees were the surprise package, taking a number of scalps and eventually finishing fifth, and despite a heavy aggregate defeat to Middlesbrough in the play-offs and Warburton leaving following a re-structure by the board, the club are tipped to have another successful season, with a return to the Premiership and the club’s glory days the key aim.

Griffin Park, as mentioned above, is one of the older grounds in London, and it really does show. Situated in a residential area, it’s famous for having a pub on all four corners of the ground, with one of them being used as a filming location in Green Street (even though it was based in West Ham, the other side of London). Away fans used to have the end terrace which is now given to home fans, and instead visitors get the bizarre double-decker structure with a small terrace below and the top tier having the most cramped seating I have ever experienced at a football match. The two sides are basic seating with a number of supporting pillars, and it seems like it’s extremely difficult to get a good view with any comfort at this ground. They are planning a new stadium, but it appears that until this is built the club would have to ground share if they got a further promotion – as it stands, the league rules dictate that they would have to close the terraces if they stayed up again this season, which would restrict the capacity to a tiny level.

For me, Brentford was one of the easiest trips in the league, and the journey to Griffin Park took just over an hour by train, even with a stop at West Hampstead to get some breakfast and a short wait for a bus at Queensbury. It was a beautiful day and it was nice to stand outside and speak to friends before the match, and after watching the teams arrive we headed inside the ground. Whilst we were in the seating, my seat was at the end of a row, meaning I could rotate a little and get some proper legroom over the steps, but others had to cramp their legs up because of the lack of legroom for supporters.

Reading named their familiar line-up, with the main surprise being the inclusion of new Peruvian winger Paolo Hurtado on the bench. Brentford were restricted with a number of injuries, but started Danish striker Lasse Vibe, who Reading had been chasing the previous winter. The biggest concern for most fans was the new pitch, which had been laid during the season after the Bees had cancelled their match against Birmingham after a number of their players had suffered nasty injuries on the old surface. As a result of the hasty work, it looked patchwork, and there was a photo going around of Chris Gunter actually being able to pull up a section of it when looking around before kick-off!

Despite Reading suffering badly last season, they started in complete control, and after a number of dangerous attacks Orlando Sa hung in the air for an age to head home a great cross from Hal Robson-Kanu. Before long, our lead was doubled when Nick Blackman rifled home an exquisite free-kick that no goalkeeper in the world would have got near, and with more chances before half time it almost seemed too easy. In the second half, we sat back a little and Vibe scored an absolute peach of a goal after turning Paul McShane, but Reading still never really looked in doubt, and in injury time David Button bought down Blackman (who was on a counter attack) to give away a penalty. Despite a bizarre refereeing decision meaning Button wasn’t sent off, Blackman coolly converted to make the scoreline reflective of the Royal’s dominance during the match and send the away fans home happy.

With the international break looming large, it was fantastic to sign off with such a big win and a truly convincing performance, something that the side had been building up to all season. With McCleary and Hurtado hopefully fit before the next game and new signings possibly coming in, it looks like good times could once again be ahead for Reading.

Portsmouth 1-2 Reading: Pompey play up, but it’s not enough

With our league form proving extremely frustrating at times – we were doing enough defensively to see out games, but seemed unable to convert any of our chances into goals despite having more shots than any other team in the league – it was a welcome break to play again in the Capital One Cup. Our sole win this season was in extra time against Colchester, and once again we were drawn away (we haven’t had a home draw in a cup match in 8 attempts now) to a side in a division below us. Although Portsmouth were a League Two side, I don’t think anybody was taking this match lightly, not least because they had already knocked out Championship side Derby County in the first round.

It was our first trip to Fratton Park in four years, as the Hampshire side have suffered well-publicised financial problems and have since dropped into the lower levels of the Football League. However, we seem to have a poor record against Pompey, not winning there in nearly 18 years and five attempts, including the famous 7-4 defeat which still holds the record as the highest scoring Premier League game of all time. Whilst both sides have changed substantially since even the last encounter, there was still a trepidation when the draw was announced that we would struggle, and with some of our fanbase insistent that we should always beat teams below us, there was a real risk this game could have damaged our confidence.

Portsmouth are a historic club, having been formed in 1898 and after early success in the Southern League were elected into the Football League in 1920. Within a few years they achieved substantial success and in 1927 made their way into the top flight for the first time, where they became an early powerhouse of English football. In 1939 they won the FA Cup (the last team to win it before World War II interrupted all competitive football, meaning Pompey have the record of holding the title for the longest period of time so far), and won consecutive league titles in 1949 and 1950 in front of massive crowds due to the area’s military history, being one of a handful of side to have won it back-to-back. Another few good seasons followed but relegation in 1959 led to another in 1961, but the side bounced straight back up to the second tier.

Pompey then spent a long portion of their history in the second division, although early financial problems led to another relegation to the third tier in 1976, and two years later they hit their lowest ebb so far, falling into the fourth division. Within two years they were back in the third tier, and three years later there was another promotion. Again, they spent a long time at this level, save for a single season back in the top flight in 1987-88 (where more financial problems saw them struggle). Financial worries continued to plague the club, and they ended 1998 entering administration, before Milan Mandaric bought them out early the following year. With the Serbian businessman investing heavily despite the club’s history, Harry Redknapp led the team back into the Premier League in 2003, leading to another successful spell in Pompey’s history.

A series of mid-table finishes led to a number of expensive signings coming in, including Kanu and Jermain Defoe alongside record signing Benjani, and this led to stronger finishes. They won the 2008 FA Cup Final in a season where a number of big sides had crashed out to lower league teams, and two years later reached the final again, the two big games sandwiching a season in Europe where sides like AC Milan visited Fratton Park, with the likes of Kaka, Ronaldinho and Filippo Inzaghi gracing the historic club. However, the big spending soon caught up with Portsmouth, and relegation in 2010 was in the mire of a succession of owners (with four separate owners at various points in their relegation season), player sales and an eventual winding-up petition. Fans clashed with former unpopular owner Alexandre Gaydamak, players went unpaid, and for a while it looked like they would cease to exist.

A difficult first season back in the Championship saw a number of players leave, with the squad broadly made up of youngsters (although some of the higher-paid ones remained, with clubs not willing to match the expensive contracts). A sixteenth placed finish seemed respectable given the mass of problems at the club, but the following season was disastrous. Another takeover in the summer led to a few signings, but by February they were once again in administration after an arrest warrant was issued for their chairman and his assets were seized, which meant a 10 point deduction which left them near the foot of the table and meant the club suffered relegation back to League One. That season saw them start with yet another 10 point deduction, and with the entire playing squad departing a new team formed from nothing wasn’t up to scratch, and with a 23 match winless streak they suffered immediate relegation into League Two. On the positive side, the Supporters’ Trust struck a deal to buy the club from administrators, and despite a few difficult recent seasons in the basement tier they have stabilised and finally sorted out their finances.

Mr Pompey

This was my third visit to Fratton Park, having first been there during Portsmouth’s first season after relegation from the Premier League. They drew 1-1 with Reading that time, with the majority of their squad being formed from the younger players who were on less expensive contracts. I visited again last season for their FA Cup game against Aldershot Town, where I was sat in the home end, and was again blown away by how good the atmosphere was. Drawing the highest attendances in League Two, they have one of the best fanbases in the country, which can only be helped by the famous “Mr Pompey” John Westwood, who is instantly recognisable to every football supporter in the land. His bugle can be heard at every match, and is nowadays part of the club’s heritage, alongside the famous Pompey chimes. It seems to match the ground perfectly – whilst Fratton Park is old and a little tired, it’s still more than capable of hosting Premier League football, and has so much character in every stand, as well as having the famous Tudor entrance. The fans really do generate a great atmosphere, and it’s one of my favourite stadia in the lower leagues.

Reading, with a number of players still out injured, named a fairly strong side. Ali Al-Habsi was given a game in place of regular goalkeeper Jonathan Bond, whilst Michael Hector also broke back into the team, and Simon Cox was given a start to rest Orlando Sa. Portsmouth, on the other hand, rested a lot of their players, making 8 changes from their league game the previous weekend against Morecambe, with only one forced after Enda Stevens was sent off. In credit to the Hampshire side, they started very strongly, making good use of the ball and breaking forward well. However, with the quality the Royals have at the back, there was once again no real threat – at least until Hector smashed the ball at Al-Habsi on the edge of the box when there was only half a yard between them, giving the ball to Conor Chaplin. Al-Habsi tried to chase him, but Chaplin easily evaded him and scored from a wide angle to give the home side the lead.

Clarke obviously gave the team a good talking to at half time, as after the break they looked rejuvenated. 20 minutes in, Nick Blackman added some end product to his mazy run and scored from inside the box with goalkeeper Paul Jones not even responding to draw the sides level. Reading seemed to smell blood and started to go forward with more potency, and although Simon Cox struggled playing almost as a lone striker at times, his replacement Garath McCleary (making his first appearance of the season after suffering an injury whilst away on international duty with Jamaica in the summer) added some energy. After a shot didn’t quite make it in to the net, the ball fell to McCleary who tapped home a simple ball from close range to send over 2,000 Reading fans into delirium (well, we had just scored two goals in a game for the first time all season) and win the game with six minutes to go.

As the game ended, we were mostly glad that there was no extra time, and relieved to have gotten away with a game that could easily have gone against us. We’ve got either Everton or Barnsley in the next round, which again could be very tough, but for now it’s just good to have got a couple of goals.

Reading 0-0 MK Dons: Another stalemate at home

After a very frustrating start to the season, where defensively we are already looking strong but seem toothless up front, it was starting to get to the point where every match for Reading was extremely important. After dropping a point in the dying moments in the week away at Sheffield Wednesday, we had only got two points from our opening three matches, and we were in dire need of points. With a home game up next, it seemed a perfect opportunity – however, we haven’t scored at home since the opening few minutes against Cardiff on April 4^th last season, and had failed to score in 10 of our 13 home league matches in 2015. Whilst we seem solid enough to not worry about conceding, it still looked extremely bleak, and yet another 0-0 draw seemed inevitable. Several members of our fanbase knew little of our opponents and, only knowing they had been in League One last season, expected a win, but with MK Dons having a solid start to the season it was obvious it would be a challenging game.

Wimbledon were founded in 1889 as Wimbledon Old Central, and spent the vast majority of their history in non-league. After eventually winning three consecutive Southern League titles, at the time the highest level outside the Football League, between 1975 and 1977, they were elected to the Football League, sparking the beginning of one of the most remarkable stories in English football. A promotion to the third tier and subsequent relegation back to the fourth followed, with low crowds at Plough Lane a serious issue prompting the board to consider moving the club as early as 1980. The club continued to yo-yo between the bottom two tiers of the Football League, before the appointment of Dave Bassett turned the club’s fortunes around, with consecutive promotions in 1983 and 1984 taking the South London side to the second division.

After surviving their first year at the second tier, which must have seemed like a boring season after their earlier escapades, Wimbledon were promoted to the top flight for the first time ever in 1986, and had a great first season with a sixth-place finish. With a number of strong players and a great team spirit, the team soon became known as The Crazy Gang, and in 1988 pulled off one of the most fondly remembered FA Cup shocks of all time, beating Liverpool in the final thanks to a goal from former Reading player Lawrie Sanchez and a penalty save from current Royals goalkeeper coach Dave Beasant. However, with new restrictions on English grounds coming with the Taylor Report, they were forced to move out of Plough Lane and, prompting crowds to become incredibly low. Indeed, whilst the club stayed in the top flight for a number of years and became part of the Premier League after it was formed in 1992, Wimbledon still hold the record for the lowest ever crowd in that era, with just 3,039 fans turning up for a top-flight match against Everton.

Eventually relegated in 2000, it soon became clear that the team needed to move to stay afloat, after financial difficulties mixed in with miniscule ticket revenue took its toll and the club started to operate out of a portakabin. With the board desperately attempting to find a new home, every single London borough refused to allow them to build a home in their areas, forcing the club to look outside of the capital. Eventually, nearby Milton Keynes, a new town formed as an overspill for residents of London, were receptive to hosting the side, and with no other option the club made the 60 mile journey away in order to survive. The idea had a precedent, with Arsenal also moving across the capital in the past (which may well have been a bigger deal at the time, with transport not as plentiful back then), Clyde and Meadowbank also travelling to new towns in Scotland, and Barnet also moving to a new borough in London.

With their fans having already abandoned the club a year before the move, a much reduced fanbase was increased with new supporters from Milton Keynes, prompting a name change in 2004 to MK Dons. Pressure from former Wimbledon fans who had left the club to die (forming a new club, called AFC Wimbledon, who ironically don’t play in Wimbledon either) forced the Dons to donate their previous trophies to the borough of Merton in which Wimbledon is located, but with the entire squad remaining throughout the rebrand (including club legend Dean Lewington) it’s clear that MK Dons is still the continuation of the historic Wimbledon FC. After spending a few years at the National Hockey Stadium, the originally planned stadium:mk was completed and the side moved into their impressive new home. After giving several young managers a chance, including Paul Ince and Roberto Di Matteo, the club appointed Karl Robinson in 2010 and after a few good years at League One level have finally gained promotion back to the Championship.

I’m sure this will make the “football traditionalists” and some of those who claim to be “against modern football” lose their minds, but I actually have a bit of a soft spot for MK Dons. Whilst they get a massive amount of flak for their move, they’ve actually got a good setup down in Buckinghamshire. With Di Matteo making his managerial name there, and Karl Robinson looking like a promising young boss starting out at the club, it’s clear that they give their managers a chance (especially as many chairmen might have fired Robinson for not getting promotion as quickly as they might have liked to). In addition, they utilise the loan market well, giving a chance for players such as Patrick Bamford and Benik Afobe to make names for themselves, and also have a good youth setup, bringing Dele Alli into league football. In fact, the only thing that mildly irritates me about them is the £8 car parking charge (I’ve been there a few times where the parking has cost more than the match ticket) and the fact that, but even that’s about average at clubs nowadays.

This was the first time that Reading have played MK Dons since their change of name, although one of my first ever football matches back in 2002 was against Wimbledon, in which future Royals captain Jobi McAnuff scored for the away side in the 90^th minute. Being only 7 at the time, I don’t really remember it, but it was nice to come full circle and watch another match against that team. It was also a meaningful game for a few of those involved as well – Simon Church and Matt Upson were former Royals in the Dons side, and as previously mentioned their heroic goalkeeper Dave Beasant was now coaching for us. Reading named a very similar line-up to the side that nearly beat Sheffield Wednesday in the week, with only Jordan Obita coming in for Andrew Taylor, whilst the visitors gave a debut to new loan signing Diego Poyet, but keeping their defence very similar to the unit that got them promotion the previous season.

The match followed a routine that is becoming all too familiar. Reading’s defence, epitomised by the exceptional partnership of Paul McShane and Anton Ferdinand, looked solid and we were never really in too much doubt of conceding (except for one moment where MK Dons were played through, and we were all worried until we realised it was Simon Church – although he hit the post, so perhaps he’s getting better). However, despite creating chances going forward none of them were that promising and from the off it was clear that we wouldn’t score. Orlando Sa looked useful as per usual, but doesn’t seem to be a goalscorer and would be best utilised alongside the traditional number 9 that we sorely need. Once again Danny Williams and Stephen Quinn had good games despite being shifted out to the wing, and it took some good defensive work from the visitors to prevent them from going closer to scoring.

In the second half, the Dons looked like they were going a little more defensive, with the team at times putting 11 men behind the ball and really frustrating the build-up of Reading attacks. It seemed a classic away performance though, and you have to give Robinson credit for reading the game and adapting his side to keep the Royals at bay for the 90 minutes. With full time coming, 0-0 was a result that we could all have predicted from early on, and the only real positives to take from the game were the continuing quality of the defence (3 clean sheets in 4 games, and the one goal conceded in that time was the howler from Bond, which you can’t blame on the back four) and the fact that DJ Megaparty seems to have disappeared. I also have to praise the MK Dons fans, who took over 1,300 fans from Buckinghamshire and made a lot of noise, backing their team well whilst never resorting to abuse. If only the “against modern football” crowd that have a chip on their shoulder about the Dons took a look at the fanbase, they might see that it’s a cracking club who seem to be pushing on well.

Still, 3 points from 4 games really isn’t good enough, and whilst I have full faith in Clarke and can see the performances deserve more, it is starting to make all of our upcoming matches must-wins, which is a little concerning this early in the season.

Sheffield Wednesday 1-1 Reading: Frustrating

Last season, I had a week where I travelled up north nearly every day. On the Tuesday, I travelled up to Scunthorpe for our League Cup second round game, travelling back on the Wednesday via a congested A1. Thursday saw me travelling to Hull to tick off their ground, watching their Europa League qualifier against Lokeren. Another overnight stay there saw me travel back south on the Friday, before an early start on the Saturday meant a long trip to Middlesbrough and back for the league match. At the end of that week I was exhausted, and promised myself that I wouldn’t have another week like that. But I think we all break promises to ourselves.

Last Saturday, I had been to Morecambe, with the Sunday seeing me back at Reading for the Leeds match. Monday was a local trip, but the following day saw a visit to York and back, getting in during the early hours of the morning. This made it even more tiring having to get up at a reasonable time on Wednesday morning, knowing I would once again be heading 150 miles north to Yorkshire, this time for a trip, somewhat fittingly, to Sheffield Wednesday. In all fairness, it was a trip I was looking forward to, as Hillsborough is one of the most impressive grounds in the Championship (and, with a capacity of nearly 40,000, the largest in the ground, and the ninth largest club stadium in England), but with it being a midweek it would be yet another late finish. Mind you, after seeing some of the trips that League Two fans had to make the previous day (Carlisle’s fans apparently returned from their trip to Plymouth at 5AM), it felt like a local trip!

Sheffield Wednesday are the fifth oldest club in the Football League (only one place higher on that list than Reading), but aren’t even the oldest team in the city! Sheffield FC, now playing in the eighth tier, were formed in 1857, and are the oldest football club in the world. With the unusual name given after the club was formed by cricketers who played on Wednesdays, the Owls were a top side from early on, reaching the 1890 FA Cup Final and joined the Football League two years later. Barring the odd season, they stayed in the top tier until the 1960s, returning to the top flight in 1984 when they once again became one of the biggest clubs in the country. Their one season in the second tier, in 1990-91, saw them win the League Cup as well as promotion, and with another return to the top flight Wednesday regularly competed at the top end of the Premier League.

Things started to fall apart though, and in 2003 they were relegated to the second tier, starting a difficult spell as the fallen giants spent time in League One before only recently returning to the Championship. Having recently been bought out by Thai businessman Dejphon Chansiri, this season has seen a large number of promising foreign players join, and ticket prices rise massively – their top games will now cost £52 to watch, whilst our game (the second lowest price category) saw prices rise from £10 last season to £30 for away fans, and £36 for Wednesday fans to sit in the side stands. Crazy pricing for the Championship, but it looks like people are still sucking it up and going, so I’m not sure anyone can claim it’s that counter-intuitive.

My Dad would be joining me for this trip, as he tries to do a good number of away games every season. He last visited Hillsborough in the 1980s, as he had a university friend who had moved to Sheffield who he used to go to games with. We set off early, as the trip was mostly up the M1, which we knew could be painful. The road was true to form, with over 50 miles of roadworks and 50mph stretches enforced by average speed cameras (I don’t mind this when it’s protecting workers, but on the way up there was literally nothing going on, and the workers were nowhere to be seen) costing us a good chunk of time. After a quick stop for lunch at Leicester services, we ploughed on and found some street parking within a couple of minutes’ walk from the ground. After buying a programme we headed round the ground and had a look at the Hillsborough memorial, placed there after the tragic disaster which took the lives of 96 Liverpool fans.

After watching the teams arrive (I was very pleased to see Tarique Fosu return to the team after his injury), we went off to get some dinner, finding a chippy not far from the ground where we got dinner for £4.25 for both of us, before heading inside the ground. Reading, as usual, were situated in the upper tier of the Leppings Lane end, where we were given one block of seating with such a small away following expected. It’s a good view from these seats, but with the ground being so massive it seems hard to get a bad view in most seats (apart from the ones behind the giant posts holding up each end stand). Opposite was the imposing Spion Kop, holding over 11,000 seats, with either side stand holding a similar number of fans. All the stands are giant structures and of a massive height, and it’s easy to see why the ground has hosted games in the 1966 World Cup and 1996 European Championships.

Reading named a slightly surprising side, with former Player of the Season Jordan Obita dropped to make way for Andrew Taylor, and Nick Blackman also dropped to the bench. The first half was similar to all our games so far, with very little coming in the way of creativity up front, but Paul McShane and Anton Ferdinand looking extremely solid at the back and Stephen Quinn being the hardest working player on the pitch. I’ve predicted most of our games so far this season to be 0-0 draws, and the first half made this look most likely yet again.

However, the second half was infinitely better. Steve Clarke obviously gave a great team talk, as instantly we had some real attacking impetus, and could have scored a couple of times before Danny Williams put us ahead with a good finish on 49 minutes. Reading had a few more chances, with Orlando Sa heading at the goalkeeper from a good corner routine, and with the defence staying solid it looked like we might nick all 3 points from a tricky fixture. However, right at the death, Jonathan Bond inexplicably came out when he really didn’t need to, and dropped the ball right at the feet of Modou Sougou, giving him the easiest chance he’ll ever get and sending the home fans wild. It was the most frustrated I’ve ever been at a match – the game was ours for the taking but a horrendous piece of goalkeeping cost us 2 points, meaning we’re stuck on 2 from 3 games and already playing catch-up early in the season.

On the plus side, despite parking right next to the ground we were able to get away instantly and, with my satnav taking us away from the diversion created by the M1 closure, were on the motorway really quickly. It took us just under 3 hours to get home despite the endless roadworks and lane closures, which was impressive, but the whole trip was so frustrating just from one moment of madness. MK Dons on Saturday will be a tough game, with them also having a good start, and although we have a chance, the points we have already dropped makes it a must-win game.

York City 1-0 Yeovil Town: Proper football

It’s surprising how one game can change so many plans at once. When Leeds V Doncaster was announced to be on TV on a Thursday, our game against them that weekend was moved to a Sunday to prevent congestion, and as a result of that the midweek trip to Hillsborough was moved, rather aptly, to Wednesday. It was a good thing I was driving to Sheffield this season for the first time rather than getting the train, as it would have wrecked my plans, but instead it opened up opportunities for new ones. On the Saturday I had a long day out with a trip to Morecambe and back for their local derby against Accrington Stanley, and with the Tuesday free I was keen to take another opportunity to tick off one of a dwindling number of new grounds.

With only 10 to choose from, and them all up north, it was tough to find a trip I could do in an evening. However, after some closer checking, it looked possible to get to York and back without an overnight stay, as it was only halfway along a main line rather than at one end (meaning trains would carry on later through the evening). With a return ticket booked for under £15, it was all sorted, and another chance to get closer to the 92 was in my grasp.

The original York City were founded in 1908, but after deciding to stop playing during the First World War, they were reformed in 1922. Traditionally spending their playing years in the basement division of the Football League, they were relegated to the Conference in 2004 and took 8 years to bounce back from the difficult league, with a win over Luton Town being one of the many clashes between the two sides in the division that led to a fairly nasty rivalry. They’ve played at Bootham Crescent since 1932, although they have been planning to move out to a new ground for a number of years now, as it is away from the city centre and starting to look a little tired.

Yeovil Town are older, having been formed in 1895 but have traditionally been a non-league side, spending the vast majority of their history in the Conference since the league’s formation, save for a brief spell in the sixth tier. However, under the stewardship of Gary Johnson the Somerset side were promoted to the Football League for the first time in their history in 2003, and within two years had reached League One. Eight seasons in the third tier culminated in a play-off victory over Brentford (once again under Gary Johnson, who had returned for his second spell in charge of the Glovers), meaning the minnows achieved the incredible feat of playing in the Championship. This only lasted one season, but victories over former European Cup champions Nottingham Forest and previous Premier League sides Watford, Blackpool, Birmingham City and Sheffield Wednesday will live long in the memory of fans. The following season in League One was a disaster and a second consecutive relegation left them back in the fourth tier, where they haven’t had the best of starts.

As usual, I had booked the cheapest trains possible, meaning I would be in York in the early afternoon for the match. I had partly planned this because it’s such a famous and beautiful city that I wanted to look around, but shortly after arriving into York station it was clear that the heavy rain would scupper this. I made the short walk to the local Wetherspoons, which is becoming something of a tradition for me, where I had lunch and a drink, and it was located next to one of the city gates, so I got at least some sightseeing in. After heading back to the station, I tried to work out somewhere nearby under cover, and the only real option was the railway museum, which seemed a bit geeky but, eager to just stay dry, I headed over there. To be fair, it wasn’t bad, with a chance to walk through a bullet train, but it’s not somewhere I’d head to for a day out. Still, it was free and I stayed dry, so I can’t really complain.

After a couple of hours, the rain looked like it was easing off, so I made the decision to walk up to the ground. Despite not really being in the city centre, Bootham Crescent was only about 15 minutes away from the station, and an easy route to follow once you had crossed over the river. It was a little bit strange in that you couldn’t see the stadium at all until you were literally right next to it, but it added to the charm of the old-fashioned ground. There was a small sign above the entrance leading to a very small car park, and the first thing you could see was a unique mish-mash structure forming the outside of the main stand. On the plus side, this provided a lot of cover from the elements, and it was good to stay dry again until the gates opened. Inside, it was full of character, with an impressive covered terrace at one end leading to the Popular Side (after paying a £1 upgrade fee at a booth, surely unique in the Football League?). Opposite this was the main stand, a very similar structure, and the ground was completed with the open away terrace at the other end.

The match was low in quality, with the pouring rain making the pitch somewhat difficult to play. York did look the more dangerous side, although Yeovil Town were no pushovers. Chances were at a premium and some strong challenges made the already unimpressed crowd even more frustrated, and the goal early in the second half was typical of the game. After a spell of pressure from the Minstermen, the ball was cleared and out of nowhere and former Yeovil Town midfielder James Berrett fired home a low shot from just outside the area. It wasn’t particularly spectacular, as the shot could easily have been stopped but it seemed to have evaded everyone. There wasn’t much more to happen during the game, and it ended with a bit of a whimper.

I did feel sorry for the Yeovil Town fans, as on an evening full of long trips (Carlisle travelled to Plymouth, Newport to Hartlepool, and Wycombe to Morecambe) they travelled nearly 600 miles to stand on an open terrace, get soaked and watch their team lose. Nearly 200 made the trip, which I thought was a great following considering the circumstances, and they were a credit to their team. No wonder they got a standing ovation from the home fans when the tannoy announced the size of their support.

For me, it was a 15 minute walk back to the station, and after a brief wait I was on an empty final train south. With the A1 closed, it was a bit of a detour back, but I was home before 1AM. It was a very long and rainy day, but a good trip out, and it was nice to be able to get another ground ticked off. Only 9 to go now!

Watford U21 1-3 Hull City U21: Young Hornets mauled by Tigers

Monday was due to be a day off from football, with a hectic schedule for me just a week after the season started, but with very little notice I decided to make a short journey to watch another game. With Watford being near to St Albans, the two clubs have always had some kind of link between them, but in recent years this seems to have strengthened, with the Hornets sending full strength teams down to Clarence Park for friendlies. For this season, St Albans were set to host U21 development squad fixtures for Watford, as is almost customary for teams to play youth games at nearby lower league grounds.

I always enjoy going to these games, as usually there are a few first team players involved, especially when they are recovering from injury – for instance, Jack Wilshere played against Reading U21 during his return from one of his many knocks last season – and with Watford having such a massive squad, there was a good chance of a few of them playing for the development team to keep up with match fitness. Admission is usually cheap as well, if not free, and tonight I only had to pay £3 to get in, and with no programme it made for a cheap evening out.

Because I decided to go at pretty much the last minute, I got into the ground as the teams were out on the pitch, and as I walked round to take my usual spot on the terrace the game started. I checked Twitter for the teams, and it looked like Watford had quite a strong side out; first team squad member Rene Gilmartin (aged 28, as after all you are allowed some overage players in your team) started in goal, and the centre half pairing was between Tommie Hoban (who played 27 league games last season, and 57 overall for the first team) and Algeria international Essaid Belkalem, who had played 3 games in the 2014 World Cup, including 120 minutes against Germany when the African side held the eventual champions to extra time. The majority of their side had played games for the first team, and many had played internationally at youth level as well. By comparison, I only recognised a couple of names in the Hull team, with Brian Lenihan having played a few Championship matches on loan at Blackpool last season before an injury, and Johan Ter Horst being a name mentioned quite a bit as a promising player.

From the start, Watford looked the more dangerous side, with Bernard Mensah having a couple of chances before firing home just 12 minutes in, but it only took 4 minutes for the Tigers to respond. Some sloppy defensive work (which was a little surprising, considering some of the bigger names in Watford’s team were defenders) led to an easy chance for Will Annan, who made no mistake to draw the visitors level. Suddenly, the away team started to grow in confidence, with Max Clark forcing a fine save from Gilmartin before Ter Horst picked up on a spilled shot to put Hull City ahead. With a lead established, they eased off a little bit but retained control despite a few late attacks by Watford before the interval.

The second half wasn’t quite as exciting as the first, with a bit more long ball being played as the Hornets pushed for an equaliser. A couple of Hull players also started to nag the officials, with Conor Townsend swearing like a trooper at the linesman for an extended period of time – I’m not quite sure why the referee didn’t put his foot down and send him off, as this is the level where they should be teaching the players to respect others within the game. The crowd weren’t too impressed either, and after a pretty fair challenge on him later on there was a threat of the game boiling over and becoming nasty, but the ref kept his cards in his pocket and managed to calm it down.

Hull, despite being in the lead and seeming happy with the result, continued to press a little more, and would have been unhappy to see Jarod Bowden head straight at Gilmartin on the hour mark. However, with 15 minutes to go another spill from Gilmartin led to Taylor Tombides doubling the visitor’s advantage and putting the result beyond doubt. Watford did try and press again, playing some nice passing football in the attacking half, but never really threatened in the final third again, with Mensah being forced to go out wide too often and losing his danger up top. There was almost another fight at the end over what looked like nothing, and I think the referee will be quite pleased to have ended it without too much actually happening.

Perhaps 3-1 was slightly harsh on Watford, who didn’t dominate but likewise weren’t outclassed as the score suggests, but at this level the result seldom matters. A few of these players will surely go out on loan and get some key first team experience, but for now it was good to see a number of decent players play in such a relaxed environment.

Reading 0-0 Leeds United: Someone get rid of DJ Megaparty please!

After 3 and a half months away, it was finally time to return to the Madejski Stadium for a league game; the bread and butter of the season. The fixture computer had drawn us away first game for a few years in a row now, and with the League Cup fixture also taking place away from home it was a long overdue return to the stadium. We were playing Leeds, although it had been moved to the Sunday as the Yorkshire club had played on Thursday night in the cup against Doncaster, and had requested to move our fixture back so they could have enough time to recover (I have no idea how they manage to cope with the Christmas and Easter fixture congestion if they can’t manage 2 games in 3 days when they should be at the peak of their fitness!).

As usual, I got there early to meet up with my friends down there. Various members of our group had been to games so far but it was the first time we had all been there together, which was great. One of the new things we noticed were the various Carabao stalls set up around the ground, handing out shots of the energy drink that our new sponsors produced. The general consensus was that it wasn’t the nicest tasting thing in the world, and with it having 40% sugar I can’t see it going down to well either. They were taking photos of everyone trying it against their company background for what looked to be an advertising drive, and we later saw some of these photos on the big screen inside the ground during the second half.

After a quick drink and bite to eat in the hotel bar, I headed round to the north stand to meet my parents and Aunt and Uncle, who tempted me round with the offer of a free ice cream. Before long, we had taken our seats in the ground, where we were very disappointed to see that DJ Megaparty has still got a job. For anyone who hasn’t visited the Madejski Stadium in the last few months, DJ Megaparty is our new stadium announcer, who loves the sound of his own voice and can’t think of anything better to do than to scream out American-style lines, trying his best to take away the atmosphere from the Madejski and make us seem tinpot. Seriously, nobody listens to him anymore when he bills the game as “edge of your seat excitement here at the home of the Royals”, especially when most of our home matches have been dull enough to bore you to sleep recently.

However, the biggest change of the day was with about 15 minutes to go until kick-off, when the new song made its debut. Nearly everyone would have heard about this one – one of our shareholder and spokesperson for our ownership consortium, Lady Sasima, had penned a song for the club as a mark of her enthusiasm, the news of which had gone down with much bemusement. In all fairness, it wasn’t that bad, and the video for it worked quite well – if nothing else, everyone sat up and noticed when the special effects came in! Before the match, there had been some tall boxes stationed around the perimeter of the pitch which looked like Carabao branded drinks chillers, but during the chorus of the song they started to fire flames out of the top. Even though they were stationed around the tunnel and quite a distance from us, we could still feel the heat, so I really hope we keep hold of them and use them during some of our winter midweek matches! The entire consortium then gave a long and somewhat confused speech to welcome us to the new season and kicked some signed footballs into the crowd, whilst the Leeds fans drowned the whole event out with a rendition of “Marching on Together”.

The flamethrowers got another outing as the teams walked out to the pitch (another American touch to the matchday experience), and DJ Megaparty got rid of our traditional rallying call and instead told us to “Roar for the Royals, come on you Rs!”.

Reading got off to an ideal start, attacking early on, with Hal Robson-Kanu finally doing something useful and nearly breaking into the box before being cut down by Sol Bamba within 3 minutes. It should probably have been a red card for Bamba as it was a last man challenge, but the referee appeared to bottle it and only booked him. Norwood didn’t do too well with the resulting free-kick, and that somewhat set the tone for the rest of the game. As with the last few matches we’ve played, we looked good going forward but never really threatened to actually score, and although Leeds had some chances as well our defence looked solid and we were always confident of a clean sheet. On 21 minutes, the entire stadium – including the Leeds fans – gave a minute’s standing ovation for Eamonn Dolan, the manager of the club’s extremely successful academy for over 10 years, who has just been diagnosed with cancer for the second time in his life. It was great to see such support, and I think everyone appreciated the away fans joining in as well.

Not much more happened before half-time, where DJ Megaparty was eager to embarrass himself further. I’m sure he was very excited to try out our “new” game, which was a copycat of the “fan tries to kick the ball into the net” that most clubs have, but he literally didn’t shut up for the entire 15 minutes. Particularly woeful was his attempt to get 2 of the kids doing the half-time penalty shoot-out to do the “Royal roar”, when they both, at about 10 years old, realised how terrible the idea was, and didn’t bother trying. In response to that failure, he headed into the crowd to try and interview some fans about the match, most of whom refused to talk to him, so he ended up talking to himself over the microphone for the remainder of the interval. Seriously, whoever hired him needs to lock themselves in a dark room for a few hours and think about their decision – we were there for football, not to hear his voice all afternoon.

The second half didn’t bring much more of note, mainly following the theme of the first. It’s painfully obvious that we need a proper striker, as although Orlando Sa looked good and got through some solid work today he’s not a poacher. With the signing of pacy winger Paolo Hurtado now completed, we should start to create a bit more but we still look a bit toothless in the box. We did go close with a Jordan Obita free kick towards the end, but ultimately a 0-0 draw was never in doubt. It was a positive display defensively, but realistically I don’t think anybody enjoyed the day with the new corporate entertainment that DJ Megaparty is trying to bring. I genuinely didn’t ever think that the “matchday experience” would be able to ruin a football match, but now I think everybody realises differently.

Morecambe 1-0 Accrington Stanley: Shrimps break the duck

Despite starting the season planning to tick off as many of the remaining league grounds as possible, I had only been to two new ones since the start of July. With the league season having started, I’d now be limited in opportunities due to following Reading home and away, so when the Royals had their game against Leeds moved to a Sunday due to the Yorkshire side playing on a Thursday in the League Cup, it was a perfect opportunity to visit another one of my remaining stadia. My list was starting to get very short indeed, with only 11 left to visit, so choice was a little limited, especially with some of those sides obviously playing away that day.

In the end, I wanted to cross off one of the grounds with a longer trip, but one that was still cheap to get to with reasonably short notice, meaning that a trip up to the North West quickly became ideal. The most appealing fixture there was Morecambe hosting a local derby against Accrington Stanley, potentially a grudge match between arguably two of the smallest sides in the Football League. I had actually been to the reverse of this fixture last season, as Stanley were playing a number of Friday night home games to attract fans of bigger clubs, and it tied in with an away trip to Blackburn that weekend.

Morecambe were formed in 1920, and spent the vast majority of their history in local leagues, becoming a regular fixture in the Lancashire Combination. 1995 saw the Lancashire side reach the Conference National (meaning they’ve only been in the top 5 tiers for 20 years), but quickly became a successful team at that level. In 2007 the Shrimps won promotion to the Football League, where they have stayed ever since. Their current stadium, the Globe Arena, was built in 2010, and current manager (and club legend) Jim Bentley was appointed the following year, with him now sitting as the fifth-longest serving manager out of the 92.

Accrington Stanley are a similarly small side, but with significantly more history. Their twitter account bills them as “the biggest little club in the world”, and I think that’s probably a fair description. With Accrington being one of the 12 founder clubs of the Football League back in 1888 and disbanding in 1896, local rivals Stanley Villa took on the town’s name and spent years in the lower reaches of the league system before themselves going bust in 1966. Two years later they reformed and spent a while in non-league, and one famous milk advert later (Accrington Stanley, who are they? Exactly!) they finally returned to League Two in 2006.

For me, it was an extremely long day, and when booking everything I’m not quite sure I knew what I was letting myself in for. The service from Lancaster to Morecambe was inconsistent at best, so to guarantee arriving at a reasonable time I had to board the 7:43 from London Euston. Nearly four hours later I was sharing a one carriage special with a few dozen of the Stanley Ultras, all of whom headed for the pubs upon arrival into Morecambe. I wanted to be a little more relaxed, and after heading to the seafront I set off to find the statue of the town’s most famous son, well-loved comedian Eric Morecambe. In his legendary pose, it’s one of the best statues around, and it was great to get a photo with it.

After that, it was time to head off to the ground. It’s about a mile from the beach, which is easily walkable, but I needed to get a bus to Lancaster after the game so I picked up a day ticket and got a ride to the ground into the bargain. What initially surprised me about the stadium was that, whilst it’s still in the town itself (it’s surrounded by houses), there’s not much around it at all. I could understand it being like that if it was in the middle of nowhere, but with the exception of one bar-restaurant on the corner there was nothing in immediate view. I picked up my ticket and got what was a fairly good programme from the club shop, and headed inside.

The Globe Arena is definitely one of the better new build stadia, but it still seems a little bit strange to me. The main stand was certainly nice and smart, being steep and having good legroom, but it was somewhat odd to have less seats in the middle of the stand. Opposite me was an open terrace, which to me was a bizarre choice for a new ground, but it seemed fairly popular with the fans. At each end were covered terraces, with the West end hosting the home fans being a larger affair – possibly one of the bigger ones around at this level (but still nowhere near the size of Exeter’s Big Bank) – and the East end being raised for the away fans but also looking fairly large. In all, it was a smart ground but felt a little old-fashioned with the amount of standing available, but I can see why it was built that way with terracing still being so popular (and, realistically, the club having such a low chance of getting into the Championship where seating begins to be enforced).

The hosts had not beaten Accrington since they had reached the Football League, and not in any competition for over a decade, but with the two sides being rivals this was still going to be an exciting derby game. Adding to this was the fact that both teams had a number of players who had played for the other, and a sizable travelling contingent from Accrington. In truth, Accrington started in control, but never really threatened up top, with Morecambe providing a number of dangerous breaks and deservedly took the lead just 13 minutes in when Aaron Wildig turned home from short range with what was a very good finish. From then on, the hosts never really looked like dropping the points, although a shocking miss from former Liverpool youngster Adam Morgan with 15 minutes really didn’t help Stanley.

Morecambe also had a goal disallowed for reasons that nobody really understood. With a floating cross put in, it was turned home from short range before Stuart Atwell (who, since Reading’s “ghost goal” incident, I’ve never really trusted as an official) ruled it out. I don’t think it was for offside, as there were a number of visiting players on the line, and I couldn’t see a foul, but knowing how some referees act it could have been for anything. In the end, Shrimps manager Jim Bentley will be glad it didn’t change the game, as having seen teams drop points due to bad decisions myself I know how painful it can be.

Full time prompted celebrations from the home end, marking their first ever league victory over Stanley. They had certainly deserved it, and will be pleased to have got off the mark with 3 points so early in the season. Before too long I was back on a bus which took about 25 minutes to get back to Lancaster, and after a short walk I was back at the station for my 2 and a half hour train journey back to London. Having left the house at 6AM, I finally arrived home at about 10:15PM, so it was certainly one of my longest days out in a while. However, I’m now down to just 10 more grounds, and it was a fun trip, so it was definitely worth it!

Colchester United 0-1 Reading: Goals in Short Supply

The Capital One Cup is a strange competition to say the least. Every game apart from the final is played midweek, meaning away games become a difficult journey, and in order to make it work teams from the same league end up entering at different rounds. It’s fair to say that most teams take it as the least important competition they enter every year (some lower league sides even rank it below the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, and why not – the latter has a much easier route to the final and an appearance at Wembley), and nobody tends to remember any run or giant-killing (with the exception of Bradford reaching the final a few years ago, I can’t really think of any lower league team getting far being remembered as an achievement recently). Even the big teams being slain tend not to be noticed that much, with even Manchester United falling to sides from the third and fourth tier numerous times in recent years.

The only real benefits of the competition is that the first round fixtures are regionalised (so you don’t have too long a trip in the first week of the season), and that they are released before the league ones come out, meaning it’s the first away trip you can plan and it’s realistically the first time you can get excited about the new season. In addition, Reading actually have a pretty decent record in the League Cup, winning 8 of their last 9 first round games. Beyond that it tends to fall apart, with disappointing defeats to Derby and Arsenal in the last few years, and the only time we haven’t got into the second round in recent years was the abhorrent 6-0 hammering we suffered away at Peterborough 2 seasons ago.

This time round, we were drawn away at Colchester United. It was a pretty boring tie to get given, but as I’ve visited all the grounds in the south of England it would always end up being either a very low attendance at home or a trip to somewhere that I’d already been to. There were a few closer places which I’d have preferred (somewhere like Barnet, Leyton Orient, Luton or Wycombe would have been ideal) but it was still somewhere I could get to in under 90 minutes, but it was over 2 hours from Reading making it one that would draw a low away following. As usual, I’d be joined by a few of my friends, and this time both my parents would come along as it had been a long summer for them without any Reading games – in addition, we had family in Colchester and they wanted to tie it in with a chance to visit them again.

So that we could get to Colchester in time to see family, we decided to set off early at 3. We were originally going to get there around half 4, but just 20 minutes into our journey it was clear that something was wrong. We knew there had been an accident going the other way on the M25, but after grinding to a halt just after Potters Bar we found out that there was also an incident in our direction which closed all 4 lanes and caused us to sit stationary for nearly an hour. With other drivers going along closed lanes (despite endless signs warning them not to) causing further congestion when they tried to merge, it took a long time to get back up to speed, but eventually we were able to carry on with our journey without too many problems.

We ended up getting to the ground much later than expected because of this, and after being dropped off by my parents I met up with my friends and saw the Reading team arrive. It was a strong team, going against the tradition of this cup, but with 2 players leaving that day and the U21s playing in Hartlepool the previous night we simply didn’t have anyone else to play! Before heading in, I managed to phone my parents and convince them to get me some food from the McDonalds drive through near the ground, and once we had all met up again we went to our seats. Luckily the fans’ coaches weren’t too delayed from the traffic, and before long the away end started to fill up, initially looking like there would be more Reading supporters there than Colchester had!

I’d visited Colchester a few years ago with Stevenage, and my main memory from that day was how boring the stadium was. All 4 stands are smart and similar, but are set back from the pitch massively and had nothing at all outside them. For this match, the one to our left was closed, with the main stand to our right very empty and the end opposite us less than half full. The crowd for the match was under 3,000, and there were just over 2,000 Colchester fans there. Clearly Reading aren’t a big draw!

The visitors started the match in the ascendancy, pushing forward well despite the lack of width but struggling to convert chances. Oliver Norwood in particular looked extremely good and was pinging it about like when he first joined the club, and Chris Gunter and debutant Andrew Taylor looked convincing pushing up the wings from full-back at times. However, we had the same problem as we did at Birmingham on Saturday – a sheer inability to actually finish, meaning that whilst we spent the entire match on top and never looked in danger of conceding, we knew early on that we weren’t going to score in the 90 minutes.

Despite a couple of changes up top, and another one forced when substitute Dominic Samuel was himself forced off with a nasty looking injury, not much changed this, and by half time of extra time we had played a grand total of 117 minutes (including added time) without getting a goal. In the end, it took Gunter, who had previously scored one goal in over 100 games (ironically, also in the League Cup – against Peterborough in 2012 just after he had joined the club) to slot home from a very difficult angle to send the away fans into celebrations. I was more relieved than anything that we didn’t have to sit through penalties and that we were able to get away a little earlier. The other big positive from the match was that Anton Ferdinand got 134 minutes of football, which is about 3 times as much as he played in the entirety of the previous season, and looked extremely solid in centre-half with Paul McShane.

It’s good to know we’re in the hat for the second round draw, although I’d prefer a local trip or a home game rather than the midweek journey to Scunthorpe that we were sent on last season!

St Albans City 1-3 Oxford City: A tale of two cities

Whilst I had been down to Clarence Park a couple of times already in pre-season, I hadn’t really had the chance to go and watch my local side in a proper match for a long time, with my quest for the 92 taking most of my free dates over the last couple of seasons. I still try and keep an eye out for their results, and when I saw over the weekend that they were due to play on Monday night I was astonished that I had missed it, but made a decision to go and finally catch another league game for the Saints.

St Albans have been playing Monday nights for a couple of years, after a decision was made to abandon Tuesdays when they could, so that they could attract more fans who would otherwise be watching Champions’ League on the TV. It does mean that the games now clash with Sky’s Monday Night Football, but after a weekend of going to a match and watching a few on the Sunday I tend not to bother with it anyway. It looks like it worked, as the crowd at this match would be announced as 481, which is about average for the club but a decent turnout for a midweek game.

As usual, it was an easy enough journey to Clarence Park, and my dad was joining me for the first time this season. Less than 15 minutes after leaving home we were at the York Road turnstiles, and at first just 25 minutes before kick-off it looked like we would be the only supporters there! We picked up a programme for £2.50 (a bit steep at this level, but one of the best programmes I’ve seen in non-league and it could certainly give some league sides a run for their money) and took our usual spot in the main terrace, which eventually filled up before the match started.

The visitors this time round were to be Oxford City, who were spending their first season in the National League South (as a side note, I still think the new league title sounds ridiculous, and there was nothing wrong with calling it the Conference anyway), after being re-assigned from the North last season due to the new teams joining the sixth tier. Along with Lowestoft and Gloucester, them playing in that division was always a bit of an anomaly, and I get the impression the club will be happy with the change, as in addition to the shorter trips the North is regarded as a stronger league, so they may well have more chance of promotion in this league.

Oxford City are perhaps most famous for a pre-season friendly in 1994 against West Ham United, who were at the time managed by Harry Redknapp. It’s become something of a legendary story nowadays, but after getting stick from a Hammers fan all game, Redknapp decided to put the supporter on the pitch for the Premiership side, and he allegedly scored a goal during his 20 minutes on the pitch. Clearly there would be no repeat of this tonight, although there was a vocal following from Oxfordshire, who amused themselves during the match by singing some old songs, including the Imperial March during the second half.

It was a better game than I was expecting, as both sides tried to get the ball on the ground and play it around. The home side had the best of the game in the opening ten minutes, knocking it about well and pushing forward despite their lack of width. However, Laurie Walker in Oxford’s goal was never really tested, and it wasn’t too long before the visitors managed to grow into the game and assert their dominance. I was most impressed by Julen Lafuente, who had some real talent when dropping back to the middle of the pitch, and looked like he had played at a higher level. I’m still not sure whether that gave him the rights to wear orange boots in the sixth division, however.

Just over 20 minutes into the game Oxford City went through Ander Del Alamo, although it took the Saints just a minute to respond and draw level through the impressive Louie Theophanous. He has to replace John Frendo who scored a vast number of goals during his 2-year spell with City, but at the minute he looks like he could be a better player, and has some great pace and composure to go with it. Before long, it was half-time and 1-1 seemed like a fair score at the interval.

However, the visiting side really did become the dominant team during the second half – whilst there was a lot of battle in the midfield throughout the match, it was only Oxford City who seemed able to burst away from that and threaten over the second spell. Whilst the Saints did have a couple of half chances, once Kynan Isaac scored the visitor’s second goal the game was never really in doubt. St Albans made a couple of slightly strange tactical changes, which didn’t really give them any benefit, and after a couple of delays (due to a bad challenge from an Oxford player and a later clash of heads) we were into 5 minutes of added time. During this, City should really have tried to push forward to win back a point (I’d have even told the goalkeeper to go up for attacks), but they seemed to remain under the cosh and right at the end Bradley Bubb finished off an Oxford City counter-attack to put some gloss on the scoreline.

3-1 seemed like a terrible home result, and many of the St Albans fans seemed really annoyed with the game, but given that the visitors looked like a very strong side I’m not sure it was as clear-cut as it sounds. Clearly the Saints need a few new signings and the team was calling out for width, but there’s still a good chance they could have a decent season.