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.