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Life's a gas, gas, gas! - weekend matchgoing

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    #26
    Originally posted by The Mighty Trin View Post
    Rochdale v Coventry for me.

    Last weekend was a mixed bag. On the Thursday Port Vale maliciously postponed my second attempted visit to Vale Park, so I went to watch Bury v Crawley instead, and very pleasant it was sat opposite the Neville Neville Stand. Applause to Bury for getting the game played at all. Also applause to the cracking Full English I had in Bury, which helped warm the cockles.

    This happines was tempered on Sunday back in London by watching my beloved rugby league team Wakefield Trinity get what I would charitably call a brutal dry bumming by the London Broncos. Beerwise, four looseners before and four emergency invigorators during the game didnīt in any way aid my enjoyment, although the youth who fell over and then pissed himself before half-time had clearly had a better morning's libation coming down from oop north than I had tootling over from East London.
    I don't suppose you can remember where you had the full English, can you? I'm a connoisseur of this particular branch of cuisine but I've often found Bury sadly lacking.

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      #27
      A search suggests it was the Cup o' Rosie on The Rock. Seven pounds for a large full English, extra toast and a mug of tea. 50p for additional sausages... Hit the spot on a parky day.

      I liked Bury, but I did make the mistake of trying to walk round the outside of the ground. One small park, a pleasant housing estate and tantalising glimpses of stand roofs later, I gave it up as a bad job and went through the turnstiles, only to realise that all the turnstiles are located on the main stand side.

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        #28
        Originally posted by The Mighty Trin View Post
        A search suggests it was the Cup o' Rosie on The Rock. Seven pounds for a large full English, extra toast and a mug of tea. 50p for additional sausages... Hit the spot on a parky day.

        I liked Bury, but I did make the mistake of trying to walk round the outside of the ground. One small park, a pleasant housing estate and tantalising glimpses of stand roofs later, I gave it up as a bad job and went through the turnstiles, only to realise that all the turnstiles are located on the main stand side.
        See, I went to Cup O'Rosie a few weeks ago and came out stinking of fat, so I've not been back. Katsouris deli on the market is my go-to place for bacon and sausages and a fried egg.

        I think Gigg is unique in that all four stands are accessed by one side. I'd hate it if we left there.

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          #29
          I totally understand that. You also give the away fans the only pillar free stand in the ground, which is very altruistic.

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            #30
            Wednesday morning’s football action was the faithfull recreation of the Hamburg stadium at Miniatur Wunderland, Europe’s largest model railway. I am sure you have noticed that whilst the rest of the layout is in HO scale, the football ground is TT scale otherwise it would have been too big. From then on the day got messy as a forewent my planned game of Hertha Berlin v Bayern Munich, and instead headed down to Hannover for H96 reserves v HSC. Except I got absolutely battered in a brew pub and missed the game.



            The following morning it was a couple of ICE moves to Worms. On the first one, feeling extremely rough, I was cornered by a South African who had lived in Newhaven and was interested in Albanian architecture. The journey was two hours and I never ever want to hear anything about Newhaven or Albanian architecture, ever again. Anyway, hear is the final change, at Bibles, for the ten minute hop to Worms on the unit on the right.



            It was then a two snack move to Pfeddersheim who were hosting the Eichbaum cup at TSG’s Uwe Becker Stadion.



            Except it wasn’t the main pitch, which would have been a winner.



            Instead it was the 3G second pitch, which was railed and had dugouts so was still a scratch. Anyway, a decent game saw Wormatia U23s beat Aminia Ludwigshafen. 3-2.



            We’ve all suffered from these after a heavy night.



            And so to yesterday, with a leap into Frankfurt, followed by the direct ICE to Brussels, but it was off at Leuven. An afternoon taking in the bottle selections of the station bars on the line to Ottingnes prevailed. By early evening this had reached Heverlee...



            ...Sint Joris Weert...



            ...and Oud Heverlee.



            The latter was also the evening’s football. So I walked through a forest...



            ...and then a car park...



            ...and then watched OH Leuven Ladies v Gent Ladies. The former are part of the King Power ‘evil tyrants to deity hero in one heliport crash’ dynasty. It finished 0-4 to the visitors.



            I’m now heading back on the first Eurostar of the morning ending out of Brussels, heading back to Sowerby Bridge to watch their title chasing game at Denholme in the Halifax league.


            Here’s a picture of a ticket with a snow man on it.



            Last edited by Big Boobs and FIRE!; 10-02-2019, 11:01.

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              #31
              Guiseley v Stockport County. Just on the train. Currently our run is DWWWDWWWWWWWWW and we have won every match since the day of my 40th just before Christmas so I feel I need to just keep being 40 for this run to continue, which as lucky omens go, sounds easy enough.

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                #32
                Great stuff as always, BB&F! Just to point out though that you've double-posted within the one, unless my laptop deceives me.

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                  #33
                  Sheffield Wednesday 0-0 Reading

                  Another goalless draw - that's three in my last five games now. We huffed and we puffed and we couldn't break them down. It felt like one of those games where if we scored one we'd get more, but we didn't. We had a number of chances in the first half and forced their keeper into several saves, then we didn't really get going for a while after the break and they had their best spell of the match. Bruce made some changes and the introduction of Roland Aarons provided more pace and creativity, where "more" reads "greater than zero". We had a right chance in the last minute of injury time but Reach put it over the bar. At least that'll quieten down those excitable fans talking of a late run to the play offs.

                  A word on said opposition keeper. The teams changed round (who said that never happens now eh?) and he got applauded as he came up to the Kop. At first I thought it was Scott Carson, but he turned round to reveal he was Damian Martinez, who we had on loan from Arsenal five seasons ago. A look at the programme at half time says Reading have got him on loan from Arsenal. He's 26 now. What sort of career is he having?

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                    #34
                    Bootle 2-1 Winsford United

                    Scrappy game, took 30" to get going at all and never really became fantastically watchable - but importantly, Bootle dug in and got the win, which makes it ten in succession in the league and cements their second position in the table. Leaders City of Liverpool slipped up at Runcorn Town, so the gap at the top has narrowed to 8 points, with Bootle having played a game less and the two due to meet in the penultimate game of the season, so from a one horse procession there's now a glimmer of a chance that we could have a title and promotion race in the closing weeks.

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                      #35
                      Us 10-39 Them

                      A defeat but not a catastrophic one. We played well in parts and not so well in others. What really hacked me off though was the effect of the wind. We went in at half time 15-0 down playing into the gale. Second half we failed to use it, trying to run from our own 22 yards rather than kicking down into the far corner. Disappointing and can do better is my conclusion.

                      The game was unopposed scrums which for me as a hooker leaves me feeling wanting. Unless my neck and shoulders feel sore, I don't feel like I have had a game of rugby.

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                        #36
                        Originally posted by longeared View Post

                        A word on said opposition keeper. The teams changed round (who said that never happens now eh?) and he got applauded as he came up to the Kop. At first I thought it was Scott Carson, but he turned round to reveal he was Damian Martinez, who we had on loan from Arsenal five seasons ago. A look at the programme at half time says Reading have got him on loan from Arsenal. He's 26 now. What sort of career is he having?
                        He's been 3rd, 4th choice at Arsenal for many years now, so presumably he's having a fairly relaxed, lucrative career. When called upon he's done very little wrong, he kept a Champions League clean sheet against Dortmund about 5 years ago and backed it up in the Premier League a few times.

                        the most notable thing about him for me is that halfway through his Arsenal "career", he suddenly changed to using his middle name Emiliano / Emi as his name, rather than Damian, which is his real first name.

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                          #37
                          Bristol Rovers 1 v 1 Shrewsbury Town

                          Salop won the first half. Rovers won the second. The Memorial Stadium is a ramshackle affair. My mate said it felt like it was built out of spare bits of other stadia. Even the dug outs are mismatched. The game was niggly and Dave Edwards came on asingle a sub and got red carded a few minutes later for a stupid challenge. I thought it was his second debut but apparently it wasn't. Had a nice cheese and onion pasty.

                          And so, back on the M4 and bombing through the spray to

                          Barry Town 0 v 1 Bala Town MATCH ABANDONED AFTER 15 MINUTES.

                          Barry went a goal down then two of the floodlights went out. Cue lots of funny chants and eventually the announcement that the game was off. So, bang goes my first Twofer.

                          My favourite chant was "We didn't start the fire. It was Barry Council, with the dodgy wiring."

                          Also, both games had a minutes silence for Emiliano Sala. So he got two minutes of silence from me.

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                            #38
                            Started the day with the newish Parkrun at Fletcher Moss on the south side of Manchester. It was then a short trip to watch Brownley Albion v North Manchester Athletic in the Manchester Saturday Morning League. This turned out to be a rather one sided game, Brownley ending up with a 6-0 win that could have been more.

                            For the afternoon I ventured a few hundred metres into Derbyshire to watch the Manchester League match between Tintwistle Athletic and Atherton Town. Nice views from the ground and a nice little clubhouse where you could buy a cup of tea (in an actual cup) and a slice of homemade cake for Ģ1. First half wasn't particularly memorable but it improved in the second half after Tintwistle scored in the first minute or so. Atherton equalised a few moments later and both sides had chances to win; Atherton found the back of the net but it was disallowed as it was punched in and a late Tintwistle shot hit the post with great force.

                            Final stop of the day was Whaley Range High School for basketball between Manchester Magic and Essex Leopards. Magic entered the game bottom of the table and were definitely second best to playoff chasing Essex. Manchester managed to remain on Essex's coattails for three quarters, but the Leopards pulled away in the fourth to win 87-63. Highlight of the evening was the match announcer for Manchester, who in his mind was announcing to Madison Square Garden but in reality was a balding pensioner from Didsbury speaking to fifty spectators over a largely inaudible PA system.

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                              #39
                              Plenty of goals, dodgy defending and odd refereeing decisions at Mangotsfield United 5-3 Fleet Town. Then headed to Barry for 15 minutes of football, they have another evening kick-off in a couple of weeks, so will probably have another go then.

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                                #40
                                Yeah it was a real shame about the Barry game. If you're coming to see them play the Nomads, let me know.

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                                  #41
                                  Gillingham 1-4 Barnsley

                                  Another routine win in a game that was overshadowed by Keiffer's head injury.

                                  He was hit in mid air by a defender (who got booked for the challenge) and you could see that he immediately lost consciousness. Whether the damage was done by the collision or by hitting his head on the way down it was hard to tell. Thankfully he's been released from hospital, so hopefully he'll be ok sooner rather than later. Other than that (and a taxi parked blocking the ambulance at the ground) things continued as they have for the last few games.

                                  We were bigger, stronger, fitter, faster, better with the ball, better without it. We scored in the first minute and the tenth minute of added on time, and could have had another five in between.

                                  A particular highlight of mine was the old man in front of me grumbling that Thiam needs replacing, because he's not as good as the other ten. That would be the Thiam who was instrumental in creating our first three goals.

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                                    #42
                                    Peckham Town P-P Metrogas

                                    Peckham Town it transpires have a much looser definition of the term waterlogged than I do. Having been dry all morning it hadn't even occurred to me that this could've been off, so it was only when I trekked all the way there that I found out it had been postponed. The pitch certainly looked damp and likely to cut up, but far from "waterlogged".

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                                      #43
                                      Argyle 1-1 Pompey

                                      Pompey looked like a team that hadn't won in five, nervy and crappy final touches but Argyle could do nothing to threaten them in the first half. Their goal saw them sit deep, waste time and suddenly Argyle were a team possessed. Graham Carey and Reuben Lameiras tore through them at will but just couldn't quite create any clear chances. A great free kick to equalise, but Carey turning the fullback around was the moment (see PL thread). Sometimes though all you want is just to see your team play some excting football and though we didn't get a winner that twenty minutes was football heaven. I can be so easily pleased but before Christmas we'd have lost this game and played Porsmouth back into form. We're a different proposition now.

                                      And in bell news, not only non-stop but it seems the job gets subbed out now too. The usual suspect arrived late for the start of both halves (it's not like he's inconspicuous after all) but still it clanged.

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                                        #44
                                        Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
                                        The Memorial Stadium is a ramshackle affair. My mate said it felt like it was built out of spare bits of other stadia. Even the dug outs are mismatched.
                                        At least the goals aren't mismatched any more.

                                        https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...s-1361373.html

                                        Both goals that day were scored in the "too big" net, Rovers' would have gone over, ours would have hit the bar.

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                                          #45
                                          Fulham were as hospitable as they were dreadful. If they carry on playing like that they're gone with plenty of the season left. Their fans were absolutely miserable and gave Ranieri pelters for his substitutions. I think they were pretty much ideal opponents before a big CL game, as, other than a couple of early chances, they offered very little resistance at all, and what they did offer Martial shrugged off with ease.

                                          Pogba had one of those games where he looked like an 18 year old playing U-14s. Head and shoulders above everyone in terms of skill and strength. An absolute joy watching him play when he's like that. If he plays like that in the next three games I'll forget the almighty mard he's had on for the past 6 months and ignore the fact he's defo still going to angle for a move away in a year or so.

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                                            #46
                                            Originally posted by ingoldale View Post
                                            Yeovil v Grimsby. My first trip to Huish Park. Fingers crossed the Mariners can play like we did on Saturday.
                                            Unbelievably, we did! We should have been 3-0 up at half-time. Wes Thomas missed a glorious chance to get a brace right on when he intercepted a pass on the halfway line and ran it back to their goal. Dennis got is first goal for the club with a lovely lob at the end too. Yeovil looked out of sorts and it was a difficult ground to get to using public transport. Too big tests against Cheltenham (h) and then Swindon (a) at the end of the month.

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                                              #47
                                              Oxford JCR Cuppers Semi-Final

                                              Christ Church 3 Wadham 1

                                              Resurrected our Very Old Boys team after a 4-year break. Well, just about. Had to get 2 players off Twitter on Saturday morning to make sure we had a starting XI. Worked out well, though, as we beat ChCh GCR 4-2 in an emotional return to our old stomping ground.

                                              We were lucky to catch ChCh's postponed cuppers semi. Good day for it, still the best pitch in Oxford, and a lively little crowd of about 80-100. In the battle of the Blues, the ChCh CFW grabbed a hat-trick against his OUAFC colleague in the opposing goal, the 2nd an outrageous chip from a silly angle as he was running wide and away from goal. Cue #scenes.

                                              Christ Church will face New College on Friday. This is the second final in three years for ChCh and a decent chance for the first Cuppers win since 1997. The New College players, spying from the touchlines, were very much 50/50 re: their chances.

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