Sunday, August 17, 2008

The Away Days Return - Stockport County

After a fairly comfortable win over Plastic F.C in the first game of the season and our clubs first at this level, our fans hopes were very high going into the game at stockport away. Over 1700 fans made the journey. .As this was the first away day for some considerable time, a big group of us were expected to travel.



Our journey started with an early morning trip to WetherSpoons at 10am. Brinner made the call to have a curry.
Curry at 10am. Quality.









Also joining us in our morning pubbery were, Potter;






C-Man:
And Ramp. Leffe at 10:30 - 6.8% Beer to get us started off. Quality shout. Brinner enjoys some Leffe to wash down the curryMorning drinks:
We set off for the 11:05 Train to Nottingham. We met up with everyone else at the train station, and after sorting out all the tickets, we were well on our way.






Jamie & Ched - Ireland (Ivory Coast!) Flag:


The 3 J's - Jasmine, James, Jamie:

Mikey, Dave, Joe, Cory claim a table:Joe, Jasmine, C-Man: Cory -Potter & Brinner - Feeling the effects of the Leffe already? :]
After getting off the train at Nottingham we had a swift connection to make for the train direct to Stockport. The train was far to small, and was packed to the brim. Not the most enjoyable journey having to be squished for over an hour, we did however, manage to find seats. Eventually.


Ched likes seats!


Brinner:Mikey & Ramp:C-Man, sorry, Potter....
We arrived in Stockport, and after a trip to home bargains to pick up some German lager, we headed to the stadium. Stockport is right next to Manchester airport so there was always a distraction with planes flying very low near the groundThe ground was pretty tidy, with a big home end down the other end of the ground, known as the Cheadle end, which was 3/4 full. This is where their noiser fans sat, and made a fair noise when they got going..
Down one side is the old looking Main stand, which was fairly full.
Down the other side was the Popular side, a former terrace. It was just about empty, with one block housing our additional fans.The away end had no roof, which didn't create a great atmosphere really.

We claimed the section on the far right (No polictal connections please!) of the away end.

Jamie, Ched & C-Man
Some of the boysBert & maybes turned up with with this beautyTeams come out:The Foxestalk flag made an appearnace but there was no where to hang it so we used it as a flyer instead. European Style
The game was dire. Chances few and far between, with both sides wasting them when they came around. No surprise it ended goaless really, although we probably should have taken all 3 points at the end, after virtually dominating in the 2nd Half.
Slice of the action:

The atmosphere was a bit weak, with no roof it was hard, but the players could hear us, and we all managed to have a laugh as well.

After the game it was back to Home bargains to stock up on the ol' Warsteiner for the journey homeThis was situated on Stockports lovely high streetWe Headed back to the station for the 17:55 train home, the wait, provided plenty of time to mess around with Dave's camera.
We boarded the train, which was once again far to short, and therefore very packed. We did however, bump into Macclesfield Town striker Francis Green on our journey. The ex-Lincoln man, is currently banned from driving and was therefore having to catch the train home. We certainly had a laugh and some very interesting conversations with him.Me & Francis -
After some friendly advice from the conductor we decided to get off at Chesterfield, which turned out to be the best decision of the day. We were going to get a connecting train direct home to Leicester from there. On the other platform were a small bunch of Bury supporters, still jubilant after a fine away win at Chesterfield. Obviosuly, the banter commenced.

(Anyone get any videos?)


The train back to Leicester soon turned into Atmosphere train, with the fine Maxi Gradel chant being sung for the first time. Great train ride home.








We met plenty of QPR fans, on their way back from a thumping at Brammall Lane. One of them (Left) agreed with my views on "Sombrero man" at Loftus Road - "Bellend."An old boy walked past us as well, que the chants of Franky Wortho etc


All in all, a fine day out. Hopefully Fulham will provide us with a good night out as well.