Some of you may remember that a couple months ago I gave a review of an away day after I went to the Watford game. It's a chance to talk about the day and not just the game, and I'm sure some of you probably have some interesting stories to tell - 6,000 or so fans today so I trust some of you went! So following the same template as last time, this was my away day at palace: 1. Why you were looking forward to going to the ground (or not as the case may be): Business end of the season and in what looked like one of our easiest fixtures left on paper (team both out of form and nothing to play for) 3pts were vital. Palace was also the first away game I had ever been to (Feb '08, time flies!) and I was going with a few old friends from school. In truth I had been looking forward to this game since the fixture list came out as I knew I would be back from uni and easily able to go . 2. How easy was your journey/finding the ground/car parking? Easy enough. Got the saints coach up as I've used a few times before. Annoyingly, however, the last 10 miles of the journey was terrible traffic wise. By the time we actually got to the ground it was about quarter to 2, so plans of a few pints nearby were quickly swept away 3. What you did before the game pub/chippy.... home fans friendly? Instead we found a chippy on the main road which had a restaurant at the back. We relaxed there a little bit before quickly making our way back to the ground with only about 10 minutes to spare. 4. What you thought on seeing the ground, first impressions of away end then other sides of the ground? Having been before I know Selhurst Park isn't shall we say the nicest of grounds. It is showing its age, and it's a shame that the Holmesdale Road stand isn't matched in splendour by the others. The Arthur Wait Stand has possibly the smallest concourse I've ever seen - getting to my seat was a mission to say the least! When I finally did it proved to be a bit of a pain, some guys were in our seats and instead of us looking elsewhere (there were 5 of us and getting in that late it would be a struggle to all fit together) we politely asked them to move. After one of them told me to **** off I knew they weren't going to shift. They moved up a bit however and we made do. On top of that we were right at the front - open to the elements indeed! 5. Comment on the game itself, atmosphere, stewards, pies, facilities etc.. The game was, quite honestly, the most comprehensive away victory I have ever seen of saints. We passed the ball around beautifully. Palace gave us SO much space (if they had done their homework and watched us vs. Blackpool it could have been very different) and we played the way we wanted to. We didn't actually create too many chances, and in truth Kelvin had a few saves to make, but it was lovely stuff to watch. Point about Zaha: I had thought he was overrated before the game and today quite simply showed it. Alright in the first half but Fox had him in his pocket for much of the second. Also the push on Cork was just pathetic to say the least. Fox was MOTM for me, he was quite simply superb. As for the atmosphere, 6,000 away fans tells you everything you need to know surely? Stewarding - nice and lax which was great. I particularly enjoyed this one guy at the front mouthing off back at the twats next to me after they were hurling abuse at him, bunch of pikeys! 6. Comment on getting away from the ground after the game: Easy enough, back on the coach, took a while to get a few miles from the ground but then we were on our way. 7. Summary of overall thoughts of the day out: Huge 3pts, great atmosphere, and word of west ham's failure to match our result made the day that bit sweeter
Good points of the day: 2 goals from King Rickie and a victory The noise from 6000 saints fans Reasonably friendly home fans Bad points 30 minute queue in pub for a pint and similar at half time for a wee All in all a great day!
Any suggestions? I just took the questions off Football Ground Guide where there are reviews there for each stadium. It would be nice if others follow the same but general feedback is good too
Im not going to lie, after this long day im being to lazy to seperate your questions from answers and do the same thing...Bare with me....
TEMPLATE--- 1. Why you were looking forward to going to the ground (or not as the case may be): 2. How easy was your journey/finding the ground/car parking? 3. What you did before the game pub/chippy.... home fans friendly? 4. What you thought on seeing the ground, first impressions of away end then other sides of the ground? 5. Comment on the game itself, atmosphere, stewards, pies, facilities etc.. 6. Comment on getting away from the ground after the game: 7. Summary of overall thoughts of the day out:
1. Why you were looking forward to going to the ground (or not as the case may be): Couldn't wait for the atmosphere, knew it would be buzzing and feel partially like a home game! 2. How easy was your journey/finding the ground/car parking? Sat Nav's...Got parked outside a Mosque near that pub on the corner, £2 for the day and apart from some "comments" from grandad asking a muslim whether there Mosque is the back enterance to the pub was really relaxed (he didnt realise it was a Mosque btw) 3. What you did before the game pub/chippy.... home fans friendly? Pub was heaving but did wait outside for when the player coach went past, nice to get mentioned by Nige after the match being a part of that! Home fan's seemed very friendly, no trouble i saw. 4. What you thought on seeing the ground, first impressions of away end then other sides of the ground? Within 20 seconds i had nicknamed it the "Sainsbury's Arena", not knowing that there was one pretty much inside it right next to the ticket office. That one stand at the end was V.nice but the rest was a bit **** tbh. 5. Comment on the game itself, atmosphere, stewards, pies, facilities etc.. Atmosphere first of all was incredible! Best away game i've been too all season! Stewards friendly, food decent, Toilets we're filthy however. Game speaks for itself and views are on other threads. 6. Comment on getting away from the ground after the game: Pretty easy really, short walk to car and then a while getting out but to be expected. 7. Summary of overall thoughts of the day out: Loved pretty much every minute of today (in hindsight now we won, if we lost i would have probably said it was all **** ) Great fans, some great football, great goals and a real proud day to be a Saints fan
