1. Why you were looking forward to going to the ground (or not as the case may be):

Another new ground for me, had already earmarked this before the fixtures came out. Unfortunately we were drawn away to Blackburn in the 3rd round of the FA cup about a month prior to this so we did not take a big following to either ties (we took 567 in the cup). We'd taken 1,344 to Bolton towards the start of the season and would have taken at least this amount if we hadn't played Blackburn in the cup. One of the bigger grounds in the division and a ground I've seen on TV many times so I was looking forward to seeing my team play here.

2. How easy was your journey/finding the ground/car parking?

Easy, from the pub we went to (the Anchor on Blackburn Road) it was a straight road to the ground, albeit a fairly long one. We parked in a car park two minutes walk from the stadium for a fiver.

3. What you did before the game pub/chippy.... home fans friendly?

Went to the Anchor which was the advised away fan friendly pub as the usual one (the Fernhurst) was closed. It is quite near to the exit off the motorway so perfect in that sense. Parked in pub car park along with a couple of minibuses and a coach full of city fans. Great pub inside (although no proper cider) - 2 pool tables, football on the TVs and darts. Quite a few city fans inside and a couple of Blackburn fans who seemed friendly. Got into the ground just before KO so not enough time to get a drink in the ground but was impressed to see were selling Kingston Press cider (which most city fans seemed to be drinking).

4. What you thought on seeing the ground, first impressions of away end then other sides of the ground?

Ground looked impressive from the outside and was good inside too. Three stands of similar description and all separate. One older stand along one side set slightly back from the pitch added character to the ground. Away concourse was small but plenty big enough for our small following. I did think how cramped in must be when Man United pack out the away end. The ground was less than half full so seemed a bit poor in that sense but got the feeling that a sell out crowd would make a fantastic atmosphere.

5. Comment on the game itself, atmosphere, stewards, pies, facilities etc..

We lost 2-0 to two Jordan Rhodes goals. Atmosphere was quite good from the home fans - their bulk of singers stood in the same stand to our right. Must have been over 1000 who stood and sang throughout - some good banter. Their home end was heard once or twice when two nil up too although they were quiet (from where I was stood) for most the game and only had a few standing. We were poor as usual for our away support. Most sat but we still had 200 or so stood and sang up until midway through the second half. Stewards made no attempt to make anyone sit down which was good. A couple of city fans were ejected when they scored their first goal - unsure exactly why this was and it did look like one of the stewards punched a lad which meant a few fans rushed over to have a pop at them. All calmed down in a couple of minutes after some pushing and shoving.

6. Comment on getting away from the ground after the game:

Traffic was bad after the game. We crawled our  for about 20 minutes - soon as we got on motorway we were fine all the way back. Took about 3 1/2 hours travelling time by car.

7. Summary of overall thoughts of the day out:

Disappointing result but was impressed with the ground and their fans (relative to some other home fans).

Attendance: 13,539 - City fans (547)