My first visit this season to a game. I did do the stadium tour just a few days ago for my birthday, which was a truly awesome experience. Instead off just chatting I’m gonna talk about the whole day and the experience I had, might be better than just a match report.
So let’s see, the traffic up was shitty. The M25 was slow and it took me just over three hours. Through the roadworks I chose the two lane option rather than the outside lane that split off, bad move! Some poor sod had broken down and therefore whilst the outside lane whizzed off, we were stuck for miles as everyone had to filter in, not much fun. The matter was made worse that I was suddenly gagging to drain the lizard and eventually managed to get through and make a dash into South Mimms service station. Phew! The rest of the journey was fine to be fair and I chose the park 20 minutes away, walk to the ground option. The normal chicken steak burger was purchased from the usual dodgy fast food shop. For something that is advertised at 99p, they always say £1. I never grumble though.
I had the idea of pre-ordering the new West Ham shirt before the game for easy collection. My plan was in theory a great idea but was thwarted when getting into the rammed club shop I had to queue up in the snake like affair and wait 35 minutes with everyone else parting with 40 notes for the new shirt.
Making the time about 2.45pm gave me time to head round to the Bobby Moore stand where I generally always sit. The ticket was a birthday present and the seat ended up just slightly off centre behind the goal, maybe 15 rows back, pretty good indeed. Settling in I had a kid next to me maybe about 10 who was with I’m guessing a chap who was his Dad who seemed to talk crap to the kid all game. Kept saying how great Scott Parker is, which is a fair comment and one I would agree with, but when praising Parker for something on the pitch that was actually Mark Noble I could feel myself getting more and more annoyed with him. He was just talking bollocks to this kid, I’m not sure if he goes to see us play often, but from the comments, I’m guessing not.
The game itself was a lack lustre affair, a solid 0-0 draw with minimal chances really. But in a pre season game it’s nice to not get injuries and you almost expect players to be easing off a bit. Nice chance to see some of the new signings. So after 90 minutes a penalty shoot out was to decide the outcome which luckily enough was to be right in front of me!
Anyways, we won the shoot out 5-3 and the hero was of course our goalie, Rob Green. Yes, that Rob Green on the now infamous England howler at the World Cup when that feeble USA shot squirmed in. It was always written for him to do well and I am pleased he excelled here. Should give his confidence a massive boost ahead of the new season – lovely stuff, well needed indeed.
A pretty positive feeling as I left and I’m hopeful for the new season. First up, Aston Villa away on Saturday and I’ve just seen that they’ve parted ways with their manager, hope this is going to work in our advantage and not theirs!
Written: 9th August 2010
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