Liverpool 2 – 0 Oldham Athletic (FA Cup Third Round), 5th January 2014
Train ticket: £23
Bus to Anfield & back: £5-70
Programme: £3
Match ticket: £20
Tea: £2-40
Parking at Sheffield station (£14 divided by 2): £7
Total: £61-10
2 years ago on a wet and cold Friday night, we saw Liverpool beat Oldham 5-1 at Anfield. A year ago, we’d watched TV in disbelief as Oldham had beaten Liverpool 3-2 at Boundary Park. So we weren’t really sure what to expect from this one, even though Liverpool should probably easily beat a League 1 team (near the bottom of League 1 in fact). After a train journey across from Sheffield (smooth again), we took our seats in the Kop one row from the back. I’d never sat this far back before and it gave a completely different perspective of the ground. I’d definitely rate the Kop as the best stand in Anfield, because of it is the simplest, most atmospheric and generally the cheapest.
The game was turgid to be honest, and Liverpool couldn’t seem to break down Oldham. Suarez was on the bench, but that wasn’t much of an excuse give the apparent ‘quality’ Liverpool have in attack in midfield. Poor first half, but at least they weren’t losing and it wasn’t getting too cold! At half-time, I overheard some Scouse season ticket holders around us complaining about the lack of atmosphere and that the ground was full of ‘tourists/out-of-towners’ – like us I suppose. One bloke was clearly selling tickets for away matches at Villa and Stoke. Its nigh on impossible to get many Liverpool away tickets (legitimately at least), with all games requiring attendance the previous year to even stand a chance. So clearly one effective route is to get to know a hardcore season ticket holder, and ask for a favour every now and again!
The second half wasn’t much better, but at least Rodgers brought on more attackers – Aspas and Coutinho – and was forced to bring Suarez off the bench. Even though Oldham were resilient, and even threatened the Liverpool goal – with Brad Jones starting today, they stood a chance against a dodgy keeper. The opener finally came when the much-maligned (and overrated) Iago Aspas turned in a hip-height cross just outside the 6-yard box. Plucky Oldham were finally put to the sword when an own-goal followed shortly after. Liverpool looked like they could add to their tally, but seemed content to sit on 2-0. Another win, and maybe it didn’t matter how it came. Burton or Bournemouth awaited in the next round to be played in a few weeks, so (barring a replay), the next time we’d be here for an FA Cup game would be February. It felt strange that I had seen Nantwich and Curzon play in the early round of this competition back in September/October. I wonder if this would be my last FA Cup game of the season?
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