Sheffield Wednesday

Sheffield Wednesday v Reading

Sky Bet Championship
Hillsborough

Saturday 15th February 2020

3pm

Journey Time to the ground: 5 hours 15 minutes.  I had mistakenly booked our coach tickets for the Mad Stad pick up rather than from town so we left home at 8:45am to get a taxi up to the ground for the 9:15am pick up.  We were under weather warnings for Storm Ciara so I wasn't expecting the best journey up but we experience no issues so after a 45-minute stop at Woodall Services for some lunch at KFC we were dropped off outside Hillsborough at 2pm.

Ticket Price: £33

Programme Price: £3

Attendance: 22,199 with 690 Reading fans.

This was my second visit to Hillsborough having previously made the trip up for the last away game of our 2005-06 Championship winning season.  The weather wasn't great so we dodged the showers and had a look in the club shop before making our way into the ground.  We had tickets in the West Stand upper tier which is the away end behind one of the goals.  The West Stand is a large two-tiered all-seater stand which is given entirely to away fans although the lower tier wasn't used on our visit.  The view from the upper tier is very good although the leg room was a little tight.

Hillsborough is simply huge and is currently the largest ground in the Championship.  To the left of the West Stand is the North Stand.  This is a single-tiered all-seater stand where the most vociferous Wednesday support seemed to congregate.  Opposite the West Stand is the Kop.  This is the largest stand at Hillsborough and is single-tiered all-seater stand.  To the right of the West Stand is the South Stand, a two-tiered all-seater stand.  The upper tier is known as the Grandstand Family Enclosure.  The South Stand is the main stand at Hillsborough and houses the team dug-outs at its front.

Both teams were in pretty poor form, however I had predicted a win and we put a couple of bets on before the start of the game, Reading to win 2-0 and Reading to win 3-0.  Reading took the lead 20 minutes into the first-half when Ovie Ejaria played an excellent through-ball to allow Yakou Meite to slide the ball under Cameron Dawson from six yards.  

Reading were handed a huge advantage in the second-half with Wednesday being reduced to ten men just two minutes into the half with Osaze Urhoghide the man seeing red.  Reading doubled their lead with 20 minutes remaining when George Puscas diverted Andy Yiadom's long-range effort passed Dawson.  Into stoppage time and Reading were given a chance to extend the lead when Sam Baldock was tripped in the area by Dominic Iorfa.  One of our bets was going to come in, but which one would it be?  Baldock stepped up to convert the spot-kick to seal a 3-0 win and send me home £40 richer in the process! 

Atmosphere: The atmosphere was good.  The Sheffield Wednesday fans in the North Stand were loud but clearly disgruntled by their team performances at the moment.  The atmosphere in the away end was really good.  The comfortable nature of the win meant the performance could be enjoyed which always helps with the atmosphere!

Journey Time home: 4 hours 15 minutes.  We left Hillsborough just before 5:15pm and after a short stop at Warwick Services were dropped off at the Mad Stad at 9:15pm.  We got a taxi home and were dropped off just before 9:30pm.

I really enjoyed the trip to Hillsborough.  A very good performance and a comfortable away win meant the atmosphere in the away end was really good.  The journey was a lot smoother than expected considering the storm warnings and the stoppage time goal meaning our bet came in was the icing on the cake!