Petrol £10
Tram £4
Ticket £22
Tea £1-80
Programme £3
Tea number 2 £1-80
Drink £1-25
Total £43-85
As we were heading to Anfield on Sunday I wanted a near-ish ground for Saturday. Notts County fit the bill perfectly - I did their counterparts Forest back in 2013 but have never made it to Meadow Lane.
Nottingham is apparently a tricky city to drive into so I opted for the Phoenix Park and Ride, which took about 40 minutes from our house. Half an hour later on the tram and I was in the centre of the city, which was abuzz with the sunshine out for once. In the market square kids were taking dips in the fountains and several stalls dotted around. Has summer arrived? On this evidence yes.
I alighted at Nottingham station - which it had to be said has massively improved in recent years - and made the short walk to the ground. Despite the fact that nothing much was hinging on this game there was still a healthy crowd of people around the ground. I headed to the ticket office to pick up my ticket, only to be barked at by a steward explaining I was in the wrong queue.
Once I had my ticket I sauntered around to the Spion Kop end, and made it in to the ground. Meadow Lane was bordering on 20,000 capacity, with all seated stands on each side. The away fans in their blue shirts were slowly gathering in the long side on my left, while the rest of the ground was fairly quiet. In the relatively sparsely populated Kop I then managed to completely spill a cup of tea! The brown liquid oozed down onto the next couple of rows, probably making a mark on the concrete for years to come.
After a replacement tea the ground began to fill up and the game kicked off. The atmosphere was interesting to say the least. Notts County have had a pretty poor season, lying around 17th-18th for most of it, with 3 managers in 2015-16. Their supporters - who to be fair had turned out in numbers today - voiced their frustrations early on.
It hardly helped when Carlisle took an early lead when 24 slid the ball to the unmarked 17, who slotted in calmly from inside the box. After c14couldn't quite reach a far post header and n29 forced a double save, c3 made it 2-0. Appallingly he was again unmarked with the defence in disarray. Notts had the odd shot (eg when 26's long ranger was well saved), but were a poorly organised side. So it was no surprise when 14 made it 3-0 just before half time. Boos rang out across the stadium.
Despite the sunshine the mood hardly improved in the second period. N3 scrambled an early effort off the line and then c13 bundled in a cross from the right. 4-0 and this was not even 60 minutes!
County had a few bright spots. 11 looked good in some sparky runs from midfield, and 39 had a rare County shot saved. Across the ground rang out the chant 'were shit and we know we are'. That was emphasised when Carlisle made it 5-0 thanks to an awful clearance from the goalkeeper, who fed it to the alert away striker. Still the chants rose across the seats of this grand stadium - 'you're not fit to wear the shirt'. There was time for a couple of final efforts - n24 firing just wide with a long ranger and n39 forcing another save - but this had been an unmitigated disaster for the home side. It could even have been 6 when 25 hit the post for the Cumbrians late on. There was a blue and white party in full swing at the far end, Carlisle finishing a respectable upper mid table on 67 points. The contrast in the home sections was palpable. On the final whistle boos streamed down from the Kop, and some fans walked out without any applause. Lets hope things improve next season as this is a grand old club and the fans deserve a lot better.
I strolled back to the tram stop, and got back to Phoenix Park for just after 5:30. The journey up the M1 was smooth and I made it in at about 6:15, which has to be one of my quickest return journeys.
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