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1. Why you were looking forward
to going to the ground (or not as the case may be):
It was the last
game of a pretty successful season for Argyle and I was looking forward to
a stress less encounter at a ground I'd never seen before. The one
thing that was riding on the game was that if we finished 13th or above we
would have improved our league position for seven seasons running which is
apparently some kind of Football League record.
2. How easy was
your journey/finding the ground/car parking?
I got the train from
Manchester where I live which took about 90 minutes. I had some
pretty good directions so I found the ground easily. It looked
extremely impressive as I approached it. I had forgotten to bring
anything to cover my colours but as it happened there weren't any problems
with the fans mixing.
3. What you did before the game
pub/chippy.... home fans friendly?
My ticket had been lost in the
post so I had to collect another one from the ticket office.
Unfortunately Argyle had forgotten to tell Hull that I had already paid
for my ticket so I had to buy another one! The ticket office were
extremely helpful and considerate though and I managed to buy another one
even though the game was all-ticket. I'd arrived at the ground quite
late so once I'd sorted it out I went round to the away end and bought
some food from the concourse.
4. What you thought on seeing the
ground, first impressions of away end then other sides of the ground?
I've been to plenty of bland new stadiums but this
certainly didn't fall into this category. It was the model of how
new grounds should be built - imaginative and attractive while still
serving its purpose perfectly well. There was plenty of legroom -
being only 5'8 it's rarely a problem for me but I didn't hear any
complaints.
5. Comment on the game itself, atmosphere,
stewards, pies, toilets etc..
Argyle were on top for most of the
game. We took the lead on the stroke of half-time through Peter
Halmosi, and doubled our lead after half-time just after we missed a
penalty. They pulled one back shortly afterwards but we held on
comfortably for a 2-1 win and ended up finishing the season in 11th - very
impressive seeing as we seem to be the perennial favourites for
relegation. The atmosphere was superb - no doubt helped by the fact
that we started singing anti-Leeds songs which the Hull fans were more
than happy to join in. There was some entertaining banter between
the two sets of fans, mostly the ones to our left, but it was all very
friendly. To the end of the game the two sets of fans even ended up
applauding each other which was quite amazing, I've never seen that
before.
6. Comment on getting away from the ground after the
game:
We had ages to wait for the train to Manchester as it was a
Sunday, so we had a wander into Hull itself which was very
attractive. The train eventually got us back into Manchester at
about 6.30 (bearing in mind it was a 1.00 kick-off for some reason).
7. Summary of overall thoughts of the day out:
Fantastic
ground, great atmosphere which was no doubt helped by the fact that we
managed another away win. Highly recommended. |
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