Having been off the circuit for a while due to saving for my wedding next year, football has had to take somewhat of a back seat. Fortunately a weekend off coupled with Burton playing 40 miles down the motorway away at Sixfield's gave an excuse for a much needed football fix.
Setting off on a glorious day that wouldn't have looked out of place in July, a relatively easy trip to Northampton got us in around an hour before kick off. I had worked in Northampton previously and passed Sixfield's virtually every day, even though you can only make out the floodlights with the stadium being at the bottom of a hill. The stadium is situated on a leisure complex consisting of chains such as Bella Italia, Mcdonald's and a Hungry Horse pub, all of which are popular on a match day.
Then there's the hill of course, a vantage point for supporters such as myself who are skint or have a tendency to enjoy football played in one half of the pitch as this is near enough all you can see on a clear day! The ground itself is clean, tidy and under construction on the one side with the club currently in dispute with the building firm which has halted progress on this stand running the length of the pitch.
Be warned that tickets bought on the day of the game can cost £2 more than the days prior to the game and if your team has a large following it would be a wise move to get yourself a ticket before travelling given that the away end holds only 800 fans. Around 600 had made the trip from Staffordshire for this one with the attendance resulting in 4,951 fans, a decent effort.
You may even catch the odd celebrity at the home of the Cobbler's (its true!) as we caught sight of former Wolves goalkeeper-turned Soccer Saturday-reporter Matt Murray doing his thing from the loneliness of the half-built stand. If that doesn't wow you, a certain John Motson took a break from Match of the Day duties to come and read the teams out and declare he was here to watch some 'proper football' couldn't agree more.
So to the action and Albion started brightly forcing some last ditch defending in as little as the first three minutes, as a tame first half was coming to a close Burton winger Adam McGurk's floated ball found loanee and former Cobbler Jacob Blyth at the far post to smash a low shot into the far corner to give the visitors the lead going into half time.
Into the second half the home side predictably came on strong with numerous attempts to bombard the Burton box with deliveries from the flanks. As the clock ran down the large figures of Kelvin Langmead and Ryan Cresswell were thrown forward to cause disruption to the Burton backline. Soon this paid off as Albion failed to clear a corner and the bald-headed Cresswell poked the ball into the top corner to send Sixfield's wild.
With five minutes left it seemed a draw was inevitable, but as Burton surged forward they were awarded a free kick 30 yards from goal, Alex McDonald stepped up and let fly with a rocket shot straight into the top corner past a helpless Archer in the Northampton goal, incredible scenes in the away end and the mass exodus of home fan's began.
So 2-1 it finished, a much needed 3 points for Gary Rowett's men after defeat to Cambridge and two further defeats on the road, a top day out and a quite wonderful ground to visit.
No comments:
Post a Comment