Getting an early visit to Spurs' new ground looked unlikely even when the third round draw was made, and the decision to televise the first game looked laughable, but Middlesbrough's form has improved somewhat and we find ourselves unexpectedly heading to Tottenham for a replay. I do other things on a Tuesday and have missed London games in the past but this is an opportunity to see the new ground so I'm going. Reports are that there are plenty of tickets available in the home areas so it could be a bit of a tickfest. First experience of VAR for Boro so any absolute limbs is likely to be followed a couple of minutes later by a one-millimetre offside ruling. And a comfortable defeat, obviously.
-
-
I think I might try to get to this as well. Ticking off the new Spurs ground at 20 quid a ticket is too good an opportunity to miss. -
I might go too. I am just debating if i can be bothered.Originally posted by cantagalo View PostComment
-
Corinthian-Casuals v East Thurrock for me tonight, subject to the game going ahead. I was going to go to Tower Hamlets v Woodford Town last night, but it was a grim old evening when I left the office, so I went home and spent the evening doing a 3,000 piece jigsaw, trying to keep the cat off said jigsaw and finishing Ron Chernow's Alexander Hamilton biography. I'm so rock and roll.Comment
-
Yesterday I watched the first half of Cardiff U23s versus Colchester U23s. It finished 2-1 and was 2-0 at half-time when I left. The player who scored both Cardiff goals looked decent. Cardiff were very quick on the break. Colchester may have been having an off day but they weren't great which surprised me as there is a lot of talk about the young players they are bringing through in League 2 circles. I think the Cardiff keeper was the one who was playing for Barry in the Welsh PremComment
-
Game off. Fiddlesticks.Comment
-
Watched Skelmersdale come from behind to beat Congleton this evening. Skem are now back playing in the Town, having developed one of the pitches at the JMO Sports Park. Still a work in progress but looking better than some new builds - the seating is raised and there are steps of terracing along one side.Comment
-
I made it to the Spurs game. Sat in the North Stand and gazed in wonder at how far back the South Stand stretched.
Enjoyed my visit as a one-off but wouldn't want to be the bloke I sat next to, a season ticket holder who pays £975 for the privilege. Even after Spurs had wrapped up the game in the first 15 minutes, he was worried that Boro were going to get back into it. And he wants to get rid of the entire team apart from Son and the new right back (and presumably Harry Kane when he's fit).Comment
-
It was the first time I've visited two breweries before a match. I was surprised at having a lengthy queue to get in and numerous rows of stewards to navigate. The concourse, which I'd led to believe would be spacious, was absolutely crammed, and having to queue at the bar to get a programme was a bit of a nuisance, so I nearly missed the start of the game. The people I'd been with in the breweries, who I'd said goodbye to as we went in, turned out to be right next to me, which is weird given that we'd obtained our tickets through entirely different routes. The ground was great and the seating spacious. Full marks to the stewards also who were friendly throughout even though there were too many of them.Comment
-
-
Forgot to mention I had a good drink with Boro fans before the game in the Antwerp Arms.
And I have to say that the burger inside the stadium was the best I've ever had at a football match.Comment
-
Can't organise a defence to save our collective backsides, but, man alive, do we know how to do high-yield fast food.
(And we've got those bottom-filling beer glasses. They're bloody ace, they are.)Comment
-
It was certainly high-yield. I spent a small fortune in there (it was my round).
With that and the high-yield season ticket holder I sat next to, it's no wonder Spurs are shooting up the rich list.Comment
-
Reports are that one Boro fan poked his finger up the bottom of a full beaker and got a wet sleeve. I wish I'd seen that.
And someone said they'd had a pleasant beer with some Brentford fans in the Antwerp, so that's nice.Comment
-
-
I did that at Wembley, in the presence of a former Great Britain International Rugby League player. No idea what I expected to happen when I pressed it, but it was the inner child in me, I suppose.Originally posted by Capybara View PostComment
-
The pour from the bottom pints have a button at the bottom of them, if you push it, your pint comes out of the bottom.Originally posted by TonTon View PostComment
-
I've decided to go to Carlisle v Cardiff this evening. I will almost certainly regret this decision.Comment
-
I've decided to go to Manchester United v Wolves this evening. I will almost certainly regret this decision.Comment
-
I actually decided not to go, and moved my ticket on. Yet here I am. On the tram. A very empty tram.
Comment
-
-
Went to Litherland this evening which is not the best place to watch football, the pitch being at the centre of an athletics track. Unusually for my visits there it was at least dry and not blowing a gale. Litherland REMYCA are having a poor season, currently bottom of the North West Counties Premier, and did well to lose only 3-0 to visitors Whitchurch.Comment
-
Carlisle 3-4 Cardiff
You know you've hit the big time when there's a fella selling half and half "matchday souvenir" scarves outside the ground at 7pm. And he was still there at 9:35 when we came out, perhaps unsurprisingly.
On a very blustery night, Carlisle kicked off with the wind behind them and soon took the lead through Nathan Thomas, only to concede a very soft goal when Aden Flint backheaded a long throw over goalkeeper Adam Collin. A word or two here about Cardiff and their long throws - firstly, the ref, a Mr. Handley, was absolutely weak as piss when it came to making them take them from where the ball left the pitch, despite our coaching staff and about a thousand grumpy old men in the Paddock pointing it out to him on every single fucking occasion. Secondly, Cardiff's entire game plan appeared to be throw ins and corners - it was painful to watch, and playing a side struggling at the bottom of a division two below theirs, you'd think they might have been a bit more adventurous.
The game settled into a pattern of "our defence is shitter than yours". Just before HT we failed to clear a free kick and Cardiff scored. Just after HT we let a corner go all the way through to Flint and he tapped in his second. A word here about Aden Flint. How in the name of all fuck is he playing at Championship level? Sol Bamba was equally hapless, but at least he's got the excuse of just coming back from injury. Flint's most memorable contribution (aside from the goals) was a clearance that went over the roof of the East Stand and came down somewhere near Hexham.
At 1-3 it felt like we might fold, but Harry McKirdy was at his irritating best and made it 2-3 with a decent shot into the ground that beat Alex Smithies, who was playing as nervously as you might expect, looking at Bamba and Flint stumbling about in front of him. Cardiff then made it 2-4 when a disputed free kick was clumped long to Danny Ward, who scored a good goal, albeit one made easier by Byron Webster trying to outdo Flint in the haplessness stakes. Still not finished, McKirdy made it 3-4 with a curling shot after a quick free kick left him in on goal at a narrow angle.
Subs made, we finished with 4 strikers on the pitch, but couldn't fashion an equaliser. Disappointing, but if we could score three goals in a league two game it would be a huge boost to our survival chances. I'm absolutely streaming with cold at the moment, so I was already knackered before the long drive back down the M6 in a gale force side wind and I had eyes like sheep's twats when I went into work this morning.Comment
-
Postscript: No wonder I thought my eyes looked like ovine ladyparts yesterday morning, I've now developed conjunctivitis in both of them! Bah (or indeed, baaa).Comment
Comment