I was excited about this contest.
It felt like the most evenly matched game in the Giant Killing Adventure so
far. I had to travel alone for the first time and I set off for my second visit
to Tameside Stadium. My sat Nav told me it would take 54 minutes from my house
(40 Miles). I’d arranged to meet my blog guest Tim Webster at the ground at
2.30 (he was cycling from Penistone in Yorkshire). Just before setting off I’d
heard about possible traffic problems on the M60 and was worried about large
queues. However, my journey was smooth as I contemplated life and listened to
my ipod on shuffle - this threw out a strange mix of take that followed by Queens of the Stone age. The weather was
sunny and life felt good.
I arrived, met my friend Tim and our first test was to see if the Curzon staff would let Tim take his bike into the stadium - the man at the Turnstile said it was okay as long as he didn’t ride it up and down or let the referee use it. £7.50 each and we were in. Program's were £1.60 each.
The stadium seemed much busier than my last visit and the atmosphere felt lively. I bought two £1 teas and then headed towards the away end – it was the sunny side of the stadium (weather 18 degrees and very sunny). The away end was like a sun trap and for much of the first half I was hot – my legs felt like they were on fire and I could feel a nice tan coming on. Tim loves his food and he opened a packet of Walker’s ready salted crisps – these were really tasty - a good flavour and an excellent texture. I’m not trying to promote Walkers or infringe onto Gary Lineker's territory but they were good crisps (small print – other brands of crisps are available and the Giant Killing Adventure is not affiliated with any brand).
As
the match kicked off I was surprised to hear the Giant Killing Adventure’s
first stadium singers. A group of Lancaster FC fans opened up with songs like, ’Oh,
Lanky, Lanky. Lanky, Lanky Lanky Lanky Lancaster,’ and, ‘this is how it feels
to be Morecambe, this is how it feels to be small.’ I love the passion of local
rivalries (Morecambe is roughly five miles from Lancaster) and it was a proper
football atmosphere for the Giant Killing Adventure. It was surprising how much
noise 12 people could make. They sounded like a much larger crowd of singers.
The first half of the game was edged by Curzon Ashton. They pressured and kept the ball well for the first twenty minutes. Passing to feet and moving well. Both sides seemed organised and Lancaster came into the game in the last 15 minutes – however, they seemed to be playing more of an old fashion British long ball game.
At half time it was nil-nil.
At half-time Tim and I went into
the excellent bar for food – yes, I bought a pie and yes, it was cheaper than
the Football league pies. It cost £1.60 for a steak pie, £1.20 for chips and 70p for a can of coke – this was ordered twice.
We moved to the seated area in the home end to eat our food.
Pie and Chips.
The Steak pie was excellent – it
tasted almost like meat gravy filling. Tim really does love his food and as he
finished he said, ‘that were reet good, that were.’ This comment sums up the
excellence of the pies. We watched the
second half on these seats in the shade – a much more pleasant temperature.
The second half of the game was evenly matched. There were few chances as both sides seemed difficult to break down. Curzon seemed more creative but the teams cancelled each other out.
In
the last five minutes Lancaster pilled on some pressure and had a shot wiz past
the keepers left post. After this it was Curzon’s turn. They returned with a
whole heap of pressure and pinned Lancaster back for the remaining three
minutes or so – also having a couple of close chances. At the whistle I felt a
draw was a fair result because neither side had dominated.
This means that I get to Visit Lancaster City’s ground on Tuesday 1st of October. 302 fans attended the game and this is the biggest crowd of the Giant Killing Adventure so far.
Speaking
of so far; so far the Giant Killing Adventure has reported on 450
minutes of football, £60 on the turnstiles, 755 fans, 15 goals, 3 pints of
bitter (£7.40), 1 pint of Guinness (£3.10), 7 £1 cups of tea, 1 £1.10 cup of
tea (large), 2 70p cans of coke, 2 £1.20 chips, 2 £1.60 pies, 1 ham and pease
pudding stottie, 2 £16.50 Lobsters, 4 2-4-1 cocktails, 1 City Break, 1 Sandy
picnic battle, 2 website promises (Marine and Curzon), 2 Twitter retweets
(Lancaster), 1 lower-league-victory and the journey has travelled 140
miles from the FA Cup’s current home in Wigan.
As you can see from the imagine below - Lancaster is 60 Miles North West of Curzon (Curzon is near Manchester on the map). Our FA Cup journey has travelled 200 Miles in four rounds from its current home in Wigan to Lancaster, via Ashton, Curzon,Crosby and Curzon.
The
draw for the 3rd Qualifying Round will be announced today and the
replay is 1 sleep away. It’s all happening on Tuesday 1st October at
7:45 pm. Giant Axe Stadium in Lancaster is a fitting name for our Giant Killing
Adventure.
Don't forget our facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/thegiantkillingadventure
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