Birmingham City

Birmingham City v Reading
Sky Bet Championship
St Andrew's Trillion Trophy Stadium
Tuesday 23rd October 2018

7:45pm

Journey Time to the ground: 3 hours.  As we had the day off work we left home at 1:30pm intending to go the National Sea Life Centre, but after arriving at 3:45pm and having a quick look, we decided against this and headed to the Bull Ring instead.  We had a look at China Town and a look around the shopping centre before getting some dinner in the Tonkotsu outlet in Selfridges.  We left the Bull Ring around 6:40pm and headed towards St Andrew's, parking up in Jenkins Street at 7:15pm, which was a ten minute walk from the ground.

Ticket Price: £10

Programme Price: £3

This was my first visit to St Andrew's, a ground I had wanted to visit for quite a while and with the ticket prices being so reasonable we decide to make the trip.  We had tickets in the away end in the Gil Merrick Stand Lower Tier.  The leg room wasn't too bad and the view from behind the goal was good.  The Gil Merrick Stand is a two-tiered stand, although the upper tier wasn't open on our visit.  The lower tier is shared with home fans.

To the left of the Gil Merrick Stand is the Main Stand.  This small two-tiered stand houses the team dug-outs at it's front.  Opposite the Gil Merrick Stand is the Tilton Road End which is a large single-tiered stand.  To the right of the Gil Merrick Stand is the Spion Kop which is also a large single-tiered stand.  The most vociferous Birmingham fans tend to congregate in the Tilton Road End.

The first-half was a fairly even affair with both side struggling to create chances in an uneventful opening period.

Reading continued their worrying trend of conceding early goals after half-time when Birmingham opened the scoring in the 49th minute.  Jota's left-wing corner was met by Michael Morrison, who flicked a header into the path of Gary Gardner who stabbed the ball home from close range.  The lead was doubled in the 70th minute when Lukas Jutkiewicz floated a header in at the far-post from Che Adams's right-wing cross.  Reading grabbed a late consolation in the last minute of normal time when Yakou Meite latched on to Andy Yiadom's long ball and slotted passed Lee Camp in the Birmingham goal, however it was a case of too little too late and The Blues held on for the win.

Attendance: 22,126 with 503 Reading fans.

Atmosphere:  The atmosphere was really good.  The home stands all seemed to be pretty full and the Birmingham fans really got behind their team throughout the game.  The atmosphere in the away end was slightly flat, especially in the second-half with Reading trailing.

Journey Time home: 2 hours 30 minutes.  We left the ground as soon as the game finished and were back in the car around 10pm.  We drive straight back and arrived home at around 12:30am.

 

I enjoyed my day out in Birmingham.  The ground is quite impressive and the atmosphere inside was very good.  It's just shame that Reading are playing so poorly at the moment as it makes games less enjoyable than they should be!

West Bromwich Albion

West Bromwich Albion v Reading
Sky Bet Championship
The Hawthorns
Saturday 6th October 2018
3pm

Journey Time to the ground: 2 hours and 45 minutes.  We left home around 11:15am and were parked up in at private car park at Pargat Houseware just after 2pm after a quick stop at Warwick services on the way up.  The cost of parking was £5 and it was a 10 minute walk to the ground straight down Birmingham Road.  We bumped into Frank Skinner in the main car park outside the ground and managed to get a photo with him before heading into the ground.

Ticket Price: £20

Programme Price: £3.50

This was the second time I'd been to The Hawthorns, my first visit was in the early 2000s to see Aston Villa play a "home" Intertoto Cup game.  We had tickets in the away end behind the goal in the Smethwick End.  The Smethwick End is a single-tiered all-seated stand which is shared with home fans.  The leg room was ok and the view of the pitch was good. 

To the left of the Smethwick End is the West Stand.  This single-tiered all-seater stand is the main stand at The Hawthorns and houses the team dug-outs at it's front.  Opposite the Smethwick End is the Birmingham Road End, another single-tiered all-seater stand.  To the right of the Smethwick End, the single-tiered all-seater East Stand is the largest stand at The Hawthorns.

Reading opened the scoring in the sixth minute when Leandro Bacuna took a short corner, playing a one-two with John Swift, before firing an unstoppable shot in off the post from just inside the area.  The rest of the first-half was dominated by Reading, playing some of the best attacking football I've seen them playing for a good few years, but unfortunately despite creating a number of good chances they were unable to extend the lead.

This was to prove costly in the second-half with Dwight Gayle equalising in the 49th minute, heading in Tyrone Mear's right-wing cross after it had been left by goalkeeper Sam Walker.  West Brom took the lead in the 65th minute, Gayle getting the faintest of touches after Kyle Bartley had powered a header goalwards from Harvey Barnes right-wing corner.  Barnes got himself on the scoresheet seven minutes later, playing a give-and-go with Jay Rodrigues before slotting into the far corner.  The rout was completed with ten minutes remaining, Kyle Bartley's looping header from Chris Brunt's left-wing corner sailing in at the near post.

Attendance: 22,865 with 907 Reading fans.

Atmosphere:  The atmosphere wasn't too bad.  The Reading fans were quite loud for most of the first-half, with the West Brom fans, especially those to the left of the away fans in the Smethwick End really making some noise during the second-half.

Journey Time home: 2 hours 15 minutes.  Having never really been into the centre of Birmingham and fancying a curry, we decided to drive into the city centre and see what we could find.  We had a look around the Bull Ring but didn't find anywhere to grab some food.  We headed back to the car and consulted Google, ending up going to Diwan Balti Restaurant in Moseley.  The food was quite nice and very cheap!  We left the restaurant around 9pm and were back home for 11:15pm.

 

I did enjoy my trip to The Hawthorns despite the result!  The ground is a good size, but I'm not sure about the amount of corrugated metal on display inside as to me it makes it seem unfinished and a cheap fix.