Crisis? What Crisis?

The Capital One Cup draw made way back in June saw us drawn away to Oldham Athletic, and with Sky tinkering around wanting to show the game on T.V. It saw the game being played on Monday night. Oldham's Boundary Park isn't a ground I feel highly enthusiastic about visiting, having travelled their twice on cold winters evenings over the past 2 seasons and experiencing the chill rolling off the Pennines it isn't the best of experiences. Hopefully a trip in summer would change this mindset.

Leaving Hillsborough at 4:30 pm, we arrived at around 6pm, and with plenty of time to burn, our empty stomachs decided the best course of actions would be a walk to the local McDonald's. Filling up on Chicken Selects and Fries while sat discussing our latest summer signings while sat in the pleasant Lancashire sunshine killed plenty of time before deciding it was time to enter the stadium. 

Boundary Park is a 3 sided ground, it originally had 4 side's, but the club knocked down the Broadway stand in 2008, this was to make way for a new main stand, but these plans are still waiting to come into light 4 years on. The grounds current capacity is 10,638. The Wednesday fans where housed within the Rochdale Rd End of the ground, This stand is the newest within the ground and is usually shared between home and away fans, although on this occasion we was allocated the entire stand. The Rochdale Rd stand is great for acoustics and supporters can make a lot of noise. Oldham catering staff where un-prepared and ran out of pie's shortly before kick off. With the game being on Sky T.V. the attendance was less than expected. but it was still a great turn out non the less.

The Game

Oldham Athletic 2-4 Sheffield Wednesday

                                                  Slew & M'voto       J.Johnson, O'Grady x 2, Antonio

The first half was a shocker from a wednesdayite point of view, we didn't make one tackle, ducked out of every 50/50 challenge and couldn't string two passes together. Oldham where fully deserving of the 2 goal lead they took into the break, even when we was awarded a penalty we couldn't put that away, with Necj Pecnik smashing it high into the stand. Dave Jones made two first half substitutions with Chris O'Grady and Giles Coke replacing Madine and Maguire, but this was one of the worst 45 minute performances I have ever seen.

It was inevitable that Dave Jones would shove the proverbial rocket up the arse of the players, and the tempo and desire in which we started the second half reflected this. With the highly vocal away support getting behind the team you could see the momentum in the game shift in Wednesday's favour. All that was needed was a goal to kickstart the revival. The all important breakthrough came in the 53rd minute, with the ball floating across the edge of the box, JJ struck the ball into the net, I must say from where I was stood I thought the keeper dived over the ball, but a goal is a goal and the comeback was on! When JJ was fouled on the edge of the box, it gave Llera the opportunity to whip a free kick into the box, this was sweetly met on the head of O'Grady, drawing the game level. With Wednesday in control, it seemed like the 3rd goal to complete the comeback was inevitable, and it was. This time Pecnik showed some class and skill to create some space, before passing to O'Grady who turned and smashed the ball into the net from close range. Kirkland was forced into making two saves before Michail Antonio sealed the win 3 minutes from Time. Progress to the second round of the competition was confirmed, and while the overall performance wasn't particularly special, the resilience and determination to bounce back from the awful first half performance was. 

Next up - Derby (a) This will be an interesting game, with both teams scoring highly in the cup competition it will be a stern test for both defences.

Boundary Park

Boundary Park

Day At The Olympics

There is a high amount of excitement surrounding the London 2012 Olympics that are currently taking place, wanting to take some of this excitement in I decided to attend a Football, Group D game between Spain and Morocco at Old Trafford, Manchester.

Old Trafford, Manchester

With the game being a 5pm kick off, we decided to see the newly opened National Football Museum, but not before a trip to Nando's, the museum which has recently moved from Preston North End's Deepdale Ground, is very much worth a visit, with something to interest every age, football supporter and non-supporter alike.

A Medal presented to SWFC which is shown within the NFM exhibition

See if you can spot your team on this map featuring Football teams across the nation?

 With time still to burn while in Manchester, we decided to walk from Exchange Square, to the Etihad Stadium, Home of Manchester City. The walk took about 20 minutes, with a bus back to the city center costing £1.60.

Etihad Stadium

As part of the Olympic Ticket package, Travel too and from the Olympic venue was free. Travelling on the 'Eccles' Metrolink service from Piccadilly Gardens, which took 20 mins to get too Exchange Quays, where we departed, from there it's a simple 10 minute walk to the 'Theatre Of Dreams'.

With it being the Olympics, security checks where tight and extensive. As I had a bag with me, this had to be thoroughly checked over, before being placed into a clear bag, which is then sealed with a security tag. This is wasn't opened until I had passed through the turnstile. Before Passing through the turnstile, all contents in my pockets had to be emptied into another clear bag, before a body search was conducted. It all felt a bit uncomfortable, but totally necessary. Once inside the stadium it felt exactly like any other football game you have attended before.

Old Trafford

There was 2 screens specially erected in the South East and South West corners of the stadium for the Olympics, These showed Bradley Wiggins winning his Time Trial Sprint Gold Medal during the pre-match warm up. It all added to the atmosphere, and the overall sense of event.

The Game itself was nothing spectacular and had 0-0 written all over it from the off with both teams missing simple opportunities and hitting the post countless times. Spain had recognisable names such as Chelsea's Juan Mata and Barcelona's Jordi Alba representing them. But they couldn't unlock the Moroccan defense. While it wasn't a boring game, it certainly wasn't memorable either. But what is memorable is that this was an Olympic event. And it was a great pleasure to have the opportunity to attend such an experience.

Old Trafford

Teams Ready for there respected National Anthems

The Sir Alex Ferguson Stand

Official Olympic Programme (£10), Match Ticket (£20), Official Event Programme (£5)

Old Trafford