Leeds United

Leeds United v Reading

Sky Bet Championship
Elland Road

Saturday 22nd February 2020

3pm

Journey Time to the ground: 5 hours 40 minutes.  We left home just before 8am for the 8:15am coach pick-up and after a 45-minute stop at Woodall Services where we got some KFC for lunch, the coach parked up in the Elland Road car park just before 1:40pm.

Ticket Price: £39

Programme Price: £3.50

Attendance: 35,483 with 806 Reading fans.

This was my second visit to Elland Road having previously visit when Leeds were first relegated in 2004.  We decided to have a walk around the ground and had a look in the club shop before heading into the ground.  We had tickets in the away end which had moved since my last visit to Elland Road and we were situated on one side of the John Charles West Stand upper tier at the side of the pitch.  The John Charles West Stand is the main stand at Elland Road and is a two-tiered all-seater stand with the team dug-outs at its front.  The view from midway in the upper tier was good, although the leg room was particularly tight.

To the left of the John Charles West Stand is the Don Revie Stand.  This is a single-tiered all-seater stand.  Opposite the John Charles West Stand is the East Stand.  This is a huge two-tiered all-seater stand that dominates Elland Road and makes the other three stands seem pretty small when in reality they aren't.  To the right of the John Charles West Stand is the South Stand.  This is another two-tiered all-seater stand.  The most vociferous Leeds fans seemed to congregate in the Don Revie Stand and South Stand at either end of the ground.

With Leeds riding high in the promotion places and Reading's form having been pretty poor since the new year the first-half was surprisingly even with both teams creating chances but neither side able to break the deadlock. 

It was just before the hour mark that Leeds scored the only goal of the game.  Pable Hernandez initial shot was blocked, however he picked up the rebounded and rounded Liam Moore before poking the ball into the top corner from six yards.  

Atmosphere: The atmosphere was very, very good.  Leeds have an excellent fan base who really get behind their team and noise comes from all sides at Elland Road which makes for a very good atmosphere.  As we hadn't sold many tickets, Leeds fans were in the lower tier in front of the away end.  This lead to some decent banter between the two sets of fans, especially the middle-aged man in the pink jumper, and definitely lead to a feeling of the away fans being penned in.  Because of this the atmosphere in the away end was pretty good, especially with a relatively small away following.

Journey Time home: 4 hours 45 minutes.  The coach left Elland Road just after 5pm and after a short 20-minute stop at Warwick Services we were dropped off in town at 9:30pm.  We decided to get a taxi from town and were dropped off at home just after 9:45pm. 

I did enjoy my trip to Leeds although it would have been nice if we had been able to bring home a point.  The banter between the fans kept me entertained through the whole game and added to the away game experience.