There was very little driving
compared with my last trip to Stevenage as Liverpool is the closest game to me
since the Lancaster game back in October 2013 (2nd Round Qualifying)
- since then I’ve been to Stourbridge twice, Workington, Stevenage twice and
Doncaster. So a jaunt down the motorway for
45 minutes was a refreshing change. I
didn’t use the Sat Nav as blog guest Mr Tops knew the way and had even asked
some Everton fans he knows for the best place to park. He brought some supplies and we ate chocolate
fingers in the car and a bag of Hula Hoops to celebrate our arrival (we know
how to live-it-up and have fun) and free parking.
We
parked about a 10 minute walk away from the ground and followed the crowds
through an area of terrace houses and shops, pubs and takeaways before I
eventually saw an old church that is in the corner of Goodison. We had arrived
and by chance we had arrived at our exact turnstile. It was 15 minutes before kickoff.
Mr
Tops and I entered the ground and I bought a £3 program. The young friendly
girl who sold it to me became very confused by how much change to give me as I’d
given her a £20 note. After eventually noticing that she could incorporate a £5
note into my £17 change all was fine (she said it was Mr Top’s fault for
distracting her and I’m on her side). We moved up a flight of stairs, past a
tight corridor selling food; past some toilets before arriving to our seats in
the main stand. Mr Tops received a £1
discount on his ticket for his restricted view.
My
restricted view received no discount.
To
our left was the home support behind the goal and this was the noisiest section
of the ground.
The
sprinklers were on the pitch, it was a lovely blue sky and as you can see the
away support from Swansea seemed a little small – the almost empty opposite corner.
As
the game kicked off you can see that our views weren’t too restricted if we
moved our heads.
As for the game it was a poor spectacle.
Everton started well and got an early goal through 6ft 8in striker Lacina Traore. For the next period Everton played some nice
flowing football, but they seemed vulnerable at the back to any kind of ball
over the top and it didn’t take too long for Swansea to equalise through Jonathan de Guzman's header. Then both
teams seemed to cancel each other out until the end of the half. Only 2 minutes of injury time was added when
there had clearly been about 6 minutes – it seemed that some bad 70s comedian
was doing the timing.
Speaking of timing – I was very
hungry at half time. After all these 3 o’clock kick offs and games were I’ve
eaten 3 times my own body weight, this was the only lunch time kick off I’d attended
and the queues for food were far too long in our little section of the
ground. Mr Tops handed me an orange
juice box to tide me over and the second half kicked off whilst my belly
rumbled and my blood sugar dropped.
Lacina Traore seemed to offer
little in terms of attack for Everton as he seemed slow, unable to jump or
control the ball – the team wasn’t helping him because they weren’t exactly utilising
his height by firing in crosses. The game changed the moment he was replayed by
Steven Naismith. He was lively and full of energy - scoring one
goal, being taken down for the penalty (scored by Leighton Baines) and then collapsing
towards the end. Naismith collided with a Swansea player, was injured, carried on
for a few minutes and then went back to ground leaving Everton to play the final
8 minutes with 10 men.
Everton were the better team in
this encounter and won quite easier but neither team played well. We left Goodison and I enjoyed the experience
and found it an excellent, friendly and compact little ground.
Ticket price £30 each (well, Mr
Tops got his for £29).
Attendance: 31,498.
I was hungry so we each bought a £3.50
cheeseburger just outside the ground. I got chips envy as loads of people were
walking past with chips and curry sauce. Through some terrace houses and onto a
main street we stopped at an excellent Chinese chippy. Small chips’n’curry sauce
£1.80 (they did a medium chips for £1.20 that was massive and a small fish for
£1.50 – I recommend the place). As I walked down the street happily eating my
chips an Everton fan heard the 6th Round draw on his phone and
announced the news with a lot of swearing! That wasn’t good for me - an all
Liverpool quarter final at Anfield would have been very difficult to get
tickets for and my other option was an expensive trip to London with a slightly
easier chance of tickets :( .
It’s a good job I had my chips for comfort.
I will be saying goodbye to
Swansea City and the Liberty Stadium for 2013/14.
Excellent Geeky Stats time:-
RIP
Stadiums and teams from the Giant Killing Adventure – 18th February
2014
RIP
Team
|
RIP
Stadium
|
St Helens Town
|
Brocstedes Park
|
Ashton Athletic
|
Brocstedes Park
|
Marine FC
|
Arriva Stadium
|
Lancaster City FC
|
Giant Axe Stadium
|
Curzon Ashton
|
Tameside Stadium
|
Workington AFC
|
Borough Park
|
Biggleswade Town FC
|
The Carlsberg Stadium
|
Stourbridge FC
|
The War Memorial Ground
|
Doncaster Rovers
|
Keepmoat Stadium
|
Stevenage
|
The Lamex Stadium
|
Swansea City
|
The Liberty Stadium
|
The Giant
Killing Adventure number of fans – 18th February 2014
Team
|
Stadium
|
Round
|
Fans
|
Everton FC
|
Goodison Park
|
5th Round Proper
|
31,498
|
Stevenage FC
|
Lamex Stadium
|
4rd Round Proper
|
6913
|
Doncaster Rovers
|
Keepmoat Stadium
|
3rd Round Proper
|
3899
|
Stevenage FC
|
Lamex Stadium
|
2nd Round Proper
|
2160
|
Stourbridge FC
|
War Memorial Athletic Ground
|
1st Round Proper
|
1603
|
Stourbridge FC
|
War Memorial Athletic Ground
|
3rd Qualifying
|
633
|
Workington AFC
|
Borough Park
|
4th Qualifying
|
519
|
Curzon Ashton
|
Tameside Stadium
|
2nd Qualifying
|
302
|
Lancaster City FC
|
Giant Axe
|
2nd Qualifying
|
249
|
Marine FC
|
Arriva Stadium
|
1st Qualifying
|
223
|
Curzon Ashton
|
Tameside Stadium
|
Preliminary
|
101
|
St Helens Town
|
Brocstedes Park
|
Extra Preliminary
|
71
|
Ashton Athletic
|
Brocstedes Park
|
Extra Preliminary
|
58
|
The Giant
Killing Adventure League table for FA prize money – 18th February 2014
Team
|
Prize
money/Round
|
Total
Winnings
|
Everton FC
|
£90,000 4th Round
Proper
£180,000 5th Round
Proper
|
£270,000
|
Stevenage FC
|
£27,000 2nd Round
Proper
£67,500 3rd Round
Proper
|
£94,500
|
Stourbridge FC
|
£7,500 3rd Qualifying
Round
£12,500 4th
Qualifying Round
£18,000 1st Round Proper
|
£38,000
|
Curzon Ashton
|
£1,925 Preliminary Round
£3,000 1St Qualifying
Round
£4,500 2nd Qualifying
Round
|
£9,925
|
Ashton Athletic
|
£1,500 Extra Preliminary Round
|
£1,500
|
Extra
Preliminary Round £277,500 was paid in prize money (185 winners).
Preliminary
Round £308,000 was paid out (160 winners).
1st
Qualifying Round £348,000 was paid out (116 winners).
2nd
Qualifying Round £360,000 was paid out (80 winners).
3rd
Qualifying Round £300,000 was paid out (40 winners).
4thQualifying
Round £400,000 was paid out (32 winners).
1st Round
Proper £720,000 was paid out (40 winners).
2nd
Round Proper £540,000 was paid out (20 winners).
3rd
Round Proper £2,160,000 was paid out (32 winners).
4th
Round Proper £1,440,000 was paid out (16 winners).
5th
Round Proper £1,440,000 was paid out (8 winners).
Total
Prize money so far equals £8,293,500
The Giant
Killing Adventure Program Price league table (cheapest first) – 18th
February 2014
Team
|
Program
Cost
|
Lancaster City FC 01st
October
|
£1.50
|
Curzon Ashton 31st August,
28th September
|
£1.60
|
St Helens Town 17th August
|
£2.00
|
Marine
FC 14th September
|
£2.00
|
Stourbridge
FC 12th October
|
£2.00
|
Doncaster
Rovers 4th January
|
£2.00
|
Workington
AFC 26th October
|
£2.50
|
Stourbridge
FC 9th November
|
£2.50
|
Stevenage
FC 7th December 25th January
|
£3.00
|
Everton
FC 15 February
|
£3.00
|
The Giant
Killing Adventure Goal Scorers – 18th February 2014
Matt
Warburton 3 (Curzon Ashton)
Ryan Rowe 3 (Stourbridge FC)
Luke
Benbow 3 (Stourbridge FC)
Steven
Naismith 3 (Everton FC)
Chris
McDonagh 2 (Curzon Ashton)
Simon
Lakeland 2 (Curzon Ashton)
Adam
Gilchrist 2 (Ashton Athletic)
Jamie
Oliver 2 (Stourbridge FC)
Will
Richards 2 (Stourbridge FC)
Francois
Zoko 2 (Stevenage FC)
Leighton
Baines 1 (Everton FC)
Lacina
Traore 1
(Everton FC)
John
Heitinga 1 (Everton FC)
Magaye
Gueye 1 (Everton FC)
Jonathan
de Guzman 1 (Swansea City)
Peter
Hartley 1 (Stevenage FC)
Darius
Charles 1 (Stevenage FC)
Harry
Forrester 1 (Doncaster Rovers)
Liam
Wakefield 1 (Doncaster Rovers)
Lucas
Atkins 1 (Stevenage FC)
Luke
Freeman 1 (Stevenage FC)
Filipe
Morais 1 (Stevenage FC)
Phil
McLuckie 1 (Workington AFC)
Chris Rowney 1 (Curzon Ashton)
Ryan
Brooke
1 (Curzon Ashton)
Will
Jones 1 (Marine FC)
Sam
Barnes 1 (Marine FC)
Neil
Weaver 1 (St Helens Town)
Greg
Harrison 1 (St
Helens Town)
Nathan
Ward 1
(Ashton Athletic)
Mark Jackson 1 (Lancaster City FC)
Evan Key 1 (Biggleswade Town FC)
Neil Marshall 1 OG (Lancaster City FC)
Team
|
Won
|
Drawn
|
Goals
For
|
Goals
Against
|
GD
|
Points
|
Curzon Ashton
|
3
|
1
|
10
|
6
|
4
|
10
|
Stourbridge FC
|
3
|
0
|
10
|
6
|
4
|
9
|
Everton FC
|
2
|
0
|
7
|
1
|
6
|
6
|
Stevenage FC
|
2
|
0
|
7
|
6
|
1
|
6
|
Ashton Athletic
|
1
|
1
|
3
|
6
|
-3
|
4
|
St Helens Town
|
0
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
-1
|
1
|
Lancaster City FC
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
-1
|
1
|
Doncaster Rovers
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
3
|
-1
|
0
|
Marine FC
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
4
|
-2
|
0
|
Swansea City
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
3
|
-2
|
0
|
Workington AFC
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
3
|
-2
|
0
|
Biggleswade Town FC
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
4
|
-3
|
0
|
So
far the Giant Killing Adventure has reported on 1,170 minutes of football, £297
on the turnstiles, 48,229 fans, 47 goals, 4 pints of bitter (£9.90), 1 pint of
Guinness (£3.10), 1 pint of cider (£3), 3 70p cups of tea, 15 £1 cups of tea, 2 £7 meal deals, 1 £1.10 cup
of tea (large), 2 £1.50 mochas, 2 70p
cans of coke, 2 £3.50 cheeseburgers, 2 £1.80 chips’n’curry sauce, 2 £1.20
chips, 1 £1 chips, 1 £1.80 chips and gravy, 1 £3 Bacon roll, 2 £1.60 pies, 2
£1.50 pies, 3 £1.50 handmade Balti eggs, 1 pork, stilton with apple and
ginger chutney pie, 1 ham and pease pudding
stottie, 2 £16.50 Lobsters, 4 2-4-1 cocktails, 1 City Break, 1 Sandy picnic
battle, 1 Zoe food mountain, 5 website promises (Marine, Curzon, Stourbridge,
Workington and Biggleswade), various Twitter retweets (too many to keep track
of from clubs, fans and supporters clubs), 3
lower-league-victories, 1 relationship breakdown and the journey has travelled 1357
miles from the FA Cup’s current home in Wigan.
Join me
again to find out about Arsenal and to see if we can get a ticket. We’ve been doing this for 12 Rounds and 7
months so they should let us play...
Don’t
forget our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/thegiantkillingadventure
