Away Days - Chesterfield
Away Days - Chesterfield |
The one solitary official coach left the Quadrant at 8am, on our way to Chesterfield for my 85th consecutive game (Sad, I think I need a life!). The talk was obviously about Leon Knight after Ugo told us that our top scorer was not in the squad for the game. It was all pure speculation at the time. What had he done etc, many wondering how we'd fare without him? We would find out in good time. We stopped off in a pub just outside Chesterfield, at around 12.30 and had a few orange juices before making our way to Saltergate; I noticed that there were no Under 16 prices today. So being the honest guy that I am I paid full price - They must have known I was going to be there!! The programme was a good re, 62 pages, 4 of them dedicated to the Swans, giving a brief history and a little write up on the fact that we were once managed by four people in the same season. As well as the usual profiles on the players. Saltergate is an old style ground, with not much development over the years, as far as I could tell. The away end was an old fashioned terrace with no cover - luckily it wasn't raining - the other sides of the ground aren't that much better. They do have planning permission for a new 11,000 seater stadium, about a mile away from their current ground, so obviously there's no point in them developing Saltergate. The other three sides of the ground all have cover, but they are very small stands; the pitch was in good condition so no need for Willy to worry about divots a la Paul Robinson. The Swans only took 271 fans, around 800+ less than last season and 1000 less than those who went to Forest, which is only 28 miles further. There was no roof on the away end so it was hard to create a loud atmosphere, the home fans weren't that much louder, only sang when they scored and a few chants of 'Spireites, spireites' The chant of the day being 'Willy, give us a smile' and he duly obliged. After a great away win the journey back seemed to go pretty quickly - strange that. A quick stop at the services, where some Bristol Rovers fans also decided to stop at - I wondered why there were tractors outside! That explained it. The Swans player's coach also passed us on the way back (how fast they must have been going to catch up with us I don't know!). Willy gave us a wave - shame he couldn't stick his hand up in the air to stop the Spireites's second goal though! Our bus (which worked this time) arrived back at Swansea at around 9.30, not too long to wait until the next game against Walsall in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy on Tuesday night. Ticket: £15 Coach: £16 Programme: £2.50 Current running total: £358 What to read next:With our recent form being what it was, I was expecting a nervy encounter, with Leeds struggling to get through the Norwich City defence, but how wrong I was! Suddenly we recovered the swagger we have shown for much of the season, and not a moment too soon. Many neutrals have complained on social media that yesterday’s game at Norwich City was a bit on the dull side, but the Leeds team wasn't set up to please them. For us it was the result that mattered, and it should leave us in a better position to get through to the final. For the second time this season we are visiting Norwich City, this time for the play-off game at high noon on Sunday, and the kick-off time is of course thanks to our good friends at Sky Sports. You’ll find Carrow Road is about a mile to the south-east of the city centre. If we were ever going to have a final day miracle we needed a much better performance than this final day showing against Southampton, so now we have to endure the agony of the play-offs yet again. Leeds United 1 - 2 Southampton - Player Ratings and Reports
If you saw the match, please give us your player ratings and a mini match report. Just when we thought we’d turned the corner with that win at Boro, we slipped back into the desperate form of the post-international break period, losing heavily to Queens Park Rangers in this critical game. Queens Park Rangers 4 - 0 Leeds United - Player Ratings and Reports
If you saw the match, please give us your player ratings and a mini match report. Our trip to Queens Park Rangers is at 8pm on Friday, thanks once again to our very good friends at Sky Sports. We’re not famous any more! As Mark Twain might have said, rumours of the death of our promotion hopes have been greatly exaggerated. Last night’s win at Middlesbrough was a hard watch towards the end, but the vital three points has got our campaign back on track. Middlesbrough 3 - 4 Leeds United - Player Ratings and Reports
If you saw the match, please give us your player ratings and a mini match report. |