Going down the Bolton Road...
..to see the Blackburn Aces.
Except that it was an away game, so instead I made the journey from Banbury to Upton Park in West London to see West Ham v Blackburn Rovers.
The journey itself was worthy of a blog entry. I had planned to take the 12:24 from Banbury and change at Reading for a Paddington train to meet my friends at 2:00 pm. It was a 4:00 pm kick-off, so I had plently of time up my sleeve for a pre-match pint...which is just as well.
Things started going wrong when the train took 20 minutes to travel the last 500 metres getting into Oxford. I knew then that I would miss my connection at Reading. Things went from bad to worse when they said 'Everyone off..the train has been cancelled'. I eventually caught the 1:30 Oxford-Paddington (which actually left Oxford at 2:00). Thankfully a flurry of SMS'es kept all my friends in contact, and luckily Bruce and Shane remembered what each other looked like (they had met at my buck's and wedding) so they were happily on their way to Upton Park, where they met Janice who gave them their tickets.
Shane, Janice and Laura got to the game on time, whilst Bruce thankfully waited behind to give me my ticket. We only missed the first 10 minutes or so.
The first half was absolutely dire with Rovers not managing a shot on goal in the first half. West Ham took the lead with a great header from Teddy Sheringham who I think became the oldest scorer ever in the history of the Premier League. Rovers were without Brett Emerton so captain Lucas Neil shifted to right back with Michael Gray coming into left back. Savage was out injured as well so Mokoena played alongside Tugay in midfield. Gamst Pedersen was dropped for young academy graduate Sergio Peter on the left wing.
Things went from bad to worse in the first half with forward Jason Roberts being stretchered off.. Janice though he had broken his leg.. turns out he had 'only' broken his foot and he'll be out for eight weeks at least.
Rovers started brightly in the second half, dominating possession and laying siege to the West Ham goal. Unfortunately a chronic lack of confidence in front of goal meant that many half-chances went begging as the Rovers' forwards tried to find the 'perfect through ball'.
After about 20 minutes, the Rovers' onslaught subsided and West Ham were awarded a very dubious corner and naturally scored from it.
In the dying minutes Benni McCarthy had a nice turn and shot on goal which the keeper parried.. David Bentley ran onto the rebound to make it 2-1 but it was too little, too late.
Rovers had 65% possession against a team that had lost their last EIGHT games but still found a way to lose 2-1. I don't think Blackburn have won at Upton Park for about 30 years.
My own personal record of watching Rovers stands at watched six, with one draw and five losses.
Still.. persistence is the key, right?
Except that it was an away game, so instead I made the journey from Banbury to Upton Park in West London to see West Ham v Blackburn Rovers.
The journey itself was worthy of a blog entry. I had planned to take the 12:24 from Banbury and change at Reading for a Paddington train to meet my friends at 2:00 pm. It was a 4:00 pm kick-off, so I had plently of time up my sleeve for a pre-match pint...which is just as well.
Things started going wrong when the train took 20 minutes to travel the last 500 metres getting into Oxford. I knew then that I would miss my connection at Reading. Things went from bad to worse when they said 'Everyone off..the train has been cancelled'. I eventually caught the 1:30 Oxford-Paddington (which actually left Oxford at 2:00). Thankfully a flurry of SMS'es kept all my friends in contact, and luckily Bruce and Shane remembered what each other looked like (they had met at my buck's and wedding) so they were happily on their way to Upton Park, where they met Janice who gave them their tickets.
Shane, Janice and Laura got to the game on time, whilst Bruce thankfully waited behind to give me my ticket. We only missed the first 10 minutes or so.
The first half was absolutely dire with Rovers not managing a shot on goal in the first half. West Ham took the lead with a great header from Teddy Sheringham who I think became the oldest scorer ever in the history of the Premier League. Rovers were without Brett Emerton so captain Lucas Neil shifted to right back with Michael Gray coming into left back. Savage was out injured as well so Mokoena played alongside Tugay in midfield. Gamst Pedersen was dropped for young academy graduate Sergio Peter on the left wing.
Things went from bad to worse in the first half with forward Jason Roberts being stretchered off.. Janice though he had broken his leg.. turns out he had 'only' broken his foot and he'll be out for eight weeks at least.
Rovers started brightly in the second half, dominating possession and laying siege to the West Ham goal. Unfortunately a chronic lack of confidence in front of goal meant that many half-chances went begging as the Rovers' forwards tried to find the 'perfect through ball'.
After about 20 minutes, the Rovers' onslaught subsided and West Ham were awarded a very dubious corner and naturally scored from it.
In the dying minutes Benni McCarthy had a nice turn and shot on goal which the keeper parried.. David Bentley ran onto the rebound to make it 2-1 but it was too little, too late.
Rovers had 65% possession against a team that had lost their last EIGHT games but still found a way to lose 2-1. I don't think Blackburn have won at Upton Park for about 30 years.
My own personal record of watching Rovers stands at watched six, with one draw and five losses.
Still.. persistence is the key, right?
posted by PG at 1:42 PM
1 Comments:
Persistence? Nah, just change to the team that won last year, like everyone else does!
Post a Comment
<< Home