Monday, September 25, 2006

Oldham Athletic 4 - Gillingham 1

Ah. Another jaunt on a coach. We left the dawn filling skies of Kent at 7.15am and via two stops got to Boundary Park at 2pm. The second stop saw us near Stafford. The place was full of Bristol City fans. An omen perhaps?

The ground itself was fine enough. At least the seats had backs. The sun was not in the eyes and the stand covered. We supped a Boddingtons - well we were just off the Manchester ring road.

Boundary Park, Oldham


Found a seat and took some pictures of the ground, the weather more than tolerable for the time of year so a soccer shirt and sun glasses were the order of the day. Lots of singing and drum banging from the 247 Gills fans who had also travelled north. Cheerleaders came out for pre match entertainment, as the mascots of the land were amassing in some part of the UK for the Mascot Grand National held today. The cheerleading concept is pretty dire, but this one had a highlight, namely the groundsmen putting the underwater jet sprays on and yes soaking the poor little girlies.

The Teams run out... the only thing we did do right!


The result less impressive. The first goal was a mistake. Two defenders falling over each other and goalie helplessly looking at the ball in the back of the net. The second goal not much better. The third. Well kicked off for the second half. One touch long boot up the pitch. A bounce and oops its gone in over the keepers head. Embarassing. Where were the midfield? What happened to the defence. Two subs at half time couldn't rouse us. WAS this the same side who had filleted Swansea last Saturday??

We got a penalty. A minor achievement. And with Oldham exerting more pressure it looked as though we were going to sink the last Bristol City levels as per last season. Their last goal was a screamer and the pick of the bunch. And so the coach journey home. Quiet. I listened to music and dozed. By 10.30 we were home. Its one way to spend a Saturday and certainly not everyone's cup of tea. A fairly good day out - but a naff result and an indictment of the state of the league.


Our trusty carriages!


Oh well - Leyton Orient Tuesday pm. What hell will I go through then I wonder? Well not a 10 hour round trip coach ride that's for sure!!!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice account of the game.

Please contact me via my blog if it is OK for me to use a couple of the pics from this article. The "New Mortgages stand" is to be redeveloped and I would like to add the picture to a blog posting I'm planning. I'll give a link and credit to your site / article.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for approval to use the pics! please e-mail them to me at beakerlab@gmail.com

I'll let you know when I've put the blog story together (I'm trying to do a before and after type thing once demolition starts during the summer). I'll link to your blog from the photos!