York City (Home)

THE visit of York City was always going to be a tight affair and so it proved as we were unable to defeat the Minstermen and take advantage of our game in hand over leaders Oxford United.

A disappointing 1-1 home draw on a rainy Tuesday night under the Kenilworth Road floodlights was perhaps a fair result over the 90 minutes, but meant we dropped the chance to potentially claw back another 2 points on the U’s, as well as make up ground on Stevenage Borough, who only drew 0-0 at home to Wrexham.

The Matchday Programme (priced at £3.00)

My dad joined us again for this fixture – the second game in a row – and we arrived in Luton at 6.30pm, parking at the train station and making the short walk to “The Whitehouse” for some pre-match beverages.  After a quick pint, we decided to go somewhere else for a change and I suggested going upstairs in the “Galaxy Centre” to see what the bar at the bowling alley was like up there.  We had a couple of beers, but don’t think we will be going back up there again!  Still, made a change.

We arrived at the ground at about 7.35pm after a walk in the rain up Kenilworth Road.  My dad bought a pie and Batesy and I bought a burger and we then took our seats in the ‘David Preece Family Stand’ (the “New Stand’) for the evening’s action.

We made our first groan before a ball had even been kicked due to the players changing ends, meaning we were kicking towards the ‘Kenilworth Road’ end in the first-half, as opposed to the second-half, as we usually do.  We prefer it when we attack the goal down our end second-half, but oh well, c’est la vie.

Luton Town Fans in the 'Kenilworth Road' end

The first-half was a very poor affair as we seemed to revert back to our long ball tactics, which we hate to see and never gets us anywhere.  We had two great chances to take the lead as Tom Craddock beat three players before firing wide from inside the box and Adam Newton also missed a glorious opportunity when he blazed over the bar from inside the box when he surely had to hit he target;  A very bad miss.

Unsurprisingly, York took the lead through Neil Barrett and we were chasing the game.  Alan Neilson and Kevin Watson responded by taking off on-loan Ben Wright before the interval and replacing him in attack with young Ryan Charles, who has been looking a threat lately.  They stated afterwards they felt we were playing the ball long to Wright too much, which was bread and butter for their central defenders.  Charles looked good again, showing a willingness to run at the defence.  He looks a good prospect.

The second-half saw an improved performance and we levelled on 65 minutes when the referee did well to play an advantage on the edge of the area, rather than give us a free-kick and Asa Hall thumped an unstoppable drive into the top corner from 20-yards out for his third goal of the season.  It made a change to see some good refereeing in this league.

The 257 York City Fans in the 'Oak Road' end

We pushed for a winner without ever really looking likely to net it and with the very last kick of the game the visitors could have snatched the win as a left-wing cross when just inches away from their sliding forward in the six-yard box.  We were very lucky to escape that one, and as soon as the ball went out of play the referee blew for full-time.

Overall, a mediocre performance against a solid side who will be there or thereabouts come the end of the season.  When the campaign has come to a close, it could well turn out to be a valuable point for us, but of course if you want to win this league then you have to win your home games.  For me, the worry is that our forwards are just not getting enough goals.  I feel we need a new striker or two and we will then be a real force.

The Sides in Action

Next up is the FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round home match with Grays Athletic and due to our stand being shut for this game, Batesy and I will be sitting in the ‘Kenilworth Road’ end.  Of course, we are expecting us to progress to the First Round proper.  A good FA Cup run this season would go down a treat, so we can hopefully get some half decent grounds to go to!

We remain unbeaten since Neilson and Watson took over in their caretaker roles and I think any Luton Town fan would have taken the 10 points out of the 12 available we have gathered since Mick Harford was sacked.

If the rumours are true, a new manager will be appointed next week, with director Stephen Browne confirming we had over 60 creditable applications and interviews now having taken place.

If Neilson and Watson can keep producing the goods, then who knows what will happen?

COME ON YOU HATTERS!

James

The Matchday Programme (priced at £3.00)

Luton Town Fans in the ‘Kenilworth Road’ end

Luton Town Fans in the ‘Main Stand’

The 257 York City Fans in the ‘Oak Road’ end

The Sides in Action

Altrincham (Away)

THREE successive away wins and Alan Neilson and Kevin Watson are doing themselves no harm if they want to take on the job of managing the mighty Hatters full-time.

At a ground that was the worst we have attended this season, we produced a fine second-half performance to claim another vital three points on the road.

The Matchday Programme (priced at £2.00)

With my dad joining Batesy and I for the trip to Manchester, we left Stevenage at 9.15am for the drive to Altrincham and reminisced about how we used to go up to Manchester to see the Hatters at Old Trafford against Manchester United, and not Altrincham for a non-league match. Instead of us visiting “The Theatre of Dreams”, it would be Bolton Wanderers going to Old Trafford and we talked about how not so long ago we were higher in the leagues than Bolton.  Oh how the mighty have fallen!

The "Old Market Tavern" Pub

We arrived in Altrincham at 1pm via a stop-off at a service station, and we parked in a multi-storey car park right next to the train station.  We walked up to a pub called the “Old Market Tavern” and it wasn’t particularly great, it was very quiet.  We headed next door to another pub called the “Orange Tree”, where we briefly met our mate Ben.  It was a small pub and was showing the football (Aston Villa v Chelsea) so we watched the end of the first-half, had a beer and headed over the road into the town centre to the third and final pre-match pub, “The Bricklayers Arms”.  The football was showing again in this pub on a large screen, so we enjoyed watching Chelsea losing and had another couple of pints before heading to the ground.

The ground was further than we had realised so it took us about 10/15 minutes to walk to the ground along Moss Lane.  The first thing we noticed was that hardly anyone was walking down the street so we knew the attendance was going to be very poor.  We normally see the opposition’s fans in the pubs pre-match too, you see people wearing their shirts, but we’d not seen a single Altrincham shirt anywhere!

James and Dave Outside "The Orange Tree"

The game was pay on the day, so we headed into the ground and a young lad asked us how many programmes we wanted.  “Four please mate” I said.  I’ve explained before in other blogs why I am buying so many so won’t go into it again!  “They’re £2.00 each.”  “OK,” I replied.  “So that’s £10 please mate,” he said.  “No it’s not.”  “Yeah, it is.”  At this point I laughed and said, “What is 2 x 4?” and he said, “8″ and his fellow young programme seller laughed and said, “So he means it is £8 bruv” and laughed.  Ah, the youth of today!  The programme was very small and looked cheaply made – definitely the worst away programme so far this season.

Dave Posing Outside "The Bricklayers Arms"

After our pre-match amber nectar, my dad and I both needed the toilet.  When we walked into the toilets we were amazed!  It wasn’t even a toilet, you just basically urinated up a wall.  There were no cubicles and no sinks.  The worst “toilets” ever!  Batesy said when he went later on that a bloke in there laughed and said, “There’s not even any drainage system!”

My dad got a pie and we made our way onto the terracing behind the goal.  The first impressions were that we had brought a decent following, as always, and that there were hardly any home fans – and I mean hardly any!  To our left as a small ‘Main Stand’ that was quite strange as directly next to it was a separate tiny stand that had only a hundred or so seats and was referred to as “The Family Stand”.  Opposite this, was a covered terraced area that was sparse (although they later opened this and a few people went in).  Behind the other goal was a small covered terraced area, where most of the small contingent of Altrincham fans were situated.  Our end was uncovered, but with the sun shining we were thankful we hadn’t come on a rainy afternoon in January!

Luton Town Fans

We started the first-half very poorly and it looked back to the dark days of early season when our football was woeful and we launch the ball long.  Ben Wright was struggling to make an impact up front, and our most dangerous player again looked like Claude Gnakpa, who at last was deservedly given a start on the right-wing after his recent splendid substitute appearances.

A drab first-half saw little entertainment and perhaps the highlight for us was that at the back of the terracing where we stood there was a big hole.  We were easily able to climb through this when we needed to urinate.  This made us chuckle and was great as it meant we didn’t have to keep going all the way over to the other side of the terracing, trying to get through all the Hatters fans to go to the toilet.  We just climbed through the hole at the back of the stand, went down to the bottom of this mini hill and did the deed.  During the first-half alone, I think I went about three times and my dad twice, more for the fact that we could and it was a novelty than nature actually calling.  It was very bizarre and something I’ve not seen before in the 20+ years I have been going to watch Luton Town.  Before anyone thinks we are disgusting, we weren’t the only ones doing it and it wasn’t on a public place, so it wasn’t anti-social behaviour or anything!

The "Wee Hole"

The second-half performance was much better, as it has been in the last two away games.  I am not sure why we cannot perform like this for the full 90 minutes, but there you go.  It could have been daylight robbery though as Altrincham were awarded a penalty for a foul by Kevin Nicholls, but Mark Tyler brilliantly saved it in front of the home end.  This prompted two rather over excited and (probably) inebriated Hatters fans to jump onto the pitch, run around a bit in front of the goal and then jump back onto the terracing.  I don’t think they even got caught by the stewards!  Think they may have gotten away with it!

Altrincham Fans

A couple of minutes later, we were awarded a penalty for a foul on Ryan Charles and Tom Craddock duly despatched it to put us in front.

From that moment onwards, there was only ever going to be one winner and we were unfortunate not to win by a more convincing margin. We looked far sharper and fitter than Altrincham in the last 20 minutes and only their goalkeeper, Stuart Coburn, prevented us from making it an emphatic score line.

Altrincham Supporters

All in all, a good away win at a poor ground against mediocre opposition for this level. On the way out we saw Ben again and I moaned at the poor ground, to which he said, “Come on lads, it is great – this is what you are going to all these grounds for this season”.  A very good point well made mate!

The journey home seemed to take an eternity and we arrived back in Stevenage at 9.15pm via stop-off at a service station – and poor old Batesy still had an hour’s drive back to Chelmsford before his day was over.

Bring on York City!

James

 

The “Old Market Tavern” Pub

James and Dave Outside “The Orange Tree”

Dave Posing Outside “The Bricklayers Arms”

The Matchday Programme (priced at £2.00)

Luton Town Fans

The “Wee Hole”

Altrincham Fans

Altrincham Supporters

Altrincham Fans