Sheffield United

Sheffield United v Reading

Sky Bet Championship
Bramall Lane
Saturday 21st October 2017
3pm

Journey Time to the ground: 6 hours 30 minutes.  For the first time for a few seasons the club were running free coach travel for members.  We left home at 8am and caught a bus up to the Madejski where the coaches would be leaving from.  The coaches collected us at about 9am and arrived outside Bramall Lane at 2:30pm after a quick stop at Donington Services on the way.

We were dropped on Bramall Lane outside the away end so only had to cross the road to get into the ground!

Ticket Price: £22

Programme Price: £3

This was my first visit to Bramall Lane, a ground I had been looking forward to visiting for a while.  We had tickets in the Redbrik Estate Agency Stand Lower Tier, the away end, and due to the free coaches the travelling support was larger than normal.  We were sat about a third of the way up the stand right behind the goal and had a good view of the pitch.  The Upper Tier houses home fans and the whole stand is all-seated.

To the left of the Redbrik Estate Agency Stand is the John Street Stand which is a single-tiered all-seated stand with a row of executive boxes running across the back of the stand.  To the right of the Redbrik Estate Agency Stand is the GAC Stand which is also a single-tiered all-seated stand and is the main stand at Bramall Lane housing the dug-out at it's front.  Opposite the Redbrik Estate Agency Stand is the most impressive stand at Bramall Lane, the Kop Stand.  This is a huge single-tiered all-seated stand and is where the majority of the Blade vociferous support seems to converge. 

Sheffield United started the game brightly and were ahead in the 20th minute when Paul Coutts fired an effort into the top corner from the edge of the penalty area.  The lead was doubled in the 37th minute when former Reading loanee Billy Sharp tapped-in from Mark Duffy's low right-wing cross.

Reading finally start to come into the game when John Swift was brought on with 25 minutes remaining and pulled a goal back five minutes from time when Roy Beerens slotted in from Mo Barrow's low left-wing cross.  However the Royals had left it too late to pick up anything from the game.

Attendance: 26,265 with 1,150 Reading fans.

Atmosphere:  The atmosphere was good, with the Blades fans in the Kop Stand behind the goal making a lot of noise.  The away end was pretty quiet, as the style and quality of football Reading are playing at the moment are hard to get excited about!

Journey Time home: 4 hours.  The coach left almost straight after the game had finished and we had a short stop at Warwick Services on the way down.  We arrived back at the Madejski at about 8:45pm and some friends gave us a lift back home, arriving around 9pm. 

I enjoyed my trip to Bramall Lane.  I was very impressed by the ground and the atmosphere as a whole, but particularly the Kop Stand which was huge!  The only bad thing was the fact the Reading are playing so poorly at the moment that it's not fun to watch them!

Brentford

Brentford v Reading
Sky Bet Championship
Griffin Park
Saturday 16th September 2017
3pm


Journey Time to the ground: 1 hour 45 minutes.  We left the house at about 1pm and got the train from Reading to Paddington.  We changed at Paddington to get the train to Ealing Broadway, then caught the 65 bus from outside Ealing Broadway station to New Road.


The ground was a two minute walk from the bus stop on New Road.


Ticket Price: £30


Programme Price: £3.50


This was my fourth visit to Griffin Park, although I don't remember my first visit, which was the first football match I was ever taken to!  We had tickets in the Brook Road Stand upper tier which is the away end and were sat about level with the edge of the penalty area, three rows from the front.  The view from here was very good, and we were so close to the pitch it almost felt like we were on it!  The lower tier is terracing for away fans.


To the left of the Brook Road Stand is the Bill Axbey Stand which is a single tiered, covered all seated stand which houses the team dug-outs at it's front.  Opposite the Brook Road Stand is the BIAS Stand which is also know as the Ealing Road Terrace.  This is a single tiered, covered terrace and seems to be where the most vocal home support tends to congregate.  To the right of the Brook Road Stand is the Bees United Braemar Road Stand.  This is also a single tiered, covered all seated stand and is the main stand at Griffin Park.


Brentford started the brighter of the two teams and opened the scoring in the 15th minute when Josh Clarke played a neat one-two with Neal Maupay before firing past Vito Mannone, although the goalkeeper should have done better with the effort at his near-post.


Reading were gifted a way back to the game in the 69th minute when a penalty was awarded for a push on Liam Moore by Rico Henry.  Liam Kelly stepped up to confidently strike past Dan Bentley in the Brentford goal.  Reading came closest to stealing all three points when Sone Aluko hit the bar with a long range effort, although a draw was probably a fair result.


Attendance: 9,739 with 1,650 Reading fans.


Atmosphere:  The atmosphere was ok. Being in seats in the upper tier meant that the away atmosphere was probably worse than it would have been on the terrace below, and apart from a few in the BIAS Stand opposite, the home fans were pretty quiet too!


Journey Time home: 1 hour 30 minutes. We got the 65 bus back to Ealing Broadway and got some food at Five Guys.  We then decided to head into Central London for a bit and had a look around Leicester Square where I enjoyed my first ever Cinnabon and had fun in M&M World.  We got the tube back to Paddington, then the train onto Reading before walking home from the station and arriving back at around 11:30pm.


I really enjoyed my trip to Brentford.  Although the game wasn't the best, we managed to snatch a draw.  Griffin Park is one of the nicest grounds to watch a game of football in the league and it will be a real shame when Brentford move to a new ground in a couple of years.