On the Road Again!

I left just before 11am as planned. Everything went okay. Even Dartford wasn't too bad. I arrived at the Stadium a little earlier than the satnav thought, but only by a few minutes. I ended up in parking S1. The guy on the gate wasn't all that helpful. At least my pre-booked ticket with RingGo seems to have worked okay in this parking lot. It's the same parking lot as when I came on the bike in August. With over an hour to kickoff I looked for somewhere to eat. Around the stadium are so many fast food places.  I looked at Burger King. No seating free. Same at KFC. Went into McDonald's. Quick turnover and cheap enough. To pay cash at the counter was easy enough. I went for the "Big Mac" meal. It's a long time since I last had one and it seemed smaller than I remember?  Not so much Big Mac as Middling Mac I did like the Grinch idea on the coffee cup. The day went down from there really. It's amazing a club that can't open all ...

Tomorrow I have a day of travel to Milton Keynes to see Oldham Athletic play fellow League 2 side MK Dons in the FA Cup second round. I went up there on the bike in August for the league game. It was early in the season and to be fair a 0-0 draw was more than both sides deserved. It was that poor. More recently Dons have done better and are nearer the top of table than Oldham. I have a ticket and have pre-paid parking through the RingGo app. Although it looks a little hit and miss where to find a space. Although I had thought I had paid for N1, according to the parking management I can park in any of "beige" spaces. I chose N1 as it's nearest to the away fans entrance 3.   We'll see I guess.  I have the route into the Juke's satnav. Although it's "our" car it's essentially Claire's car. It's in her name for registration and insurance.  I am a named driver as her spouse. The Nissan Connect app only works on Claire's phone. ...

When the draw was made with 80 teams in the bowl to be picked out at random, who would have thought Latics would once again draw H&R again, and away again? Last time Latics sneaked a 2-1 win after giving away a silly penalty. Guess what Hampton's first goal was this time? 😉 At least this time Latics we're already one up. Two more goals looked to have the game won, and then a little inattention and it was 3-2. I watched the game live in BBC Sport website. Coverage was quite good. In the end Latics are in the second round draw. A 1/40 chance of a favourable draw.

FA Cup Quarter Final away for the fourth game in a row since the restart of the season at Sheffield United. The Blades having a great season but have tailed off after the lockdown and so we had a chance. A pretty tame first half but a 1-0 lead courtesy of a penalty after what looked like a clumsy tackle on Lacazette.  The second half was more in their favour and on 90 minutes another defensive cockup and they are level. Extra time beckoned. Then the drama. Finally a quick break with pace. Pepe closed down in the box, Ceballos takes it on. A break unchallenged by defenders. The keeper comes off his line towards him. Dani slides the ball between him and the post and it's 2-1 in the final minute of added time. At last the team showed some guts and determination.  They fought for the win as a team.  About bloody time! Manchester City next in the Semi at Wembley.

Super Oldham... I have been looking forward to this game since the draw. Another away game in the south. Not as nearby as the last round in Maidstone, but in London. Usually when you are drawn against a team 59 places above in the pyramid you think the worst. But on NYD our other team, Arsenal, hammered them 4-1. So we thought there could be an upset. Fulham are 19th out of 20 in the Premier League and as a result they must see that as more important than a cup run. So they played a weakened team. With 8 minutes to go before kick off the Oldham fans, numbering about 3800, were in full voice. The home fans seemed somewhat sluggish arriving in their seats. Although Fulham where the better team they didn't bother Iversen in the Latics goal at all in the first half. Latics had a few half chances and with more composure may have taken one. The second half started pretty much the same but the home side were more clinical and dangerous. A little mix up and Odoi scored. 😨...

Another away draw in the South for Oldham. After Hampton & Richmond, then on Saturday at Maidstone, this time away in London. The opponents will be Premier League Fulham FC  With their near neighbours Chelsea FC also drawn at home the FA will have to decide which day to play the game. Here's hoping they see sense and make it a weekend game so that our supporters can travel to and from the North West in a day. Many years ago I used to go to Fulham. We are talking over fifty. At school my friend Chris' family had moved to Thames Ditton from Fulham. Most of the family were Fulham fans but some supported Chelsea and even Queens Park Rangers, who were also local and in the same London borough of Hammersmith & Fulham. I've not been there for over 40 years even as an away fan. One of the last games we went to was the FA Cup Semi Final against Birmingham City at Sheffield Wednesday's ground.  The scene of the Hillsborough disa...

It's over.  The Gallagher Stadium is within easy walking distance of Maidstone East station.   There are two large covered stands and one small i.e. lower roofed stand. Luckily we were in one of the covered stands as it drizzled  all day. I met Neill at the station and we walked around. Stopped for a chat with some of Claire's ex workmates from Laser Transport, Gilberto, Carl and Andy. They were supporting the home side. You don't doubt who we were supporting. Only pic that came out on my phone! On the 3G pitch it would be the home side that were expected to be on top at first despite being a league lower down the pyramid. But it was Oldham from the off they were on top.  As usual there is a pantomime villain and it was Baldy No6 for Maidstone. A player of such finesse that despite any infringement he sailed through the game card free. But it was Baldy that led to the first goal. Concentrating on fouling Surr...

Football all weekend!  It doesn't happen very often and in the past I have been able to make sure that Alex took the games at Arsenal that clashed with the Oldham away games down in the South and South-East of the country. This year I have the full Arsenal season ticket and as luck would have it, there are few clubs in League 2 that meet my travel criteria of location and whether I can get there by bike due to the weather/time of year. So once the Latics had fought back from a dodgy Tom Daley penalty at Hampton & Richmond, and the draw came out (before that game) that the winners would be down in Kent at Maidstone United. Both Neill and I live near enough to make it an afternoon trip. With it being December 1st and the forecast for this weekend is terrible, I have decided to go by train and a short walk from Maidstone East station to the ground. Until I looked on Google maps I hadn't realised where the station was. I had (for some unkno...

Down the years the "Romance of the Cup" raises it's (often ugly) head in the early rounds of the FA Cup (the oldest football/soccer trophy in the world) when underdogs defeat the bigger boys. This David versus Goliath conflict is most often confined to the FA Cup 1st Round Proper.  So called because the teams from the lowest tiers of the football pyramid have been playing Preliminary and Qualifying rounds since August 11th! And so it was that last night, November 12th, that my original love, Oldham Athletic , currently in the 4th tier were drawn away to Hampton & Richmond Borough in the 1st Round. H&R, the David in this battle, are from the 6th tier. Another name for this type of game is "banana skin" or to keep the David and Goliath motif going, a giant-killing. And so after 13 minutes when in probably their first attack and with minimal contact any where about his person, the H&R winger went flying in the penalty b...

Arsenal away at newly promoted Cardiff City. Not a game where the "old" Arsenal would have had a care in the world brushing aside the team from the Welsh capital, but nowadays with a defence that leaks like a rusty kettle, there is always that fear that a few extra cockups will end in disaster. Forgetting that my brother was away in Canada flying in a WW2 Avro Lancaster* I sent out an SMS to say I was on "lockdown".  A phrase we use to say "do not send game updates"!  Claire and I were out walking the dog and so I would miss the 1.30pm kick off. I avoided looking at my phone, as kindly old Google sends me score updates! Okay when the game isn't on TV! Once back in I started watching the recorded version and skimmed through the pundits and the preamble.  I always think it is  pointless interviewing managers before a game! After 11 minutes the ethnic Albanians of Xhaka and Mustafi combined at a corner to put Arsenal 1-0 up.  Arsenal wer...

The FA Cup. The oldest football cup competition in the world. The smaller clubs began playing early in August and today in the third round of games called the First Qualifying Round my local club, Folkestone Invicta, began their attempt to reach the First Round Proper. It's this round where the Football League clubs from the third and fourth tiers on the pyramid come into play. Invicta are in the 7th tier. The opponents today were Greenwich Borough from the division in the Isthmian League, currently named after the sponsors Bostik. Plenty of huff and puff.  A mistake ked to the visitors going ahead after only 8 minutes. Invicta pulled level just before half time but were generally the better side but 1-1 was about right. Into the second half it was more of the same but surprisingly it was Borough that scored first. Invicta pressed and pressed and a late and clumsy tackle saw the visitors reduced to ten men with a red card for a second yellow card. It wasn't long before ...

And the adventure goes on.   After a disastrous run of games of late that have seen the assault on the league fade and fade with a record, under Wenger, of four consecutive away defeats, Arsenal were definitely underdogs on Sunday in this semi-final.  In the League trailing their opponents by a considerable margin, the one-off match to reach the final was a different ball game, to coin a phrase. After a dreadful mistake allowed  Manchester Oil Barons to go ahead in the first half. The Arsenal players managed to rally themselves and equalise through Monreal. The game went into 30 minutes extra time before Sanchez scored to win the game. The final beckons on May 27th.

If Arsenal don't get to the FA Cup Final this year and stake a claim on a record breaking 13th victory it won't be for the want of trying or the draw. Preston North End from the Championship - level 2 in the pyramid Southampton from the Premier League - level 1 in the pyramid Sutton United from the Natinal League - level 5 in the pyramid All defeated, and all away from home on the opponents grounds. All beaten with various amounts of difficulty and the usual heart stopping moments for us paid up members at Arsenal FC. Next on the horizon are giant killers Lincoln City. Currently the runaway leaders of the National League (5th tier of the English pyramid) and already the giant killers of three Premier League clubs.   At least we are at home. Day and date to be decided after TV divvy up the Quarter Final (Last 8 left in it) games. COYG.

So Arsenal have made it to record 19th FA Cup Final and of the previous 18, 11 have been won. A record currently shared with Manchester United. As last year we were drawn against a club from the lower division and it proved to to be slightly different as we won in extra time rather than penalties like last year. Although I won a ticket in the ballot, I had to sell it to Alex as I am only two weeks on from the heart attack and simply not fit enough to go. So I watched on TV instead. Nerve wracking? Yes!    Today, Sunday, was the second semi-final and that went against the odds with Aston Villa beating Liverpool 2-1.

Managed to get lucky and made the criteria for a ticket to the Qtr Final of the FA Cup at Old Trafford. Now have to work out how to get up there for a 1715 kick off. And more importantly how to get back so the entire weekend isn't lost at home.

Things are building up for a first trip to Wembley, where 80000 plus will make their way to the new stadium, many for the first time. Use public transport we are told. "Cut the carbon footprint". So why then does TfL make it difficult by having a part suspension of the Jubilee Line? As usual the arse and the elbow have no idea. Integrated transport policy for London. Rubbish.