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Bristol City v Stoke City Match Day 15


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Has anybody ascended Porlock Hill, on foot? And I mean wearing a pair of running shoes and using them for their intended function. How about running down as well? That has to be a 1 in 5 would you think? As I looked up from the tarmac conveyor belt through beads of sweat accumulating around my sockets all I could focus was the blurred red and white stripes of a Stoke City shirt. And it hurt. My body hurt and my self respect hurt. How very dare I allow this shirt to be in front of me, running in the same direction, beads of sweat and all, it brought back Liam Lawrence. You remember that match? That also still hurts. That pain got me up the hill though to be fair. Stoke City 2 City 1, April 19th, 2008.

Liam Lawrence ran the ball into the corner, one of our players, probably Bradley Orr ever the energised runner and trier, 'shoved' the time waster to the floor, resultant free kick, probably taken by Lawrence himself, having just made a miraculous recovery, lobbed the ball in for Ricardo Fuller to flick it on for Sidibe to head in his second. Gary Johnson said after the game that  "Some people are naturally disappointed because it looks as though automatic promotion is unlikely. What we must do now is make sure we are in the play-offs and then give it our best shot if that is the case" and that only made it hurt even more. The Britannia was rockin' that day, I know because I was there, and the City faithful never once dropped their voices below an audibly magnificent level. City were second and Stoke were third but by 5pm the roles were reversed and the rest, as they say, is history. (league positions need checking but I know Stoke went 2nd) I thought those prophetic words from Gary J were defeatist and should not have been said. It was almost written in the stars that the play off final was simply one game too far; the lead up to the final saw City raise their game again to those hitherto levels that kept us fighting for automatic promotion but ultimately we can trace back that moment by Liam Lawrence that defined our entire season when we lost it. And still in front of me the red and white stripes of that damned Stoke City shirt.

Of course what made that sweat worse was the fact this was no Porlock Hill @ 1 in 5 or, how do they say nowadays, 20%? This was late December and I forgot the exact year, perhaps 2009 when the Liam Lawrence debacle was still fresh and it was Caracas' Porlock Hill only much worse. This had to be 1 in 4. And it was hot. What was I thinking? Well as a guest you can hardly turn down a run with your host. Yes that shirt was my close friend and the end of year celebrations in Venezuela were truly memorable. This was long before the supermarket shelves were bare, at least in the hills above the morass of troubles brewing in the cauldron below.

But I have to say this Stoke City fan, while a friend since my Cuba days, those days of never ending excitement and intrigue, was a bit of a nutter, in a good way of course. You will laugh now but back then I must have been one too because I just went along with his hair brained idea of sitting with the West Ham fans as a closet Stokie for the day. Again, the date alludes me but sometime in the last decade or more I agreed to hold the Stoke flag high as they attempted to win at the Boleyn Ground and by his excitement of the event probably for the first time in a while. We walked to the ground from the house of and with a West Ham friend of ours. it did not really cross my mind about seating arrangements and all three of us seemed excited to be together for the first time in years and going to a football match, together, also for the first time. As we entered the turnstiles it then dawned on me that this was only for the home fans. We sat down, the three of us, and what a magnificent stadium I saw before me, packed to the rafters and with the Stoke fans at the opposite end in significant numbers plus two more in the home end! The match was a complete blur to me not being either a West Ham or Stoke City fan but at some point mid way through the first half i was asked to remove my coat, it was getting a little warm to be fair, to reveal, the both of us, with two Stoke City shirts. Well I was a Stoke fan for the day remember and this was strength in numbers! Haha yeah right. In an instant the four letter words hurled at us like missiles from behind; 'remove' your sorry arses or we could end up as dead meat. Not long after a steward frog marched us to the Stoke end. I look back on it now and consider it an exercise in fan behavioural science and for the benefit of all! One sometimes has to justify the actions of madness with a jovial attempt at meaning. In fairness those Hammers were rather more vociferous than I think many other club fans would have been so it was not entirely a wasted exercise. I don't even know the result but it was an eventful experience and one in which I can say is the first and last time I have been with both sets of fans at the same match.

Today's match is a rather interesting one because it is not only the first time we have played Stoke City, in a league game, since that season changing fixture but it falls on exactly the same day we played them at Ashton Gate the last time, earlier that season of course, and in which we won 1-0. That is quite remarkable when you think about it; computer algorithms, amongst other clever formulas, define the dates for all football fixtures so the fact it falls on exactly the same date and for the last time the fixture took place is remarkable. Thanks to our fellow OTIB member Phantom for advising me of that fact and, it checks out!

And finally, we cannot end a match day thread without mentioning one of 'our own', well geographically speaking of course; Jack Butland started his successful career playing for Clevedon United Juniors while living in Kenn, just outside Clevedon and attending the town's comprehensive school. My brother asks, with some justification, why Clevedon United did not receive compensation, even if down the line, for the hard work the local club put in nurturing this talent? A subject that is, of course, close to many of our hearts; grass roots football receives scant little financial trickle down from the league clubs. Lets hope he has a howler today though!

Enjoy the match everyone, I know I will. :)

 

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Being local to us,  a drive up Porlock hill as soon as youve passed your driving test was a must for us, not sure why but we felt it was something we had to do as soon as we could.  Walk? No. Maybe the toll road.

Looking back at that season it's strange we've got Hull City and Stoke City in the space if a couple days.

One down one to go

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Looking forward to today: Saturday Afternoon football, no sky red button, tenner a ticket, my first chance to see Max in goal, all in all feeling positive on the back of 2 wins ... so with that all said it's bound to be a bloody loss.

Not really though, come on City, let's get another win, 1-0 again?

  • Like 1
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Just called into Gloucester services. Blimey it's cold. At least it's dry cold as opposed to damp cold back in Norn Iron. 

As stated on another thread, this is my first game of the season. I am being treated to it by the driver, a Stokie season ticket holder.

The general feeling from the Stokies is that they don't know what kind of team they are.

They knew early on last season they were going down.

Predictions from them range from who turns up to this is the day we start playing!

Personally, I'm looking forward to being at the Gate again. A place I've spent so many hours at from 1977. I'm also looking forward to local beer. Everything else is a bonus. 

2-1

 

 

 

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Stoke , should be an inspiration to our club as to what us possible if you apply yourselves correctly.

The last time I saw them was when they cheated us out of our Auto Freight Winscreen Paint Trophy at Wembley . 

I swear the ref joined in their celebrations.

Anyhow , they didn't try to be Liverpool or Utd they were pragmatic under Pulis and made the best of what they had.

 

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That arch Rovers fan @Miah Dennehy said he was coming to this match with a Stoke supporter in the Atyeo. I’m going to wave to him and might sing him a song. He promised to give an honest assessment of Ashton  Gate after his visit, and I’m sure it will be a shock after the Minimal Stadium.  

Miah, Miah give us a wave 

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If i recall correctly ,come the end of the season,  a win that day at the Brittania Stadium would have been enough to take us up based on the results from then to end of season  .... Always felt that was the day we ended our chances...not Hull

I prefer to recall Memories of a wonderful winning Tinman strike at the old Victoria ground in FA cup tie.....a similar strike from Josh today would do nicely..

 

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1 hour ago, reddogkev said:

Looking forward to today: Saturday Afternoon football, no sky red button, tenner a ticket, my first chance to see Max in goal, all in all feeling positive on the back of 2 wins ... so with that all said it's bound to be a bloody loss.

Not really though, come on City, let's get another win, 1-0 again?

I don't think we will get away with another 1-0 with a poor performance, Stoke have too many savy players to allow us to do that. So to win today, we will have to put in a better performance. Can we do that,  who knows? If Taylor does not start up front and Pato is kept in the side again ahead of COD which I expect LJ will do, then I don't see it. 

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2 hours ago, havanatopia said:

Has anybody ascended Porlock Hill, on foot? And I mean wearing a pair of running shoes and using them for their intended function. How about running down as well? That has to be a 1 in 5 would you think? As I looked up from the tarmac conveyor belt through beads of sweat accumulating around my sockets all I could focus was the blurred red and white stripes of a Stoke City shirt. And it hurt. My body hurt and my self respect hurt. How very dare I allow this shirt to be in front of me, running in the same direction, beads of sweat and all, it brought back Liam Lawrence. You remember that match? That also still hurts. That pain got me up the hill though to be fair. Stoke City 2 City 1, April 19th, 2008.

Liam Lawrence ran the ball into the corner, one of our players, probably Bradley Orr ever the energised runner and trier, 'shoved' the time waster to the floor, resultant free kick, probably taken by Lawrence himself, having just made a miraculous recovery, lobbed the ball in for Ricardo Fuller to flick it on for Sidibe to head in his second. Gary Johnson said after the game that  "Some people are naturally disappointed because it looks as though automatic promotion is unlikely. What we must do now is make sure we are in the play-offs and then give it our best shot if that is the case" and that only made it hurt even more. The Britannia was rockin' that day, I know because I was there, and the City faithful never once dropped their voices below an audibly magnificent level. City were second and Stoke were third but by 5pm the roles were reversed and the rest, as they say, is history. (league positions need checking but I know Stoke went 2nd) I thought those prophetic words from Gary J were defeatist and should not have been said. It was almost written in the stars that the play off final was simply one game too far; the lead up to the final saw City raise their game again to those hitherto levels that kept us fighting for automatic promotion but ultimately we can trace back that moment by Liam Lawrence that defined our entire season when we lost it. And still in front of me the red and white stripes of that damned Stoke City shirt.

Of course what made that sweat worse was the fact this was no Porlock Hill @ 1 in 5 or, how do they say nowadays, 20%? This was late December and I forgot the exact year, perhaps 2009 when the Liam Lawrence debacle was still fresh and it was Caracas' Porlock Hill only much worse. This had to be 1 in 4. And it was hot. What was I thinking? Well as a guest you can hardly turn down a run with your host. Yes that shirt was my close friend and the end of year celebrations in Venezuela were truly memorable. This was long before the supermarket shelves were bare, at least in the hills above the morass of troubles brewing in the cauldron below.

But I have to say this Stoke City fan, while a friend since my Cuba days, those days of never ending excitement and intrigue, was a bit of a nutter, in a good way of course. You will laugh now but back then I must have been one too because I just went along with his hair brained idea of sitting with the West Ham fans as a closet Stokie for the day. Again, the date alludes me but sometime in the last decade or more I agreed to hold the Stoke flag high as they attempted to win at the Boleyn Ground and by his excitement of the event probably for the first time in a while. We walked to the ground from the house of and with a West Ham friend of ours. it did not really cross my mind about seating arrangements and all three of us seemed excited to be together for the first time in years and going to a football match, together, also for the first time. As we entered the turnstiles it then dawned on me that this was only for the home fans. We sat down, the three of us, and what a magnificent stadium I saw before me, packed to the rafters and with the Stoke fans at the opposite end in significant numbers plus two more in the home end! The match was a complete blur to me not being either a West Ham or Stoke City fan but at some point mid way through the first half i was asked to remove my coat, it was getting a little warm to be fair, to reveal, the both of us, with two Stoke City shirts. Well I was a Stoke fan for the day remember and this was strength in numbers! Haha yeah right. In an instant the four letter words hurled at us like missiles from behind; 'remove' your sorry arses or we could end up as dead meat. Not long after a steward frog marched us to the Stoke end. I look back on it now and consider it an exercise in fan behavioural science and for the benefit of all! One sometimes has to justify the actions of madness with a jovial attempt at meaning. In fairness those Hammers were rather more vociferous than I think many other club fans would have been so it was not entirely a wasted exercise. I don't even know the result but it was an eventful experience and one in which I can say is the first and last time I have been with both sets of fans at the same match.

Today's match is a rather interesting one because it is not only the first time we have played Stoke City, in a league game, since that season changing fixture but it falls on exactly the same day we played them at Ashton Gate the last time, earlier that season of course, and in which we won 1-0. That is quite remarkable when you think about it; computer algorithms, amongst other clever formulas, define the dates for all football fixtures so the fact it falls on exactly the same date and for the last time the fixture took place is remarkable. Thanks to our fellow OTIB member Phantom for advising me of that fact and, it checks out!

And finally, we cannot end a match day thread without mentioning one of 'our own', well geographically speaking of course; Jack Butland started his successful career playing for Clevedon United Juniors while living in Kenn, just outside Clevedon and attending the town's comprehensive school. My brother asks, with some justification, why Clevedon United did not receive compensation, even if down the line, for the hard work the local club put in nurturing this talent? A subject that is, of course, close to many of our hearts; grass roots football receives scant little financial trickle down from the league clubs. Lets hope he has a howler today though!

Enjoy the match everyone, I know I will. :)

 

Condensed Version

Stoke City:

Hav's back from shagging 

  • Haha 6
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3 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Just watching Boro v Derby...jeez, Boro are leaving one on a Derby player every tackle.  Nothing sinister just a bit late every time, or a bit put on the challenge.

And now Derby are ahead........they’ve started really well and are all over Boro. A second Derby goal looks on the cards.

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1 hour ago, pongo88 said:

That arch Rovers fan @Miah Dennehy said he was coming to this match with a Stoke supporter in the Atyeo. I’m going to wave to him and might sing him a song. He promised to give an honest assessment of Ashton  Gate after his visit, and I’m sure it will be a shock after the Minimal Stadium.  

Miah, Miah give us a wave 

I'm not there ! It's a long story. Looks like I will have to wait until we play you again! 

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