Liverpool (28-10-2014)

Liverpool 2 - 1 Swansea (Football League Cup), Tuesday 28th October 2014

Ticket = £28
Petrol (circa £60/2) = £30
Bus to Anfield (one-way) = £2
Programme = £3
Pasta pot = £2-20
Hotel (£75/2) = £37-50
Tea = £2
Chips with gravy = £2-50
Parking (£12/2) = £6
Total = £113-20

We must be gluttons for punishment after the loss against Madrid, and the disappointment of frustrating travel delays, last week. This time, I was off work, and as it was half-term, we'd spent some time up in Cumbria before driving down to Merseyside. The weather on the way down was appalling, with rain sheeting down (think stair rods!) on large sections of the M6. We'd set off at 1.30pm but only arrived in Liverpool at around 5pm, pulling up on some what looked like some wasteland behind the Adelphi. There are times when you can see how far Liverpool has come as a city in recent years. There are others when you realise that some things never change. This piece of rocky and exposed wasteland was apparently the hotel car-park! After checking in, I moved the car to the safer and altogether nicer surroundings of the Q-park (which was virtually the same price).

As time was running short, and given our experiences last week, I was keen to get to the ground early. We arrived in good time, but not too early, with the roads filling up and people pouring towards Anfield. It was time for dinner, and we stood at the corner of the Kop and Main Stand eating our chips and gravy/curry sauce. Unfortunately, the football lifestyle doesn't always lend itself to healthy eating!

After locating the turnstile, and finding the toilets, it was time for a cup of tea. Then we made our way up to the very back of the Kop, where our seats were in block 306, near to where we'd been for the Oldham FA Cup game in January. The view from the furthest reaches of the Kop is strange to say the least - you can see the whole pitch well, but the Anfield Road end and bits of the Main Stand are largely obscured by the angled roof. Tonight was a completely different affair to the turgid game served up against Oldham. The players looked up for this one after the stalemate with Hull at the weekend. Even players like Borini and Markovic had busy, industrious games, with lots of surging runs down the flanks and through the middle. Coutinho looked more involved, and Lambert was on the ball a lot, getting it down and passing well, without getting too many shots on target. Of course, as so often happens at Anfield, the away team took the lead when Emnes hooked a goal past the rather poor Brad Jones on 65 minutes.

This was turning into a Chelsea-type scenario from last year, and more that I could name from the 2011-12 season (West Brom, Fulham...). Liverpool, however, always looked like scoring in this one, and finally equalised when Balotelli steered in Borini's cross on 87. The atmosphere was terrific, and you could tell the crowd were willing a second. This feeling increased when Swansea had a man sent off late on. As if the Kop had 'sucked the ball into the net', Liverpool made it 2-1 late on when Lovren headed in deep into injury time (+ 5 minutes apparently!). The Kop went wild, and for a rare occasion, I'd seen a great atmosphere at Anfield under the floodlights, result in a great performance and a great win. This took Liverpool on to a Quarter-final tie away at Bournemouth, where there is surely a opportunity to achieve something in this cup this year.

Liverpool (22-10-2014)

Liverpool 0 – 3 Real Madrid (UEFA Champions League), Wednesday 22nd October 2014

Petrol (circa £60/2) = £30
Ticket = £55
Parking (£10/2) = £5
Manchester metro ticket = £5-30
Total = £95-30

There are disastrous journeys, and then there are disastrous journeys…

We’d managed to get tickets for this one by virtue of our attendance of Europa League games two seasons ago, which seems like an age away. Even then it was a struggle with Liverpool's notorious online ticketing system, and I had to try out at least 10 different block options before landing a couple in MX, the main stand, next to the Madrid supporters. Too good to be true? It certainly was.

On the Wednesday, I set off from work in Manchester to meet Mrs Groundhopper in Newhey, Rochdale, right near the M62. The tram out was smooth enough, but traffic on the motorway was heavy. Soon enough we were on our way, and crept past a couple of junctions before things sped up. Out of Manchester, and according to the sat nav (Clive!) we were still on time to make this. That is until we came up against practically stationery traffic on the M62 somewhere around Warrington/Huyton. This is normally the quick bit, but tonight nothing was moving. Things were getting pretty desperate, and it became apparent that we weren't going to make kick-off. Half an hour later and we'd moved a couple of metres. In this time, Madrid had blitzed Liverpool, who were now trailing by 3 at the break. More frustratingly, we'd missed a handy 20-min spell from Liverpool, and all the anthems pre-match. There went the first half.

So it was with good timing that we decided to come off at the next junction (Huyton) and try to navigate an alternative way to Anfield. I took over the driving at this point, and we pulled up to Goodison Park at 8.30ish. The blokes in high-viz looked confused - 'what are you here for?'. When it transpired it was the football, they said 'well you've missed the first half'. Silly time to state the obvious I think! After quickly parting with £10 for the parking, we raced across Stanley Park as quickly as we could, arriving just after the start of the second-half. Our entrance to the ground was surreal. All the turnstiles were closed, so we were directed to a fire exit door where two stewards were loitering, apparently checking people's cards and tickets. This is one situation where a hard-copy ticket would have been handy, as we both handed over the membership cards, and the numbers were promptly scribbled onto a clip-board by a helpful steward, whilst the other guy scanned the cards.

We entered the ground around 50 minutes, and finally sat down on 52 minutes. By this time it was all over as a contest. Liverpool had the occasional burst of pace from Can and Sterling, but never genuinely looked like scoring. Lallana did well with his ball-play, but looked limited when it came to the cutting-edge - goals and assists. Madrid were running in 2nd gear, but still looked miles apart from this Liverpool team. They exuded a classy intelligence on the ball, knowing exactly what to do in every tactical situation. We should have expected nothing less from a canny and astute Ancelotti, who I rate highly as a manager. Ronaldo, Kroos, Modric, Benzema were just some of the stars of the show this evening, and it was at times quite dazzling to watch the team in white on the ball. They attacked with speed and aggression, and defended with a surprising physicality. They were genuinely a class apart. For us, it felt like the game was over before it began, with fans streaming for the exits on 75 minutes. There was no real surprise in the result, but a certain feeling of anti-climax around Anfield. For us, this was amplified by having missed the key chunk of the match. The feeling of disappointment probably summed up Liverpool's season thus far.

Clitheroe (18-10-2014)

Clitheroe 3 - 2 Droylsden (FA Trophy Preliminary Round), Saturday 18th October 2014

Bus (Stockport-Manchester) = £3-10
Train (Manchester-Clitheroe) = £10-90
Entrance = £7
Programme = £1-50
Tea = £1
Total = £23-50

A running theme in my ground-hopping for 2014-15 is travel delays and hold-ups. Today's visit to another corner of East Lancashire brought more fret on the way to a ground on my 'difficult' list (both in terms of time and distance). The train from Sheffield-Stockport was no bother, except a 10-minute delay. I could still make the train from Victoria to Clitheroe, so was sure that once we got past Stockport I should be ok. Lo and behold, the train sat outside Stockport for 5-10 minutes, before pulling in, followed by an announcement that the train would be delayed by about an hour. In these situations, its impossible to know what to do. Staying on the train would add more time, whereas if I got off I could pretty much guarantee that any delays would be suddenly resolved!

I opted to take control of the situation, and headed out of the station onto the main road, hopping onto the 192 Stagecoach bus into Manchester. It was packed and due to the train delays, there were large queues of confused travellers congregating round the bus stops. On top of that, the City-Tottenham game was a 12.45 kick-off so the bus was full of fans desperate to reach the ground in time. It felt like the slowest bus in history, and I wasn't sure that I would make it to the city centre in time for the 13.06 from Victoria. To top it all, I'm sure I saw the train I had been on fly past on a bridge we went under! We made it to the centre at about 12.45, and I half power-walked/half sprinted to Victoria. Thankfully, I now have a mental map of Piccadilly-Victoria so was able to navigate this without too many problems.

Onto the 13.06, and to my relief there were no more delays as we trundled through a string of Lancashire towns on the way to Blackburn. Clitheroe is North of Blackburn, on the boundary of the Forest of Bowden, and is the end of the line, so (like Colne) this felt like the back end of nowhere. Arriving in Clitheroe at 2.20pm, I had time to explore the town. This proved to be the most interesting town I've visited this season, with a bustling market, a castle, and rows of independent/local shops nestled in cobbled streets. This is well worth a visit, even if you are not an avid non-league hopper! Today's game at Shawbridge was an FA Trophy preliminary vs Droylsden. The ground was another Lancashire gem, with a few covered sections mixed up with some truck containers, which doubled up as the tea-hut and hospitality bar! I took up my place in the main stand, and sipped some tea as the players warmed up.

The game was chaotic and unpredictable, though from a neutral's perspective, the quality was somewhat lacking. For the opening spell, the away side looked stronger and more determined, with 8 whacking wide on 10 minutes. Despite their early threat, it was Clitheroe who took the lead on 13 minutes when 10 slotted in a side-foot volley after some probing work down the wings. Gonzalez made it 2-0 on 22 minutes when he slotted in from close-range, and suddenly it looked like this could be a rout today. This didn't materialise, and the rest of the half had the team's evenly matched. Droylsden's right back launched a superb box-to-box run which he couldn't quite convert into a clear-cut chance, whilst a mix-up between him and the away keeper at the other end nearly resulted in Clitheroe's third. Clitheroe's 11 hit a swinging shot wide, whilst Droylsden's 10 had a left-footed effort deflected past the post.

2-0 up at half-time, and Clitheroe looked like they should be heading for the next round. The second-half started as equally balanced as the first had been, and the game was on when Fernando Moke was brought in the area, and 10 converted the resulting penalty. Droylsden now looked fired up and up for a fight. Stephen Hall went through and had his effort well-saved by the keeper's legs. At the other end, David Lynch scuffed wide after some excellent one-touch football. Moke threatened again at the home end, with his drilled shot saved, while Clitheroe's Gonzalez was tackled by the keeper when clean through. The game had suddenly opened up. Droylsden then equalised when number 10 was brought, and again calmly slotted in to make it 2-2. The home crowd were perhaps understandably frustrated by the award of both penalties, and the volume definitely went up a notch as the game went into the closing stages. The away side looked like they had grabbed a replay, until David Lynch slotted in a cross from the right-wing in what must have been the dying seconds of the game. The home crowd and players were jubilant, and all the refereeing decisions were forgotten as they celebrated a win which looked like it had evaded them. This was a mad game of football, and had been an excellent afternoon's entertainment. The long trek back to Sheffield on public transport was well worth it to see this lovely Lancashire town, and an open game of football against great surroundings.

England (09-10-2014)

England 5 – 0 San Marino (Euro 2016 Qualifier), 9th October 2014

Match ticket: £37-50
Megabus (Manchester-London & London-Sheffield): £13-50
Train ticket single (Marylebone-Wembley Stadium): £5
Tea: £2
Programme: £6
Pies, pasties and other provisions: £4-27
Total: £68-27

My strange and sometimes unexplainable love of the England national team continues to draw me back to Wembley, even for low-key matches against opposition like San Marino. I’d been there 2 years ago (almost to the day), when England had thrashed them 5-0 in a World Cup qualifier, and wanted to get to this one, as it would be the last realistic Autumn fixture I could do. That, coupled with the fact that this was our first home qualifier, made this an attractive proposition despite the quality of the opposition. Unfortunately, I’d been disorganised with this, so ended up with a slightly more expensive ticket than usual. On a positive note, I kept my costs down with cheap bus travel down from Manchester and then back up to Sheffield. I’m pretty pleased that I kept the costs of the day below £70, and now think there is a lot to be said for having a budget for these bigger games.

I arrived at the stadium 15 minutes before kick-off, and paid £2 for a cuppa, before finding my seat in the lower tier. As it happened, almost all of Level 5 in the upper tier had been closed off, bar a cluster of supporters directly behind me taking up maybe a quarter to 20% of the tier. There were admittedly smatterings of empty seats in my section, and it said a lot that many people were able to sit where they liked without causing too many problems. The tone for this game had already been set by a lot of whinging in the press about the pointlessness of walkover games against weaker teams. The main topic of conversation behind me was whether England would get 6 as one chap had placed a bet on this. I can’t recall many similar occasions when it is almost a certainty for us to get so many.

England were set out in a slightly different formation to usual. The retirement of Gerrard has left a massive gulf in the midfield, so Hodgson is exploring different options with who should sit in front of the defence (at the base of the diamond). In this case, we had Milner playing this role, with Wilshere and Henderson pushing forward either side of him, and Sterling through the middle behind the front two. The defence had a new look to it, with Gibbs at left-back and Callum Chambers on the other flank. As expected we bossed possession, but met with some stubborn resistance from San Marino, who did well to keep the score at 0-0 for 24 minutes. Then, as in the Peru game in May, Jagielka ran late into the box to score a header, amidst claims of fouls by the San Marinese (?!) players. The floodgates had opened, and Rooney, Welbeck , Sterling were all looking lively in and around the penalty area. It was then no surprise when a second arrived on 43 minutes, when Rooney coolly converted a penalty awarded for a foul. 42 goals for him, and 2-0 to England.

The atmosphere had been reasonable in the first half, but it really flattened out in the second half. England were barely out of second gear, and looked comfortable in control of this, confirmed when Welbeck converted a poachers’ strike on 49 minutes. Thanks to the substitutions, England at one point in the second half had no fewer than 5 Arsenal players on the pitch – Gibbs, Chambers, Wilshere, Welbeck and Oxlade-Chamberlain. Chambers admittedly looked nervous, perhaps understandable on his England debut. We grew slightly wasteful as the game moved on, but I knew that the away side would run out of any remaining energy as we approached the last 20. Sure enough, Townsend made it 4-0 with a rasping drive from outside the box, before Rooney’s chipped cross was turned into the net by an away defender. I had thought this was number 43 for Rooney, but clearly this will have to wait. It was a pity that the atmosphere petered out so much as this wore on, with hoardes of people walking out on 80 minutes, even earlier. I can’t fathom leaving a big game before the final whistle – the only time I do it is when I’m hurrying for a late train to get back. The running joke on the radio the next day was that Joe Hart – described as an ‘interested spectator’ – was man of the match, which probably summed up the game quite neatly. Still, this was three points, a welcome clean sheet and a confidence boost to one or two less well-deployed players. As I had a bus to catch at 1am, I opted to walk from Wembley to Victoria, making it there in plenty of time. I finally arrived through the door at 6.30am on Friday morning – it was definitely well worth it.

Liverpool (04-10-2014)

Liverpool 2 – 1 West Bromwich Albion (Premier League), 4th October 2014

Ticket = £51
Train (Sheffield-Liverpool) = £22-50
Bus to Anfield = £4
Tea = £2
Programme = £3
Total = £82-50

For the 3rd weekend in 4, we made our way to Anfield for another clash. Like Villa, this was against Midlands opposition in West Brom, whose ground I’d visited back in a freezing weekend in January 2010. That seems a long way away now, and at some points we’ve felt like real regulars on Merseyside over the last 3 seasons. Again, I’d nailed these tickets via the Late Availability sale, which is great for last-minute tickets. The only down side is that the heavily discounted travel tickets have usually gone by this point, so we again utilised the Two Together Railcard, which made it £22-50, a reasonable discount to keep some of the costs down.

Last week, we had been massively disappointed as Liverpool had rather unluckily dropped two points against Everton, despite an excellent performance. The rusty banger is taking a while to warm up this season! Liverpool started slowly, and the first-half was characterised by a lot of sideways passing and wasted possession. There was a 10-minute spell just before the break when the home side looked something like the team they had been last year, with smart interchanges between Sterling and Coutinho and high pressing up the pitch. On another day, they would have gone in frustrated at the break, but today it fell for them, with Lallana scoring a superb goal from inside the box after a swift one-two with Henderson. This was bang on 45 minutes, and we were delighted – you could see how much the goal meant to Lallana, and it had come at a perfect time for the home side. 

After the break, Liverpool started where they left off, with sparks of activity and movement recalling the great 2013-14 season. But the longer it stayed 1-0, nerves grew, and it was almost inevitable that WBA would equalise. This time they conceded from the penalty spot, with Berahino netting in front of the Anfield Road end. Not to be deterred, Liverpool continued with their neat passing, and while this wasn’t quite as good as last year, there was a certain spring in their step despite the equaliser. There was a frustrating lack of penetration to the attacks, and they occasionally lost concentration when Berahino was on the ball, but this was a big improvement performance-wise. 5 minutes after the West Brom equaliser, Henderson slotted in from inside the box after one attacking move broke down. 2-1 ahead and Liverpool now looked like they had a surge of confidence running through them. It was arguably too early for them to take the lead (61 minutes) and they had to ride out the final 15-20 minute period with some nervousness before scrapping home. This was a deserved win, and you could see what this meant to the players to get their first league win since August. Hopefully once confidence returns, performances and results will gradually improve, and they will play their way into form. Roll on the international break!

Handsworth (02-10-2014)

Handsworth Parramore (U19) 5 – 0 Buxton (U19) (North Midlands Under-19 Football League), Thursday 2nd October 2014

Entrance = £2
Programme = £1
Tea (x2) = £2
Total = £5

All roads lead to Olivers Mount for me (on occasion at least), as I seem to be drawn back here by some greater footballing force. I haven’t had the chance to see a game here this year, so took advantage of this Under-19 fixture under floodlights, and sandwiched in between a couple of Liverpool games. Surprisingly, this wasn’t free, and I parted with £2 entry plus £1 for a programme. The friendly woman on the turnstile-cum-portakabin apologised that there the rather thin programme was £1 this evening – apparently this was because of the lack of a 50-50 tote/draw this evening. Not a problem as I have no truck with any funds going back to this great local club.

On the pitch, this game pitted 5th-placed Handsworth against 7th-placed Buxton, with the early league looking close (mainly due to the fact that only 11 teams participate, and most have played only 4-5 games thus far). This encounter belied the two places between the clubs, with Handsworth – to be frank – running amok and bossing the game throughout. In my notes from the first half, I didn’t record a single decent attempt from Buxton, with Handsworth easily over-running their Derbyshire opponents. As usual, their game was full of pace, with Kyle Lilley lively on the left wing, and James Dawes (at number 9) looking Rooney-esque in his swift decisive attacks. The latter forced a save from the keeper’s legs, whilst even the full-backs (Blakemore on the right, Dacre on the left) had opportunities to open the scoring. How Handsworth weren’t in front by half-time was a mystery – Phillips did have the ball in the net after a fast move involving Safi, and Dawes hit a volley over from close range. Goalless at the break, but Buxton were being ‘thrashed nil-nil’.

I wondered if Buxton could do anything to stop the home side, and for a time in the second-half, it seemed they might frustrate the Ambers. First, Dawes had another shot – this time scooped over the bar – then, a Buxton player registered a superb shot on target heading for the top corner, well-saved by Jones. Dawes fired another shot wide, before Buxton’s 11 had a free-kick blocked on the edge of the box. Just when it seemed as if this would end in a frustrating stalemate, on 66 minutes, Blakemore headed in from close range in what looked like a possible own-goal. As is so often the case, it took a less than classy goal to open the floodgates. After that it was one-way traffic. Beaumont doubled the home lead shortly after, converting a great assist from Lilley, before Dawes set up number 16 (I think it was Carroll) to make it 3-0. By complete coincidence, the goal came on 9.16, having involved an assist from 9 to 16! The Ambers rounded off the evening with a headed goal from one of their defenders, and a long-overdue goal for Dawes, who dummied and shimmied his way to create space for a shot. Late on Buxton’s 10 forced a save from Jones in the home goal, but it was too little too late. Handsworth had deservedly won a game they had dominated. Good luck to them with this league – on this performance, they should be up there at the business end of the season.