Me and my friend were planning to go to Arsenal v Everton as it was the first season at the Emirates and we were desperate to go and see it, as we saw it under construction the previous season on a visit to Arsenal. We booked the coach tickets before we got the match tickets thought. The match tickets sold out so we had coach tickets to London with no match to go to. My friend researched all the other matches we could go to and the best choice was Fulham v Wigan as we had not been to the cottage before.

We phoned up the Wigan ticket office an got tickets in the Putney End stand for a bargain £5 for under 17s. We set off at 6.45 in the morning from Manchester on the Megabus and arrived in London around 11.15. We had plenty of time so we visited Stamford Bridge on the way to pass the time as it was on the same tube line as Craven Cottage. After that we got off at Putney Bridge tube station and walked through a very scenic park next to the River Thames to get to the ground.

Before the game we couldn't find any chippies around the ground so we went to a little post office. After that we visited the Fulham
club shop and bought ourselves a scarf. On walking past the Stevenage Road stand and this man from Wish FM radio station in Wigan stopped us because he saw my Wigan shirt and asked us if he could interview us. We said yes even though we didn't really know much about Wigan!

We entered the ground about 1 hour before kick off about 2 o clock. The ground was really nice and I was quite impressed because it didn't look anything like it did on T.V. When we first went into the ground I noticed a lot of vendors selling beer and food and I thought that the facilities were very good and efficient.

The match itself was a real disappointment in the first half not helped with the chilling breeze coming from the River Thames. The second half was a lot better though with a lot of atmosphere being generated by the Wigan fans banging the seats. It was really weird in the Putney End because it was filled with Wigan fans mixed with 'Neutrals'. Finally a bit of action came in the 76th minute with Wigan getting a penalty only for Denny Landzaat to smash it  against the crossbar. But afew minutes later Henri Camara broke through and
slotted the ball past Antti Niemi to give Wigan a deserved 1-0 win.

After the game it was a short walk/run back to the tube station with the tube station not being as busy as I had first thought and we returned home around 12 that night. It was a really good day and we were relieved that there was a goal in the match as it was a really poor game apart from that.

Cheap prices, good facilities and nice surroundings make Craven Cottage a great stadium to visit and I would recommend it to any football fan.