Bolton Wanderers v Tottenham Hotspur Fifth Round, Sunday 14th February 2010

For my second cup match of a busy weekend I finally decided to pay a trip to The Reebok to see my own team, Bolton Wanderers, in action. Since the Third Round stage Bolton had been causing me a bit of a dilemma as this was about new grounds and experiences for me and in each round Bolton kept getting themselves drawn at home, ruling out the possibility of an awayday. Following my rejection by Derby and before Umbro's kind intervention, it seemed that fate had decided I was destined for The Reebok and a ticket was secured.

It would actually be my first visit since Jussi Jaaskelainen's testimonial in August having become a very much lapsed fan during the awful football of Gary Megson's reign combined with having to tighten my belt during the last couple of bleak economic years. The appointment of Owen Coyle was a source of joy as a link back to the days of Bruce Rioch at Burnden Park which was my happiest time following Bolton.

The trip to the ground was a simple one just involving a quick change of trains at Piccadilly. I had become acutely aware that I had neglected to feed myself since Saturday lunch so headed out of the station for some emergency Greggs. The one girl on the till looked like she had lost the will to live faced with an ever growing queue and the prospects of being served before my next train left were slim, so diverted to the pasty stall inside the concourse and a very satisfactory Cornish did the job.

A second change of trains at Bolton and I was soon leaving Horwich Parkway in sight of the stadium and it was looking like we were in for a low turnout this Valentines day lunchtime. A real shame as Bolton made their name in the FA Cup in Rioch's day and the sold-out matches at Burnden Park were always something special. Tottenham to their credit has brought 5,000 with them out of the overall crowd of 13,000. As the players took to the pitch, I was hoping that the game would warrant more than the poor attendance it had attracted.

Bolton had arrived at the 5th round having comfortably disposed of Lincoln and Sheffield United and Tottenham had progressed at the expense of Peterborough and Leeds, needing a replay last time out. Given the club's relative league position Tottenham were prematch favourites, but the Reebok has not previously been a happy hunting ground. The game started quite openly with Tottenham trying to exploit the height of Peter Crouch in attack and Bolton creating some chances outside the box without the finishing, from Elmander in particular, failing to match the quality of the approach play.




As the game drew closer to halftime, Bolton increased their pressure on Spurs and the closest chance came from Matt Taylor's free-kick drawing a fine save from Gomez. Bolton were not to be denied and a series of passes culminated in a superb one-two between Lee and Elmander who cut back to Kevin Davies who took on touch to tee up the ball before tucking it in the bottom corner to make it 1-0 to the hosts at the break. Retreating under the stand for a halftime pint, I noted that not only had we poached Burnley's manager - we also had their pies too!



In the second half, Tottenham were looking a lot more capable and it soon became clear Bolton may come to regret only leading by the one goal, although Bolton were still looking to attack Tottenham were starting to look dangerous at the other end.



Tottenham finally made the break-through having twice rattled the Bolton bar, a header from Crouch and a deflected shot from Palacios, when Jermaine Defoe pounced on a pass from Bale and blasted home from close range. Things went from bad to worse from there, firstly losing the impressive Zat Knight to injury and then a handball decision against Sam Ricketts gave Tottenham a penalty. Tom Huddlestone stepped up for the spot kick which was well saved by Jaaskalainen, keeping the game level.


Bolton seemed to respond to the wake up call of the spot-kick and although Tottenham still looked the more likely to score the threat level was greatly reduced and the only real chance of note was a long range effort from Defoe. The final score of 1-1 was a fair result as the teams had dominated a half each and although Tottenham will fancy their chances at home, hope springs eternal for Bolton.

Manchester City v Stoke City Fifth Round Saturday 13th February 2010

Looking at the 5th round draw, my first choice was a trip to Derby County to see the if the Championship side could upset Brimingham City. Ringing for tickets on the day they went on open sale, I was informed that on police instructions they were only selling tickets to fans already on Derby's database and as I had not been to Pride Park before I was out the running for that one. Looking for a plan B, I decided it was finally time to go and see my own team, Bolton take on Spurs on the Sunday match and a ticket was duly secured for the early Sunday kick-off. On Thursday an email dropped into my in box, Umbro had found this blog and wanted to do a feature and interview with me and would I like a pair of tickets for Man City v Stoke as a thank-you? Yes I certainly would. So thanks to Derbyshire Constabulary I was now going to two matches and at half the cost of a day out in Derby.

The match was due to kick-off at 5.15, and wishing to avoid the mess of the metrolink roadworks in Droylsden I had a pre-match pint at Stalybridge's excellent buffet bar before catching the train into Manchester and then onto the ground on one of the special buses from Piccadilly Gardens.

I had 30 minutes to spare before kick-off so plenty of time to pick up my tickets and meet my friend, who has requested to remain anonymous for footballing reasons. Having been pointed in the direction of the ticket office and joined the clue from collections, I was then rather worried when the girl serving could find no sign of my tickets. Thankfully, it turned out that City have two ticket offices and I was simply in the wrong and after a quick trek to the other side of the ground the tickets were collected and we were in our seats just before the teams took to the field, a cracking view from the 2nd tier right above the corner flag.



Stoke City had arrived at this stage by first overcoming non-league York in the third round and then going on to dump Arsenal out in the next round with an impressive 3-1 win at The Brittania Stadium. Although they had not sold their allocation, the fans were in good voice and with a bit of a reputation for trouble in the past it was clear the police were taking no chances with the segregation.


Manchester City had were playing at home for the first time in the cup this season, having overcome potential banana skin ties at Middlesbrough and Scunthorpe. City's season seems to have stuttered a little since the disappointment of losing the Carling Cup semi-final to arch-rivals Manchester United. The club's main aim is finish in the top 4 this season, and the decision to rest Tevez & Bellamy reflected this however the fans are desperately keen to end their trophyless run and I'm sure would welcome a successful cup run.


As the game got underway, chants of "There's only one John Terry" rang out from the away end. A bit naughty and it failed to have an effect on Wayne Bridge who was having a fan start to the game getting involved in the attacks down the left and side and playing with a lot more confidence than I've seen from him for a long time. Manchester City dominated the early possession, but were playing with a tempo that I felt was a little two slow to properly test Stoke who were content to break up play and play high balls forward to Ricardo Fuller who looked capable of making life uncomfortable for the City centre-backs.



Just as Stoke looked like they had settled into the game, came the breakthrough. A long through pass from Stephen Ireland tempted Thomas Soronsen out of his penalty box only to be beaten to the ball by Shaun Wright-Phillips who flicked the ball over him towards the goal. Defender Ryan Shawcross had managed to race forward and flick the ball away from the goal with his foot, but his momentum carried him ahead of the ball and instead of it going out for a corner it flicked off the back of this head and presented the pursuing Wright-Phillips a simple tap in to give City the lead.

Things went from bad to worse for Stoke shortly after with winger Etherington being stretchered off with a knee injury and then almost conceding a penalty for a foul on Wright-Phillips that was deemed to be just outside of the box. However Stoke seemed to rally a little and managed to apply a bit of pressure towards half-time, without creating many convincing chances in front of goal.




Having had a quick half-time beer, the temperature was starting to drop and we were hoping the second half would see a more attacking game and although both sides showed willing the final ball still seemed to elude both teams.


Twelve minutes into the second half Stoke equalised in a manner for which they have become notorious under Tony Pulis. Substitute Rory Delap launched one of his trademark throw-ins thirty yards into the box to be headed home by the threatening Fuller. Cue scenes of pandemonium in the away end and a bit of aggro for the stewards and police as some fans tried to break the cordon and confront the home fans.


City changed things round bringing on Patrick Viera and a rare sighting of Roque Santa Cruz to partner Adebeyor up front who had a fruitless afternoon. Chances were still hard to come by but City almost had the lead restored when Gareth Barry's header from Wright-Phillips cross was brilliantly saved by Sorensen.

With no further chances forthcoming, the game ended level to the delight of the Stoke fans who will fancy their chances at their place and were belting out Delilah at the final whistle. Leaving the ground we found ourselves having to walk right through the away fans to get to our meeting point which was a little hairy with the nearest police a distance away in the dark but thankfully they weren't in a fighty mood. City also have a trip to Stoke on Tuesday for a league match, so this one could well turn into a saga.