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.

Cardiff City

Cardiff City v Reading

Sky Bet Championship
Cardiff City Stadium
Saturday 27th August 2016
3pm

Journey Time to the ground: 1 hours 30 minutes.  We caught the 12:37pm train from Merthyr Tydfil to Grangetown which took just under an hour and 10 minutes.

The ground was about a 15-20 minute walk from Grangetown station along Sloper Road.

Ticket Price: £20

Programme Price: £3

This was my first visit to the Cardiff City Stadium although I had previous been to Ninian Park once.  We had tickets in the away corner which is situated in the corner between the Ninian Stand and the Grange Stand.  The away fans enter the ground by going through their own fenced away entrance which prevents any issues between home and away fans.  The leg room was ample and as we were able to pick where we sat, the view of the pitch was good.

To the left of the away corner is the Grange Stand which was a single-tiered all-seated stand.  Opposite the Grange Stand is the Canton Stand which is an identical single-tiered all-seated stand where the majority of the vociferous home support seem to congregate.  To the right of the Canton Stand is the Grandstand which is the main stand at the Cardiff City Stadium.  The Grandstand is a two-tiered all-seated stand which also houses the team dug-outs.  Opposite the Grandstand is the Ninian Stand which is the largest stand at the Cardiff City Stadium.  The Ninian Stand is a three-tiered all-seated stand which has recently been extended.

I had been looking forward to this game since the fixture list has been released as this would be the closest Reading game for me this season.  I was also pleased as Cardiff were the first team to honour Reading's twenty's plenty pledge and offer reciprocal pricing.

The first-half was a fairly dour affair with both sides stuggling to create any clear cut chances.

The second-half continued in the same vain and looked destined to remain goal-less until Yann Kermorgant scored a last-minute winner, volleying in Jordan Obita's deflected left-wing cross from 12-yards.

Attendance: 15,013 with 902 Reading fans.

Atmosphere:  The atmosphere was poor.  The ground was less than half full and the distance between the home and away fans was massive meaning that it was very difficult to get much of an atmosphere going.  The atmosphere in the away end was also pretty subdued as the game wasn't very exciting.

Journey Time home: 4 hours 30 minutes.  We walked into Cardiff city centre from the ground and spent a couple of hours looking around the St David's Shopping Centre.  We got some dinner at Five Guys before walking to Cathays station and catching the train back to Merthyr Tydfil, arriving back at home just after 9:30pm.

I did enjoy my trip to Cardiff, although that down to the result more than anything else.  Reading seen to be pretty solid, if not spectacular so should do well this season.

Bristol Rovers

Bristol Rovers v Luton Town
Sky Bet League Two
Memorial Stadium
Saturday 2nd January 2016
3pm

Journey Time to the ground: 1 hours 30 minutes.  We left Newbury at 1pm and after a short stop at Leigh Delamere services we managed to find some street parking on Church Road which is off the main Gloucester Road.

The ground was about a 5 minute walk from Church Road, along Gloucester Road before turning down Filton Avenue.

Ticket Price: £16

Programme Price: £3

This was my first visit to the Memorial Stadium and as a fairly local ground, one I had been looking forward to doing for quite a while.  We had tickets in the High Spec North Terrace which was where the bulk of the home fans congregated.  The covered terrace was pretty full, but we managed to make our way down toward the front and found some space to stand and also an unrestricted view of the pitch.

To the left of the High Spec North Terrace is the Dribuild East stand. This consists of uncovered terracing that runs the length of the pitch, then an upper tier of covered seating which runs for half the length of the pitch and straddles the half-way line called the Uplands Stand.  This stand is shared with away supporters, with them in the uncovered terracing closest to the South Stand and houses the dug-outs.  The South Stand is a temporary, covered seated stand which runs for just over half the width of the pitch, and is shared between home and away fans.  Opposite the East Stand is the West Stand which runs half the length pitch and straddles the half-way line.  This stand is the main stand with terracing to the front and seated hospitality areas to the rear and has and electronic scoreboard on it's roof.  To the right side of the West Stand is a small, temporary, covered, all-seated stand known as the South West Stand and to the left side of the West Stand, towards the High Spec North Terrace is the small covered Family Terrace.

Bristol Rovers thought they had taken the lead in the first-half when Ollie Clarke raced through and slotted past Mark Tyler only to see the lineman flag for offside.

The deadlock was broken on the hour mark when Rory Gaffney fired in from six yards after Tom Lockyer has seen his header cleared off the line.  Gaffney grabbed his second and secured the three points in the 72nd minute slotting in the rebounded after Tyler had fumbled his initial effort.  The home fans went home happy as the result lifted their team up to fifth in the table.

Attendance: 9,131 with 707 Luton fans.

Atmosphere:  The atmosphere was very good.  The Bristol Rovers fans in the High Spec North Terrace were particularly loud through-out the game and the club anthem Goodnight Irene rang out once they were in front.  It really reminded me of being back at football when I was younger.

Journey Time home: 1 hour 30 minutes.  We stopped at the Brazilian Lounge on Gloucester Road to have some food so didn't end up leaving til about 6pm and were comfortably back in Newbury by 7:30pm.

I enjoyed my trip to Bristol Rovers.  The game was good, the atmosphere was very good and standing on terracing reminded me of what it was like to go to football as a child.

Derby County

Derby County v Reading
Sky Bet Championship
The iPro Stadium
Saturday 2nd May 2015
12:15pm

Journey Time to the ground: 2 hours 30 minutes.  We left Newbury bright and early at 9am and despite some traffic on the A52, we parked up in the Wyvern car park at a cost of £6 at 11:30am.

The ground was about a 5 minute walk from the Wyvern car park through a retail and industrial park.

Ticket Price: £31

Programme Price: £3

This was my first visit to the newly christened iPro Stadium and it was a ground that I had been looking forward to visiting.  We were sat in the South East corner of the Stadium. The view from the section was good and there was more than enough leg room.

To the left of the South East corner is the South stand which was single tiered and where the majority of the vociferous home support seemed to congregate.  The North Stand is opposite this, an identical single tiered stand for home fans.  To the right of the South East corner is the single tiered East Stand again for home fans.  Opposite is the taller Toyota West Stand.  This is the main stand housing hospitality areas and the team dug-outs and is the only two-tiered stand at the iPro.  As this stand is taller the roof slopes down at both ends.

This was the last game of a rather forgettable league campaign for Reading and as such was the club's annual inflatables day.  Derby on the other hand were sitting in sixth and with a superior goal difference knew that a point would guarantee a play-off spot.  The home end was sold-out and the game had been picked to be shown live on Sky.

The home fans were expectant and in party mood, but the Reading players hadn't read the script.  We were ahead within two minutes when Crystal palace loanee Kwesi Appiah grabbed his only goal for the club, seizing on a poor pass before running through on goal and slotting in a neat finish.  Derby had the chance to equalise from the penalty spot when Jordan Obita was adjudged to have brought down Jonny Russell in the box.  Darren Bent stepped up but his spot-kick was well saved by Adam Federici   

Into the second-half and we doubled our lead, when Michael Hector slammed in a shot after poor Derby defending from a corner.  We were awarded a penalty of our own in the last 10 minutes when Jem Karacan was brought down by keeper Lee Grant.  Up stepped Garath McCleary to send to keeper the wrong way, the Reading fans home happy and the Derby fans into depression.

Attendance: 30,806 with 685 Reading fans.

Atmosphere:  The atmosphere was very, very good.  The Derby fans turned up for a party that didn't happen, however they were very loud and stuck with them team through-out the game.  This helped to create an excellent atmosphere that was helped by the small band of away fans with inflatables who had turned up to have a party of their own. 

Journey Time home: 3 hours 30 minutes.  We had a look around the retail park and some KFC before we set off home.  The journey was pretty straight forwarded although it took longer than the journey there.  We stopped at Tamworth services on the way down and arrived home at 6pm. 

I really enjoyed my trip to Derby.  The atmosphere was amazing, the ground was a good size and we spoilt the party!  The way we played was the best that I have seen us play for a long time.  It's just a shame that it's the last game of the season, although it does give me hope for a decent season next campaign.

Wembley

Reading v Arsenal
The FA Cup
Wembley Stadium
Saturday 18th April 2015
5:20pm

Journey Time to the ground: 2 hours 15 minutes.  We left Newbury at 11am and drove to my parents house in Reading before making our way up to High Wycombe.  We then jumped on the train from High Wycombe to Wembley Stadium.  As we arrived about four hours before kick-off, we went to get some lunch Moulin Grill then had a look around the London Designer Outlet for a couple of hours before entering the ground about an hour before kick-off.

The ground was about a 5 minute walk from Wembley Stadium station.

 

Ticket Price: £33

Programme Price: £5

This was my eighth visit to the new Wembley and the second time I had seen Reading play there.  We were sat in the Upper Tier of the East Stand at around the level of the corner flag.  The Upper Tier is tier five and although it is a long way back from the pitch, the view of the playing action is good.  The leg room is good, although the seats are slightly uncomfortable as they seem to slope downwards. 

Wembley Stadium is the only five tiered ground that I know of, however the North Stand is the only stand which has the fourth tier.  Opposite the East Stand is the West Stand, which is identical to the East Stand and includes a large television screen built in between the third and fifth tiers.  The two side stands, the North Stand and the South Stand are almost identical to each other with a larger upper tier than either of the ends behind the goal.  The North Stand is the main stand, with the players' tunnel and dug-outs. There are large hospitality areas running between the lower and upper tiers running around the whole of the ground.  The stadium feels huge inside, especially when sat towards the back of the upper tier.

 

This was Reading's first FA Cup Semi-Final since 1927 and having never made an FA Cup final, and being rank outsiders, the majority of Reading fans travelled in the hope of not being embarrassed and being able to enjoy the day.  The first-half was as expected with Arsenal dominating possession and creating a lot of chances.  Reading managed to hold out until five minutes before half-time when Alexis Sanchez finished smartly to give Arsenal the lead.

I was worried that the goal so close to half-time would have broken Reading's spirit, but if anything the opposite was true.  Reading seemed to sense there was an opportunity to make something of the game, and equalised 10 minutes into the second-half.  Pavel Pogrebnyak managed to get the ball across the box and Garath McCleary was on hand at the back-post to volley in, a goal that was given by the hawk-eye system.  I have never celebrated as nuchas I did that equaliser!  There seemed to be belief within the team and although Aaron Ramsey hit the post for Arsenal, the game finished 1-1 and headed into extra-time.

Into the first period of extra-time came the moment that broke Reading hearts.  In added time at the end of the first-half of extra-time Adam Federici, who had been magnificent all game, let Alexis Sanchez's tame effort slip underneath his body, through his legs and roll over the goal-line.  Reading tried to find a second equaliser in the second-half of extra-time, but ultimately come up slightly short.

Attendance: 84,081 with 30,963 Reading fans.

Atmosphere:  The atmosphere was good.  I have never heard noise like it when we scored our equaliser.  However I don't think the acoustics at Wembley are that good.  The ground seems too big to generate a really decent atmosphere as the sound seems to get lost in the bowl and it is difficult for chants to be co-ordinated between the upper and lower tier.

Journey Time home: 2 hours 30 minutes.  There was quite a long wait at Wembley Stadium station to get the train back up to High Wycombe.  Once at High Wycombe we drove back to my parents' house in Reading to pick up the car before driving back to Newbury.  We got back into Newbury at around 10:30pm in time to get a KFC before it closed! 

 

Overall, I enjoyed my trip to Wembley, if not the result.  It was a long day, with it being the late kick-off and also arriving so early to soak up the atmosphere.  I have never seen Reading win at Wembley and it is a horrible place to lose, but I have never been more proud of my team as I was at the final whistle.

Swindon Town

Swindon Town v Peterborough United
Sky Bet League One
The County Ground
Saturday 11th April 2015
3pm

Journey Time to the ground: 30 minutes.  We left the house just after 2pm and a straight forward journey saw us parked up in the Carlton Car Park which cost £1 for the afternoon.

The ground was around a 10 minute walk from the car park.

 

Ticket Price: £19

Programme Price: £3

This was my third visit to the County Ground.  We were sat in the Town End, a small, single-tiered covered, all-seated stand behind the goal, where the majority of the vocal home support sat.  The leg room was adequate and the view from the seats was good although there were a couple of pillars that partly obscured some of the pitch.  

The County Ground is a good sized, all-seated ground.  To the left of the Town End is the Arkells Stand, a single tiered main stand which had the dug-outs situated at the front of it.  This stand is shared with away fans.  Opposite the Arkells Stand is the Don Rogers stand, another single tiered stand which runs the length of the pitch.  Opposite the Town End is the all-seated, uncovered Stratton Bank Stand which is largely unused unless there is a particularly large away following.  This end also has the only Rolex clock found at any football ground in the world.   

 

Both sides had a realistic chance of making the play-offs with Swindon sat in third and Peterborough six points outside the top six, so both sides were pushing for a win.  The best chance of the first-half went to Swindon who were awarded a penalty in the 28th minute when Jonathan Obika went down under pressure from Michael Smith.  Andy Williams smashed his spot-kick against the bar and the half ended 0-0.

 

The second half was a fairly even contest with both sides restricted to long range efforts.  The home fans were growing frustrated but finally had something to cheer about in the 71st minute when substitute Jermaine Hylton grabbed the only goal of the game slotting in from just inside the box with one of his first touches of the game.  

Attendance: 7,126 with 285 Peterborough fans.

Atmosphere:  The atmosphere was pretty good.  There was a lot at stake for both teams and the Swindon fans in the Town End certainly kept singing for the whole 90 minutes.

Journey Time home: 45 minutes.  After a short 10 minute walk back to the car, we were on our way.  There was very little traffic and we were home before 6pm.

I enjoyed my trip to Swindon.  The weather was pleasant and the atmosphere in the Town End was very good.   With both teams evenly matched and pushing for a win, the game was entertaining and a Swindon win was probably the right result on the balance of play.