Damage in the Box!

VFL BOCHUM (rewirpowerSTADION)

Great ground and, as always, a game under floodlights creates a fantastic atmosphere.

Ironically, after visiting their ground on Wednesday, tonights visitors to Bochum were Borussia Monchengladbach.

Gladbach took a half time lead through Steve Gohouri (30) before Bochum went 2-1 up in the second half, through Christoph Dabrowski (55) and Sinan Kaloglu (78). The lead only lasted minutes as Borussia hit back to force a draw when Thomas Kleine equalised (80). Decent game and a fair result. Was very well looked after by the Bochum fans and had had plenty to drink before and after the game, hence why the details are a bit sketchy!

Friday 17th October 2008
Bundesliga
VFL Bochum 2-2 Borussia Monchengladbach
Attendance: 31,328

Here is a link to the goals...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omJ0uroQt0Q

GERMANY v Wales @ Borussia Park, Monchengladbach

In typical style, Wales succumb to a solitary Piotr Trochowski goal in the 72nd minute after defending heroically up until that point. Cracking ground, great atmosphere and the schnitzels were lovely, ho hum!

Wednesday 15th October 2008

World Cup Qualifier (Group 6)

Germany 1-0 Wales

Attendance: 44,500

NEATH ATHLETIC (The Gnoll)

Due to the international weekend a great opportunity for another game on the Sunday was presented to me. Never look a “double header” gift horse in the mouth, as they probably never say! It was chance to see Neath in their "new" surroundings with a visit The Gnoll today, and to re-complete my visits to all of the Welsh premier league grounds.

The ground it very easy to find as it is in the town centre and is very well signposted. A rugby ground, but it certainly has "character" as they say! Sadly, for the football matches only the one stand is open and all the fans are congregated in the main seated area. This is two separate stands that look they have been joined together. There are terraces behind the goals but you are not allowed to stand on them for football games. Opposite is a smaller seated stand, which looks like the temporary scaffolding seat arrangements you see at events. How long his groundshare arrangement will last I don’t know, but the ground is a lot better than the exposed Llandarcy Park.

After paying my £5 entrance fee and a further £1 for a, quite frankly, dreadful programme I settled down for the game. What an exciting game it turned out to be, especially after a wretched first half in which I was struggling to keep my interest alive. Neath forced three corners in the first minute and that was about it until Andy Hill scored a goal after 34 minutes following a defensive mistake. The rest of the half was then just as forgettable as the previous 33 minutes!

I don't know what was said at half time but it certainly did the trick. Both teams actually played some good football and produced no shortage of incident. Neath went 2-0 up seconds after the break when Hill slotted home from the penalty spot. Welshpool got a goal back on 52 mnutes when William Thomas beat Clayton Blackmore for pace and slotted home via a deflection. It was 2-2 after 64 minutes when Paul Roberts cut inside the area from the left and fired home a great shot into the bottom corner. Welshpool then had a free kick hit the post and another effort cleared off the line before Andy Hill tapped in his hat-trick goal on 72 minutes after a great run and cut back from substitute Kerry Morgan. Welshpool pushed for an equaliser, even hitting the crossbar with minutes to go, but Neath held on for their first win at The Gnoll, a result which lifted them off the bottom of the league.

Sunday 12th October 2008
Welsh Premier League

Neath Athletic 3-2 Welshpool Town

Attendance: 320

FROME TOWN (Badgers Hill)

The F.A. cup reaches the third qualifying round and I faced a dilemma this morning of which tie would I opt for. The only certainty it that it would be in Somerset and it would be one of the Bath teams. Option one was Bath City v Aylesbury United. Option two was Frome Town v Team Bath. Decisions, decisions! After much deliberation, and a flip of the coin, I plumped for a visit to the AlderSmith Stadium, or Badgers Hill, the home of Frome Town and hopefully the chance of an upset.

Frome Town ply their trade in the Western League and currently sit in a mid table position. Team Bath however are in the conference south, three leagues above, and are currently joint top of the table (only goal difference is actually preventing them being top). This would be a tough test for Frome.

I arrived at the ground in plenty of time, parked up, purchased my programme (£1) and sauntered off to the nearest pub for a spot of lunch. This gave me a chance to peruse the programme and not a bad effort in all honesty. This was a nice starter and it was now time for the main course!

There was a queue at the turnstile when I arrived and you could feel the anticipation in the home crowd. This was a big day, a big game and the locals were turning out in their numbers. I paid my £5 and entered the ground and it was absolutely buzzing. There was a fair amount of people already inside and this was 45 minutes before kick off.

The ground is your classic lower level stadium, consisting of a basic stand and three sides of hard standing. Here though you could see signs of the small improvements that have been taking place, as the new stand appeared to have been built around the existing old stand to create a larger stand. The roof off the old stand looked like it may have been moved to cover the entrance from the turnstile. The only other covered area was the overhang from the clubhouse, which was packed with people enjoying a couple of beers.

The game itself was a cracking cup tie which was your classic "game of two halves". It looked like an upset on the cards as Frome were 2-0 up at Half Time and they thoroughly deserved their lead. The first goal came after 3 minutes when the Team Bath keeper sliced a clearance into the Frome striker and it fell kindly to Mark Salter who rolled into the empty net from 20 yards. After that Frome were well up for it and dominated play, as Team Bath looked out of sorts and anything but a team sitting near the top of their league. The second goal came just before half time from the penalty spot when Salter was fouled in the area and he picked himself up to slot home.

Team Bath came out in the second half, made a quick double substitution and turned the game on its head. Aside from a couple of Frome counter attacks (one of which was well saved by their keeper) they virtually had all the possession in the second half. They had a few chances before Steve Abbott bundled in a corner on 75 minutes and in the 85th minute the inevitable equaliser came when Mike Perrot fired home to send the 20 or so Bath fans into raptures. Bath had a couple more chances late on but Frome managed to hold on for a replay. A draw was a fair result in the end, but as the case with cup ties, the “smaller” team normally only gets one shot at an upset and you suspect that Frome may have blew their chance.