Friday 14 September 2018

Bristol Rovers

Bristol Rovers v Luton Town
Sky Bet League Two
Memorial Stadium
Saturday 2nd January 2016
3pm

Journey Time to the ground: 1 hours 30 minutes.  We left Newbury at 1pm and after a short stop at Leigh Delamere services we managed to find some street parking on Church Road which is off the main Gloucester Road.

The ground was about a 5 minute walk from Church Road, along Gloucester Road before turning down Filton Avenue.

Ticket Price: £16

Programme Price: £3

This was my first visit to the Memorial Stadium and as a fairly local ground, one I had been looking forward to doing for quite a while.  We had tickets in the High Spec North Terrace which was where the bulk of the home fans congregated.  The covered terrace was pretty full, but we managed to make our way down toward the front and found some space to stand and also an unrestricted view of the pitch.

To the left of the High Spec North Terrace is the Dribuild East stand. This consists of uncovered terracing that runs the length of the pitch, then an upper tier of covered seating which runs for half the length of the pitch and straddles the half-way line called the Uplands Stand.  This stand is shared with away supporters, with them in the uncovered terracing closest to the South Stand and houses the dug-outs.  The South Stand is a temporary, covered seated stand which runs for just over half the width of the pitch, and is shared between home and away fans.  Opposite the East Stand is the West Stand which runs half the length pitch and straddles the half-way line.  This stand is the main stand with terracing to the front and seated hospitality areas to the rear and has and electronic scoreboard on it's roof.  To the right side of the West Stand is a small, temporary, covered, all-seated stand known as the South West Stand and to the left side of the West Stand, towards the High Spec North Terrace is the small covered Family Terrace.

Bristol Rovers thought they had taken the lead in the first-half when Ollie Clarke raced through and slotted past Mark Tyler only to see the lineman flag for offside.

The deadlock was broken on the hour mark when Rory Gaffney fired in from six yards after Tom Lockyer has seen his header cleared off the line.  Gaffney grabbed his second and secured the three points in the 72nd minute slotting in the rebounded after Tyler had fumbled his initial effort.  The home fans went home happy as the result lifted their team up to fifth in the table.

Attendance: 9,131 with 707 Luton fans.

Atmosphere:  The atmosphere was very good.  The Bristol Rovers fans in the High Spec North Terrace were particularly loud through-out the game and the club anthem Goodnight Irene rang out once they were in front.  It really reminded me of being back at football when I was younger.

Journey Time home: 1 hour 30 minutes.  We stopped at the Brazilian Lounge on Gloucester Road to have some food so didn't end up leaving til about 6pm and were comfortably back in Newbury by 7:30pm.

I enjoyed my trip to Bristol Rovers.  The game was good, the atmosphere was very good and standing on terracing reminded me of what it was like to go to football as a child.

Saturday 6 January 2018

Derby County

Derby County v Reading
Sky Bet Championship
The iPro Stadium
Saturday 2nd May 2015
12:15pm

Journey Time to the ground: 2 hours 30 minutes.  We left Newbury bright and early at 9am and despite some traffic on the A52, we parked up in the Wyvern car park at a cost of £6 at 11:30am.

The ground was about a 5 minute walk from the Wyvern car park through a retail and industrial park.
Ticket Price: £31

Programme Price: £3

This was my first visit to the newly christened iPro Stadium and it was a ground that I had been looking forward to visiting.  We were sat in the South East corner of the Stadium. The view from the section was good and there was more than enough leg room.

To the left of the South East corner is the South stand which was single tiered and where the majority of the vociferous home support seemed to congregate.  The North Stand is opposite this, an identical single tiered stand for home fans.  To the right of the South East corner is the single tiered East Stand again for home fans.  Opposite is the taller Toyota West Stand.  This is the main stand housing hospitality areas and the team dug-outs and is the only two-tiered stand at the iPro.  As this stand is taller the roof slopes down at both ends.
This was the last game of a rather forgettable league campaign for Reading and as such was the club's annual inflatables day.  Derby on the other hand were sitting in sixth and with a superior goal difference knew that a point would guarantee a play-off spot.  The home end was sold-out and the game had been picked to be shown live on Sky.

The home fans were expectant and in party mood, but the Reading players hadn't read the script.  We were ahead within two minutes when Crystal palace loanee Kwesi Appiah grabbed his only goal for the club, seizing on a poor pass before running through on goal and slotting in a neat finish.  Derby had the chance to equalise from the penalty spot when Jordan Obita was adjudged to have brought down Jonny Russell in the box.  Darren Bent stepped up but his spot-kick was well saved by Adam Federici   

Into the second-half and we doubled our lead, when Michael Hector slammed in a shot after poor Derby defending from a corner.  We were awarded a penalty of our own in the last 10 minutes when Jem Karacan was brought down by keeper Lee Grant.  Up stepped Garath McCleary to send to keeper the wrong way, the Reading fans home happy and the Derby fans into depression.

Attendance: 30,806 with 685 Reading fans.

Atmosphere:  The atmosphere was very, very good.  The Derby fans turned up for a party that didn't happen, however they were very loud and stuck with them team through-out the game.  This helped to create an excellent atmosphere that was helped by the small band of away fans with inflatables who had turned up to have a party of their own. 

Journey Time home: 3 hours 30 minutes.  We had a look around the retail park and some KFC before we set off home.  The journey was pretty straight forwarded although it took longer than the journey there.  We stopped at Tamworth services on the way down and arrived home at 6pm. 
I really enjoyed my trip to Derby.  The atmosphere was amazing, the ground was a good size and we spoilt the party!  The way we played was the best that I have seen us play for a long time.  It's just a shame that it's the last game of the season, although it does give me hope for a decent season next campaign.