Swindon Town 1 v 1 Peterborough United

Tuesday 28th December 2010
Football League One
County Ground, Swindon
Admission: £16.00
Programme: £3.00
Attendance: 8592
Match Rating: 3

With the arctic conditions plaguing England during December, meaning that I have only been able to take in one game in the last three weeks - and that was in Spain - and also scuppering my hopes of paying a visit to either Chippenham or Cirencester in the Zamaretto League yesterday as I had planned during my overnight stay in northern Wiltshire, it came as a huge relief when this game passed a pitch inspection the day before thanks to a commendable snow clearing effort by volunteer fans.

The County Ground is located about a ten minute walk from the centre of Swindon, adjacent to the (in)famous Magic Roundabout - five mini roundabouts shaped in a hexagon. Although it certainly wasn't necessary, I went to buy my ticket from one of the ticket windows at the stadium in the morning, together with a programme, which made for interesting reading over lunch - a very good effort, attractive on the eye with hardened cover pages and plenty of interesting articles for neutrals and committed Swindon fans to digest. On returning to the stadium ahead of kick off, I took my seat in the Town End which is basically seats bolted on to what used to be terracing. With plenty of obstructing pillars and a low roof, views are not particularly good but this stand does have the advantages of a very reasonable ticket price (for League One football) and excellent acoustics to help augment the atmosphere generated by the most passionate of Swindon supporters. Which unfortunately was only sporadic at best today. Behind the other goal is uncovered seating which was not in use today. This stand does however boast containing the only Rolex clock at a football ground in England, positioned next to an electronic scoreboard. Along either length of the pitch are two imposing single tier grandstands.

Today's game was a welcome return to action for the two teams, Swindon not having played since an embarassing FA Cup 2nd Round Replay home defeat to non-league Crawley Town back on December 7th. The weather hasn't been much kinder to Peterborough, who have not played since December 10th. After being beaten in the League One play-off final last season, Swindon have found things rather trickier this season, currently down in 17th place and just points away from the relegation places. This season has been something of a rollercoaster ride for Peterborough, who find themselves just a point off the play-off places and can boast the unusual distinction of having scored the most goals in the division but also conceding the most too. The previous meeting between these two clubs was the perfect snapshot of Peterborough's season, when they won 5-4 at London Road.

On a murky but pleasingly mild afternoon, with the kick off delayed by twenty minutes due to traffic problems on the motorways, the visitors looked the classier side in the early exchanges and spent most of the opening quarter of an hour attacking Swindon's goal, and deservedly took the lead on 17 minutes through Lee Tomlin with a well placed low shot from 10 yards out. As the half wore on, Swindon came more into the game and had some glorious chances to get back on level terms, but Peterborough went into half time with a slender lead, a reasonable reflection of the first half's play which wasn't the most entertaining it has to be said. Swindon though went on to dominate possession in the second half but rarely looked convincing in the final third, until the 71st minute when they were gifted a penalty thanks to a ridiculously ill judged lunge on the edge of the area with no immediate threat of Swindon scoring. Top scorer Charlie Austin duly converted the penalty to put the game back on level terms. The game became ever more entertaining the more it went on and became end to end in the final five minutes as both sides looked for a winner. In the end, Swindon will wonder how on earth they didn't find it, with a succession of corners and with the very last kick of the game when Austin shot on the turn hit the post and bounced clear.
 

Snowed in again....

With a new dumping of heavy snow, no surprise that it was not possible to get to a game today - indeed, seemingly every non-league game was called off in the south-east, and even only two Premiership games survived, both in the north of England.

Fingers crossed for a rapid thaw so that I can make some fixtures over the festive period...

Girona 1 v 1 Celta Vigo

Saturday 11th December 2010
Spanish Segunda Division
Estadi Montilivi, Girona

Attendance: 8310

Admission : €20.00

Programme: N/A
Match Rating: 3

In search of some winter sunshine, it's always something of a lottery which football match(es) you'll end up watching when booking flights to Spain - with games randomly scheduled less than a fortnight beforehand either on Saturday evenings or any time Sunday between lunch time and 10pm. I had harboured hopes of making a visit to the Camp Nou to watch Barcelona, but with their match scheduled for the Sunday evening - after I flew home - I ended up heading for the rather more humble surroundings of the Estadi Montilivi, home of Girona FC and one of the smallest stadia in the Segunda Division.

The Catalan city of Girona is located a half hour coach ride from Girona Costa Brava airport, and the historic, scenic and peaceful city certainly made a pleasant place to spend a weekend. The Estadi Montilivi is a brisk twenty minute walk from the city centre, and I bought my ticket for a seat behind one of the goals for €20 from the ticket office portakabin outside the main stand. The stadium was only built in 1970, and although is small by Segunda Division standards, with a capacity of just 9,500, is a very neat and easy on the eye stadium. There is a continuous banking of uncovered red coloured seating all around the ground, apart from the main stand, which has been rebuilt in the last couple of years. Large concourses behind the seating made for a good - and tolerated - vantage point for persons preferring to stand. Girona usually only half fill the ground for their matches, however this evening the game was almost full to capacity - virtually the only free space in the ground was an area adjacent to the small corner pocket of away fans for security reasons. Indeed, tonight's attendance turned out to be the new record attendance at the Estadi Montilivi. Quite why there was such a large attendance is something of a mystery to me, with Girona not in good form, this wasn't a local derby, with the visitors coming from the west coast of Spain - but this was the hundredth match Girona have played at this level, maybe this was some of the reason, although I didn't sense that a great deal was made of this.

It could be considered that Girona are punching above their weight somewhat in the Segunda Division, this only being their third season at that level having previously played in the lower leagues right back to 1958. So it is not surprising that Girona find themselves in the lower half of the table, and were not in good form, with three draws and one defeat in the last four games, although they do have clear breathing space to the relegation places. This evening's visitors, Celta de Vigo, have a much stronger pedigree. They have spent most of their existence in the Primera Division, although since their relegation to the Segunda Division - hindered by financial problems - they have settled in the lower reaches of the Segunda Division. Things are looking much more promising for Celta this season though, up in second place, just three points behind leaders Real Betis, and had only lost once in their last fourteen games.

The game started with Girona have the better of the early exchanges, although they seemed to lack quality in the final third to open the scoring. The visitors slowly came into the game and took the lead on the half hour, when David Catala just beat the keeper to a cross to head home. Celta de Vigo looked the stronger side for the rest of the first half, and deservedly took a slender lead into half time. After the break, the home side came back into the game and got back on level terms when Luso smashed home from a low cross. There were few real chances for either side for the rest of the game, and a 1-1 draw was a fair reflection on the game. This was an entertaining evening of football - I always enjoy the special atmosphere that one finds at football games in Spain, one which was augmented tonight by a passionate capacity crowd and who were aided by drummers playing a constant beat to add a mediterranean feel to the atmosphere.

Highlights from this match can be found at  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpeHMKQkKls&feature=player_embedded