This was a great weekend for many
reasons. On Friday I drove to Yorkshire
and stayed at Blog guest Tim Webster’s house – we had a massive sit-down curry Friday
night in which I felt stuffed, bloated and in terrible pain – excellent stuff.
He’s got three massive blooming dogs and we took them out for a walk across the
windy opened-hill-top near his house. During this walk my face felt like I’d
been sand blasted with ice – once again, excellent stuff.
We
set off for Stevenage the next day at around 11:00am and the journey was
easy and smooth. I have never driven down the A1 before and it was great
to razz down the motorway that isn’t a motorway and we managed to shave 11
minutes of the Sat Nav’s predicted time of arrival. However, those 11 minutes was
taken back from us once we drove into the Lamex Stadium to be told that away fans
need to park somewhere different. This
involved a convoluted route around various roundabouts and back past the
stadium to the car park – at least it was free and I was impressed by the
number of coaches that the Stourbridge fans had taken to the game. This showed commitment and that Stourbridge
were taking this massive game seriously.
We
stopped off at a famous world renowned burger restaurant for a very rubbish and
disappointing burger that tasted of sweet bun and sauce before we entered the
Lamex Stadium
Once inside
the ground we purchased two teas and I wished I just bought a burger from the
ground as it would have been far cheaper and less disappointing. The match
program cost £3.00.
We moved
behind the goal and the atmosphere with the Stourbridge fans was brilliant from
the start. Lots of singing, lots of chanting and from where I was stood they
completely blocked any noise from the Stevenage support. There was a minute of
clapping in respect of Nelson Mandela and the first half was an excellent game
of football as Stevenage attacked the goal at the end I was stood. Early chances came for both teams and the
game was evenly matched. Stourbridge had
most of the possession; they bossed the middle of the park and kept Stevenage
pinned back for long periods. However,
the gulf in class could be seen in the final third of the pitch. When Stevenage broke forward they always
looked dangerous with fast wing play, great crosses and both forwards were a
quick handful. Stevenage squandered some good chances (one was harder to miss
than score) which lead to many chants of ‘You are just a shit Emile Heskey’ to
both fowards. However, one of the shit
Emile Heskey’s put the ball in the back of the net just before half time and
this in effect killed off the game.
It was a great
half of football in a great atmosphere.
At half time I was recognised by Richard Clark of @glassboy68 and he came
over to say hello. I want to thank Richard
for all his help and support during my coverage of the Stourbridge games. He was a great help in getting me tickets and
retweeted me on various occasions.
The second half
of football wasn’t as good as the first.
Stevenage scored again soon into the second half and the game was
over. Stourbridge had worked so hard in
the first half that they had tired towards the end of it and had much less to
give in the second. The fans continued
to chant and the Stevenage keeper was showered with abuse for much of the
second half. This was funny and I hope
he took it in the fun manner that it was intended.
The
Stevenage keeper was ‘abused’ with chants of ‘Day’s a prick my lord,’ and ‘4
nil down, and Day’s a prick’ for much of the half. The fans kept the atmosphere going strong
right until the end. One fan managed to get onto the pitch after the final whistle
but he was chased down and rugby tackled by security. The security team had a
mixture of guys who seemed to find the Stourbridge fans funny and some that
didn’t appear amused at all.
The Stourbridge fans and players celebrated
their excellent FA Cup run whilst the home fans could leave the stadium.
We left and I had had a great
time in the away end with an excellent football atmosphere. The level of humour was basic, but
funny. On the way out, one Stourbridge
fan said to a security guard ‘what’s that?’ and he pointed to the ground. When the guard looked, the fan and his two mates
shouted ‘Ah, I made you look;’ like I said, basic, but funny.
Attendance 2160. Tickets £20
each.
After the game we had a short 40 minute journey to Bedford to meet up one of my close friends from University Karl Meakins - he is renowned for his Bedfordshire famous hospitality and as always he delivered the goods. We met his lovely new girlfriend and after a few drinks in front of a roaring pub fire we went out for Italian food - a great ending to a great day was topped off by watching 'Jaws' back at Karl's flat - all good.
I will be saying goodbye to
Stourbridge and The War Memorial Ground for 2013/14. I have definitely enjoyed my time with them
and they have given me a lot of support.
Thank you Stourbridge FC.
Now I have to see what happens with
Doncaster Rovers and Stevenage. I have
emailed both of these clubs to tell them about my blog and we will see if I get
any help or support from them.
Excellent
Geeky Stats time:-
RIP
Stadiums and teams from the Giant Killing Adventure – 12th December
2013
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
|
The Giant
Killing Adventure number of fans – 12th December 2013
Team
|
Stadium
|
Round
|
Fans
|
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 – 12th December
2013
Team
|
Prize
money/Round
|
Total
Winnings
|
Stourbridge FC
|
£7500 3rd Qualifying
Round
£12500 4th
Qualifying Round
£18000 1st Round
Proper
|
£38000
|
Stevenage FC
|
£27000 2nd Round
Proper
|
£27000
|
Curzon Ashton
|
£1925 Preliminary Round
£3000 1St Qualifying
Round
£4500 2nd Qualifying
Round
|
£9925
|
Ashton Athletic
|
£1500 Extra Preliminary Round
|
£1500
|
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).
The Giant
Killing Adventure Program Price league table (cheapest first) – 12th December
2013
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
|
Workington
AFC 26th October
|
£2.50
|
Stourbridge
FC 12th October
|
£2.50
|
Stevenage
FC 7th December
|
£3.00
|
The Giant
Killing Adventure Goal Scorers – 12th December 2013
Matt
Warburton 3 (Curzon Ashton)
Ryan Rowe 3 (Stourbridge FC)
Luke
Benbow 3 (Stourbridge 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 1 (Stevenage FC)
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)
The Giant
Killing Adventure League table – 12th December 2013
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
|
Ashton Athletic
|
1
|
1
|
3
|
6
|
-3
|
4
|
Stevenage FC
|
1
|
0
|
4
|
0
|
4
|
3
|
St Helens Town
|
0
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
-1
|
1
|
Lancaster City FC
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
-1
|
1
|
Marine FC
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
4
|
-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 900 minutes of football, £168 on
the turnstiles, 5919 fans, 34 goals, 4 pints of bitter (£9.90), 1 pint of
Guinness (£3.10), 1 pint of cider (£3), 3 70p cups of tea, 14 £1 cups of tea, 1 £1.10 cup of tea (large),
2 £1.50 mochas, 2 70p cans of coke, 2
£1.20 chips, 1 £1 chips, 1 £1.80 chips and gravy, 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), 2 lower-league-victories, 1
relationship breakdown and the journey has travelled 899 miles from the FA
Cup’s current home in Wigan.
Join me
again to find out about Doncaster Rovers FC and to see if they or Stevenage FC
have mentioned my blog or given me information about tickets to the 3rd
Round Proper - Now the big boys have joined in the fun.
