Fleetwood Town - Highbury Stadium

Fleetwood Town, the cod army. I have not been to a football league match in a while, so when I saw forward thinking Fleetwood were playing Capital One Cup finalists Bradford City, I could not resist.

I sent a text to Granddad (Hayes) and he confirmed, he will be joining me on this exciting voyage to Fleetwood. Granddad booked tickets, planned the journey etc. It was planned. Granddad would be picking me up at 12:00 at my house, and so he did. Away we went, en route to Fleetwood.

I was looking forward to the game for a number of reasons, one being that Fleetwood is a new team in the football league, another one being that Bradford City have played and beaten the likes of Arsenal and Aston Villa, but the main reason was that Graham Alexander, a hero of mine when he played at Burnley, was the new manager of The Cod Army.

Getting to the Highbury Stadium was very easy indeed, a simple case of getting onto the M65 then the M61 and then the M55, then onto a few A roads. The roads were pretty clear the sun was shining and the sea air sent was getting closer and closer, what more could you ask for? We arrived at the Highbury Stadium for around 1:15!

Potted History:

Fleetwood Town FC is based in the centre of Fleetwood. Established in 1997, the current Fleetwood Town FC is the third incarnation of the original club formed in 1908. Fleetwood kit is a very smart and snazzy one; the traditional colours are Red and White and Black. As you know, the home stadium is named the Highbury Stadium, why? I don't know! After a fairly successful FA Cup run last year, Fleetwood gained promotion from the Conference Premier.

Granddad went to pick up the pre-ordered match day ticket, where as I bought the very well presented match day program for £3, and what a program it is, well worth a buy! Tickets price wise they cost £7.00 and for granddad £10.00, great value for money!

At 1:30 the turnstiles opened and I and Granddad went through the Etihad/Wembley like turnstiles, electronic turnstiles, in League 2?!?! Anyway, we walked from the concourse through to the stand itself, and if you look at the picture it looks like your walking onto the actual pitch, great feature! We checked our seats and the view was pretty impressive all be it we were blinded by the sun. With the ground pretty much empty we searched for some food, at Fleetwood they have a wide range of delicacies on offer, I opted for a cheeseburger and so did granddad. Well, it’s safe to say the cheeseburger left allot to be desired for.

As for the Highbury stadium well to the left of us was the Percy Ronson stand which was held 700 of the large travailing supporters was a simple standing terrace that strangely only ran 3/4 of that end of the pitch, very strange. To the right was the Memorial Stand which is home to the more loud and passionate of the home supporters, the stand is named after those who have lost their lives in service and the trawlermen lost at sea from the port of Fleetwood. In front of us was the Highbury Stand has a capacity of 550, it is more or less the family stand. We were sat in the super-duper new stand, which is named which is called the Parkside Stand, probably because there is a massive park behind the stand, 1/4 of this stand was allocated to those Bradford fans that opted to sit.

As for the game itself, well the first 10 minutes or so was good, entertaining end to end stuff. It didn't take long for 'were going to Wembley!' chants to start but those chants were soon silenced on the 20th minute Fleetwood opened the scoring, Junior Brown forced a fine save from experienced keeper Matt Duke and, from the resulting corner Gareth Evans crossed for defender Alan Goodall to head home.

Bradford equalised just before Half Time, Nathan Pond brought down Bradford captain Gary Jones on the edge of the box Nahki Wells scored from the resulting free kick!

HALF TIME

About 3 minutes into the second half Bradford were soon in front, an indecision between Shaun Beeley and Junior Brown that resulted in the ball landed in the path of Bradford player Dickson who went on to round the ball round Scott Davies, 2-1 Bradford.

Fleetwood got their deserved equaliser with 16 minutes to go. Bradford's defence came under pressure and James Hanson handled. Penalty. Jon Parkin steps up. Scored! 

The full time whistle was blown not so long after, what a game! Full time 2-2, a deserved point, it was a 'game of two half’s' the first belonging to Fleetwood and the second belonging to Bradford!

Our journey home nearly as simple as getting there, no traffic problems at all, and I was home for 6:15. I had a superb day at Fleetwood and I hope, one day that I will get the opportunity to visit again. I would also just like to say thanks to my granddad for a great day out!