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

When Watford got promoted, in fact before we got promoted it was a fixture that myself and my partner had pencilled in as weekend away without the children. As it was we were lucky it wasn't a mid week match, although the fixture list threw up the opportunity of some pre Christmas shopping.

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

My journey was rubbish. I decided long before I had the tickets, to book a hotel for the weekend, so we travelled up on Friday afternoon before the match, after we had both finished work early. We travelled from the Milton Keynes area and found that the journey was the worst of all nightmares. We left MK at 3pm and promptly entered a traffic jam. No reason for this other than weight of Friday night traffic. We took 4 hours to travel 100 miles from Northampton, junction 16. After Sheffield and Leeds it got easier and we flew the rest of the way. Still the journey was six and a half hours. We had pre booked a hotel, the Marriot in the Metro Centre, so when we arrived it was great to relax with a nice meal and a drink.

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

As we had stayed in a hotel we did a bit of xmas shopping in the Metro Centre in Gateshead and the went back to the hotel to change into colours. Had a pre match drink and caught the local bus into the city centre. The whole bus was interested in us and spoke to us. One gentleman pointed out the local landmarks as we passed them and told us where to go for a drink etc. It was like a personal one to one guided tour of Newcastle.

When we got off the bus, we walked along a road which was pretty close to the ground. Loads of pubs but all with Bouncers. I spoke to one of the bouncers and he said I couldn't go into any pub with a bouncer on the door. Fair enough, but just as we were leaving some guy who turned out to be the landlord, started to talk to us. Plenty of banter about whether we would stay up etc.. and a bet was laid that if we did I could return for a free meal next season. If we didn't then I had to come to the Sunderland match and buy him one. After that he said we could come into his pub. This was scary.... A wall of black and white and only me and the missus wearing yellow. No worries... I think I spoke to every Geordie in the pub. What a great welcome! And the beer was cheap. In fact very cheap.....

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

The ground was fantastic. My first impression was its massive and its in the centre of town. Once inside, whowwwwww..... the is nothing like the view you get in any other stadium in this country. The view  was breathtaking. I hate heights, so beware but I got used to it. My seats were to the left side of the away end, and that meant that I was right next to the geordie boys. There was 3 seats and a policeman between me and them. They gave shed loads of banter, but at the end of the game waved good bye, shook hands and wished us luck.

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

Game brilliant except for the last 5 mins when they scored. The atmosphere was good, partying from the Watford boys, and massive attempts to drown us out by the Geordie Lads. The Stewards were good but the police indifferent. One PC ejected a Watford fan for standing and singing, at which point the Geordie fans basically nearly assaulted the PC for being heavy handed... Very strange!

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

The ground emptied so fast it was amazing. We walked through the town back to the local bus stop and caught the bus back to the metro centre. The bus was slow due to the heavy traffic, but we were back at the hotel in time for the strictly come dancing programme. Result!!!!!!!

7. Summary of overall thoughts of the day out

I would recommend this fixture to anyone. Take a weekend away and see your team. Spend the Saturday night in town. The beers cheap.. the natives are friendly and its a cracking stadium. GO FOR IT!