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Treat for Callum to round off the Half Term break. We had tickets in the away end at the London Stadium (home of the London Olympics).
Even with the District/Circle Line closed, it was really easy to get from Paddington to Stratford. Bakerloo Line down to Oxford Circus, then Circle line straight up to Stratford.
Weather wasn’t particularly brilliant. Very overcast with a high likelihood of rain. Just hope our seats were undercover.
It was Jon’s first ever visit to the Olympic Park and think he was impressed. The aquatics centre and the Accelor Mittal tower were all close to Stadium itself.
We had plenty of time to kill before we could get into the stadium so we explored the food options. Plenty of options around the home gates. Just a burger/hot dog van along with a beer and coffee van.
The stadium opened up just as the rain started. The stewards were brilliant and very friendly. As it was quiet to start with, one of the stewards kindly let Jon and Callum into to get a photo of them inside the grounds. All very impressive.
Finally time to find our seats – not that we would get much use from them once the match had started! From the last away match we went to, the fans stood up the entire match … and sang constantly as well (not that we could work out the words for most of the songs!).
The stewards tried their hardest to get the fans to sit … but was completely in vain. Callum also knows NOT to repeat a lot of the lyrics!!
The only downside with this stadium is that you are a fair distance away from the action. The running track around the edge means you are further away from the pitch than at most other grounds.
Couldn’t have wished for a better start. Newcastle went into the half time break 2-0 up. A third was added soon after they returned to the pitch. The chap behind us summed things up nicely. 3-0 up with 15 minutes to go – why to I feel so nervous! Rightly so! The home fans had really thinned out by now, but two quick goals saw some race back to their seats! It was a very nervy final few minutes but Newcastle held on to claim all three points!
Fan segregation in operation and the away fans were sent around the houses to get back to the tube station – an extra half mile walk compared to our walk in!
Getting back to Paddington and home was as easy as the journey in. Door to door, it took around one and three quarter hours (via the longer underground route … and the old train timetable!).
