Train £28
Ticket £22-25
Programme £3
Tea £2-20
Bus £2
Bus £1-80
Total £59-25
As I'm nearing the completion of grounds in Yorkshire and the North West, my attentions are starting to turn towards the Midlands. Wolves, Walsall and Notts County were 3 League grounds I'd not done, so I headed down to the Black Country today.
This was a bonus weekend, as I had partly expected to be at a Liverpool FA Cup game. That was kicked into touch with the draw away at Blackburn, and the subsequent loss to West Ham in the replay.
Walsall is a short ride out of Birmingham and the Bescot Stadium has its own station. I decided to go all the way into the town as I'd never been there before. Now I suspect I'll never do so again! The bits I saw were distinctly shabby and run down, with boarded up windows, hooded youths on street corners, and generally a feeling of deprivation.
The Bescot Stadium - or Banks Stadium to be more precise - was buried at the back of a big shopping estate. I found the ticket collection point easily, and headed into the ground. The layout and style was similar to Glanford Park, with 3 sides the same height with maybe 20 rows in each. The main difference was the impressive Topps Tiles stand to my right, which had two tiers. This seemed to be where the more vocal home fans were sat.
I'd picked a humdinger today, with both teams in the hunt for the playoffs or even automatic promotion. The game was fast and aggressive from the word go, though there were relatively few chances. At the centre of many Wigan attacks was the excellent Max Power, who had scored that thunderbolt at the JJB back in January. Wigan took the lead when 24 scored with an absolute rocket of a shot, into the top corner. He then nearly stretched their lead with a free kick flying just over.
This was nicely set up for the second period. After a couple of half chances at either end, Walsall grabbed a superb equaliser when 8 rifled in a brilliant long ranger to rival the first goal. The Saddlers then had a good patch, with 15 forcing a double save from Jaaskaliwnin, and 12 firing wide. They both then forced the away keeper into further saves. It just seemed inevitable that Walsall would score again.
But this is the crazy game of football and Wigan weathered the storm. They began to pour forward with confidence and made it 2-1 on about 90 minutes, via 31s well placed effort into the bottom corner. The away fans - who'd travelled in numbers today - were jubilant and it took a couple of minutes for the pitch to be cleared of celebrating Latics! This had been a cracking game with 2 particularly excellent goals - and as it happens, these were the first on the Football League highlights on Channel 5 that evening.
I was in no rush, but somehow managed to make the 17:04 from the Bescot Stadium station, meaning I made it back to Sheffield by 7. It was a bit of a bonus to get back so early, particularly on a cold February day like today.
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