Coventry - play off semi finals

Of course, one is a bit of a fair weather fan if you only turn up to watch your team at the end of the season to see them get promotion. Yup, that is me. So off I head to watch us play in first leg of the league 2 play off final against Notts County. Actually only reason I went was because my oldest friend, with whom I had a season ticket at Coventry back in the Seventies, and now lives in Sheffield, was going so I gave it a try. Getting home from an evening fixture at the tout of town Ricoh is just not feasible. But Simon said I could stay at his, so I got a train to Chesterfield and he picked me up from the station, and then we walked from a parking spot we had booked. Like other out of town stadia, they are of course very environment unfriendly as they really require a car journey where previously one would get a train.

Now we have been having an unsasonably warm May. Aprt from this night. When we had a monsoon. If you can have a cold monsoon. Soaked on way to ground, and the pitch was waterlogged in one quarter, with standing puddles. 

Crowd was 17000, big for league two but only half the capacity. A good first half, when we hit the post, was undone in the second by an early County goal. Despair only just averted when we scored from the penalty spot. Never a penalty, but we deserved it on balance of play.

Now to get ahead of the narrative, the second leg in Nottingham a week later was played in good conditions. And we won 4-1 in an utterly compelling game, Coventry going two up in the first half and playing amazingly well, then conceding just before half time to goal caused by a ball bobbling around in the air amongst County's big men, Second half they were all over us and it seemed only a matter of time before City crumbled. Indeed they scored from a  goal wrongly disallowed for offside. But then with 20 minutes to go we had a breakaway goal from Biamou (which was a little offside and suddenly the tide turned. They were deflated and we eventually scored a fourth and could have had more. Relief. And Wembley ahead.

So back to Sheffield. Stayed night with my mate, and had a tour of his wonderful garden - amazing what you can have in Sheffield, especially when retired.

 He has his own orchard and a pretty much a bluebell glade at the bottom of the garden. Any way, I had agreed, to make use of the time, to meet up with another mate of mine in Sheffield. SO we had Sunday lunch together at a smart trendy pub restaurant called the Pointing Dog (or known locally as the Dogging Point I understand). A lovely smart place for Sheffield's middle classes to gather (you know the ones which vote Liberal Democrat in what is otherwise an incredibly depressing socialist republic of rundown estates). Unfortuately while a lovely place for a drink on a warm day, the food is really very mediocre. The charcuterie option was fine - see below - but the roast, well didn't taste like it had been roasted, more boiled.

But the food wasn't the point, it was just really nice to see James again after about a year. And a further year of training for the triathlon left him looking ever so well and buffed. Maybe this exercise lark is actually good for you. Who would have guessed?

So then back to Sheffield station to await my train back to the Metropolis. A nice day so I waited as long as possible on the square outside and took a few photos.

It is all quite photogenic with its large water sculpture. I think all aimed at screening the immediate view of Sheffield behind it, which is basically an eyesore. Nice try, but really only works for a few minutes on leaving the station.