Goodnight Rapid Vienna...

Rapid Vienna 1-4 Red Bull Salzburg
Austrian Bundesliga

Sunday 13th May 2018

Before the game at the Allianz Stadion

When planning a trip to Central Europe a few months ago, the initial idea was to take in games at Ferencvaros and Ujpest on the same weekend and have a long stress-free weekend in Budapest, enjoying what the Hungarian capital has to offer.

The plan seemed watertight, flights were cheap enough (£45 return thanks to WizzAir) and everything was in place apart from the Hungarian FA needing to confirm the specific dates and kick-off times for the individual games.

Then came the bombshell...

Ujpest's game with Puskas Akademia would kick-off just a couple of hours before Ferencvaros' game with Vasas. Whilst there was a half-hour gap or so between one game finishing and the other starting, logistically it seemed unlikely to be able to do both without an expensive taxi ride being thrown into the equation to get from one ground to another.

Plan B was a trip here!

Both games were scheduled for the Saturday, however, which did at least allow for the opportunity to check out other 'nearby' options for the following day.

A quick glance through the fixture list revealed that Rapid Vienna and Red Bull Salzburg (arguably the two biggest teams in Austria) were playing each other. With tickets available, much to my surprise, and at a relatively good price, the game was simply too good to turn down so 'Plan B' was put into action.

The very impressive executive entrance

A 'Plan C' did very, very nearly come to fruition as RB Salzburg reached the UEFA Europa League semi-finals and actually got back on level terms at one point during their second-leg tie with Marseille. Had they won, with the final being scheduled for just three days after this game with Rapid Vienna, who knows whether it would have been re-arranged to an earlier day.

Thankfully, they didn't reach the final though and the rest, as they say, is history!

Another look at the exterior of the stadium

Travel to Vienna from Budapest was around £10 each way courtesy of FlixBus with the journey itself only taking around three hours by road.

After arriving at Erdberg bus station mid-morning and spending a few hours enjoying the different sights, sounds and sunshine of the Austrian capital, I then made the journey across town to Rapid Vienna's relatively new Allianz Stadion, which is situated close to Hutteldorf Station at the end of the U4 'Green' U Bahn line - around a 20-25 minute metro journey from the city centre.

As new-build stadiums go, this venue is eye-catching, impressive and possesses a lot of character and was built on the site of the old Gerhard Hanappi Stadion which was demolished in 2014.

Good weather and a pretty good stadium

The new stadium is around a five-minute walk from Hutteldorf Station and if the strong smell of hot dogs being cooked or one of what looked to be numerous beer gardens doesn't draw you in, then the swish exterior of the executive entrance and fancy exterior to the stadium will certainly capture your attention.

Sadly, as impressive as the new stadium is, Rapid's performance on the pitch left plenty to be desired and their capitulation had similarities to Brazil's infamous crumbling to Germany in the World Cup semi-finals, four years ago.

To say that RB Salzburg began the game on the front foot would be an understatement. Straight from kick-off, the visitors sought to take control and they underlined pretty emphatically why they've dominated the Austrian Bundesliga for the past decade.

The teams warm-up ahead of the game

Less than five minutes were on the clock when Salzburg opened the scoring as Rapid's 'keeper inexcusably fumbled Amadou Haidara's shot from the edge of the area which subsequently allowed Patrick Farkas to smash the ball into a more or less empty net.

The hosts spurned a glorious chance to get back on level terms not long afterwards when Thomas Murg dispossessed an opponent in midfield and saw his shot come back off the post after advancing forwards. Cican Stankovic, in the RB goal, was equal to Veton Berisha's follow-up attempt.

With Vienna still licking their wounds, Salzburg seized the initiative and launched a rapid attack of their own just a minute later and doubled their lead as Munas Dabbur poked home from close-range after 'pinball' defending from the hosts.

An impressive stadium which is worth a visit

Even by this early stage, the gulf between the two sides was pretty damn obvious and it wasn't much longer until the visitors essentially put the result beyond any reasonable doubt as Fredrik Gulbrandsen was released down the inside-right channel and he produced an elegant chip over the advancing 'keeper made it 3-0.

The goal meant it was already a case of 'Goodnight Rapid Vienna' yet there was still an hour left to endure for home supporters.

It was a good day for the few hundred visiting RB Salzburg fans

Fortunately, the scoreline didn't get any worse for the former giants of the Austrian Bundesliga as the 'new money' club spurned plenty of further chances to rub salt into Rapid's gaping wounds. Nevertheless, the half-time scoreline of 0-3 flattered the hosts as it could quite easily have been a bigger margin!

Rapid attempted to restore some pride after the re-start and at least plugged the defensive holes that had cost them so dearly in the opening 45 minutes - even still, RB created more openings and came close to extending their lead further on a couple of occasions.

It was a case of 'too little, too late' by the time Berisha reduced arrears with a quarter-of-an-hour left to play, but the 1-3 scoreline didn't stay in place for long as Dabbur soon re-established Salzburg's three-goal cushion with a clever finish.

Rapid fans get the pyro's going after their goal

Again, it was 'Goodnight Rapid Vienna'...

Rotherham United 2-0 Scunthorpe United

Rotherham United 2-0 Scunthorpe United
New York Stadium
Wednesday 16th May 2018
League One Play-Off Semi-Final Second Leg

The play-offs undoubtedly produce the most exciting, intense and nail-biting games during a campaign and with local rivals Rotherham and Scunthorpe locking horns in League One, the second leg tie at the New York Stadium was simply too good an opportunity to miss.

Rotherham are a side who play my favoured type of football - long balls, direct play and with a robust approach even though they can knock it around quite well sometimes - and it's certainly been enjoyable watching them on a couple of occasions already this season. Scunny, meanwhile, I've seen less of, but the fact they achieved a top six finish proves their credentials.

Northern Rail did their best to scupper plans of a straightforward evening out in South Yorkshire with 'cable theft' being the latest in a long line of excuses they've trotted out already this year. The theft subsequently made Rotherham Central station inaccessible for most of the day - thus meaning the dreaded 'rail replacement bus services' were in operation from Meadowhall. Nevertheless, the unusual way of reaching Rotherham did allow for an impromptu opportunity to take a sneak peak into the Millers' old ground, Millmoor - something which I'd actually been aiming to do for a while, but never quite got round to doing.

Passing Millmoor on the bus!

The replacement buses went over the bridge that ran close to the Tivoli End at Millmoor, allowing for a quick glance in a gap between the stands that looked onto the pitch. Although Rotherham played their last game here 10 years ago, the ground has bizarrely been used quite frequently since by Sunday league teams and any other Tom, Dick or Harry who has fancied a kickaround.

It's clear now the pitch is overgrown, though nowhere near as bad as the Belle Vue pitch got at Doncaster Rovers after they left their old stadium, whilst seats in the unfinished 'new' side stand have now turned to an ugly-looking shade of pink.

It's impossible to guess what will happen with Millmoor in the future and whether it'll ever be demolished, but the former home of the Millers looks grim and gloomy in the South Yorkshire skyline in stark contrast to the super-shiny and brand-spanking New York Stadium which is just a couple of hundred yards away.

For anyone who hasn't yet been to Rotherham's new ground, it's certainly one of the best 'new builds' around - close to the railway station and town centre and the stadium itself has more character than most purpose-built new stadiums in the country. Yes, the concourse is tight (especially in the away end) and its steep climbing up the steps to your seat but there aren't any crap views here.

The shiny exterior of Rotherham's New York Stadium

The New York Stadium experience is made even better by some of the best pre-match tunes that I've heard anywhere in Europe in recent years. When you get Blur, The Cure, Ocean Colour Scene, etc, on the PA system before a game then you know that someone at the club has bloody good taste in music and isn't scared of proving it!

As to be expected, the game was nail-biting and full of tension from the outset and the electric atmosphere in the stands seemed to have a bad effect on the hosts early on as they took time to settle and looked very disjointed for much of the opening 20 minutes or so.

Scunny's Ivan Toney was a constant pain in the arse for Rotherham's backline - quite surprising as he hasn't exactly had a vintage year by any means - but he always looked capable of creating a chance from very little and needed constant attention in the early stages.

The teams emerge from the tunnel (to a sea of red and white)

When Rotherham did settle they quickly began to show their quality and Michael Ihiekwe went close twice in quick succession before Richard Towell drew a top-drawer fingertip save from visiting 'keeper Rory Watson - probably one of the best saves that I've witnessed this season.

The Millers pressed hard and endured an agonising goalmouth scramble in which they couldn't poke the ball home, and it was quickly becoming obvious they needed to capitalise during their sustained spell of pressure with the game being so one-sided.

It looked as scores would be level at the break, but that changed in first half injury-time.

Paul Warne looks on from the sidelines

Scunny caretaker boss Nick Daws was whinging to the officials that the half-time whistle should have already been blown as Will Vaulks was lining up a long-throw. Vaulks' throw subsequently caused mayhem and Richard Wood's made a glancing connection to the ball, placing it perfectly into the net to send the majority of the New York Stadium into raptures.

Certain incidents can alter the course of games and another one occurred in the very early stages of the second half. Toney played through Duane Holmes for a golden chance, but with the goal gaping the Iron midfielder had a woeful touch and saw his shot smothered as Rotherham remained ahead.

Rory McArdle then went into the book for a mistimed kung-fu kick on Ryan Williams that was more akin to something out of mortal combat. Whilst it wasn't deliberate or intentional, the Scunny player was lucky to only get a yellow card for such a ridiculously reckless challenge.

Second half action

The Millers soon got their own back though, by delivering a knockout blow in the best possible style to double their advantage and put them on course for Wembley.

Josh Emmanuel, who is a big, bamboozling right-back who likes to push up (and leave bloody great big gaps behind him which will get exposed one day) went on a customary advance down the flank after some quick link-up play and his ball across the face of goal was poked home by Vaulks.

With under 30 minutes remaining, Scunthorpe had to go for it and in what was remaining of the game they absolutely peppered the hosts with shots, crosses and chances galore - an obvious question would be why did they wait until they were two goals down before turning in such high-tempo play that had their counterparts on the ropes?

A pitch invasion at the final whistle. Who would have guessed it?

The Iron had four or five gilt-edge opportunities in a quarter-of-an-hour spell and if just one had gone in, there would have no doubt been a grandstand finale.

As it was though, Rotherham held on and the final whistle was sparked by a joyous pitch invasion, despite frequent requests over the PA system for fans not to do so (something which only makes it more bloody likely, on most occasions).

The Millers will now face surprise package Shrewsbury Town in the League One play-off final - a game that is very tough to call as both teams adopt a similar physical style and there isn't a great deal of difference between the two sides.

Derby County 4-1 Barnsley

Derby County 4-1 Barnsley
Pride Park
Sunday 6th May 2018
Championship

Back in 1912, some ship named HMS Titanic hit an ice berg and vanished into the Atlantic Ocean. A few weeks later, Barnsley Football Club won the FA Cup for the only time in their history.

Fast-forward 106 years and Barnsley's hopes of survival on a highly unpredictable final day of the season in the Championship sunk as quickly as that ill-fated vessel.

Pride Park - a place that will give Barnsley fans nightmares now for years to come!

The Tykes were tonked 4-1 at play-off bound Derby County; a result which was always going to put their second-tier status in a precarious position, and results elsewhere ultimately consigned them to the drop.

More indignity was to be had when Jose Morais was dismissed as manager shortly after the full-time whistle. The question surely needs to be asked why did the Oakwell hierarchy leave it too late to reach this decision? The Portuguese has clearly struggled in the job and some bravery from the boardroom a couple of weeks ago (before things culminated in a last day decider) might have led to a different outcome with a happier ending.

Free flags for the Derby fans

Nevertheless, the inquest will no doubt continue long into the summer and there are plenty of lessons that have to be learned ahead of next season's venture into League One.

From a Derby perspective, this was very much the cliched 'business as usual, professional performance' to 'get the job done' and guarantee a play-off place where they will now face Fulham who are equally as strong, if not slightly better than them. The Cottagers will be favourites but in the 'lottery of the play-offs' it doesn't mean much at all.

Fancy dress but probably not fancying a season in League One?

On the flip side, Barnsley fans may look back on this game (and probably a few others) and wonder 'What If...'.

A 4-1 defeat against a play-off team away from home looks like a bit of a hammering on paper. However, in the first 45 minutes, the visitors did ask questions of their opponents and there was a sloppy side to Derby's play at times which allowed Barnsley to see quite a bit of the ball in midfield, even though they didn't create gilt-edge chances.

In the second half, the visitors completely capitulated and looked resigned to relegation.

Over 30,000 were inside the ground by kick-off

Cameron Jerome's emphatic opener after around a quarter-of-an-hour put down an early marker for the hosts after they'd spurned a couple of early chances.

Jerome was unlucky to be penalised for handball in an attack where the Rams had a goal disallowed shortly afterwards and there were plenty of niggly, strong and committed challenges going in from both teams as the half grew old, with Barnsley starting to dictate the play in the middle of the park.

Whatever Morais said to his team during the half-time interval didn't work and things quickly began to unravel.

Barnsley knew if they won, irrespective of results elsewhere, they'd guarantee survival and that should always have been the order of the day, no matter what, and at 1-0 behind, they always had every chance of upsetting the odds - so long as they got the next goal.

When Jerome set-up Mattej Vydra for the simplest of tap-ins to double Derby's lead just shy of the hour mark, there was an inevitability around the ground that Gary Rowett's team had sealed their play-off place and the South Yorkshire team would need favours from elsewhere if they were to save their Championship skins.

Derby's players in their pre-game warm up

David Nugent and Tom Lawrence, who put in an impressive display as he actually tracked back and got stuck in, unlike some forward players at other clubs, added further goals in quick succession as the floodgates were now well and truly open.

By the time George Moncur beat Rams 'keeper Scott Carson with a spectacular curling effort with 10 minutes to go, events inside Pride Park were secondary to the drama elsewhere in the division.

At no point from Hope Akpan's equaliser for Burton in their game at Preston (sometime around the hour mark) were Barnsley actually ever in a safe position, but that didn't stop their fans getting stupidly confused and celebrating wildly in the away end when Forest went 2-1 up at Bolton.

The ridiculousness of the situation gave Derby's fans the perfect chance to take the mickey and in true 'rip the p*ss' fashion they retorted with a brilliant chorus of 'You stupid b*stards, you're still going down!' to remind their not-so bright visitors that, erm, they weren't good enough... and they shouldn't have started celebrating!

Barnsley players clap their fans before kick-off - then get relegated!

As it happened, Burton did lose at Preston - a result which would have saved Barnsley their second-tier status (and probably Morais his job), had it not been for Bolton scoring two late goals in two minutes to overturn Forest's lead in Lancashire.

Whether Derby now have what it takes to get to the Premier League and eradicate bad memories of that disastrous 2007/08 campaign remains to be seen. Personally, I'd favour Aston Villa to 'do the business' in the play-offs - probably beating Fulham in the final.

For anyone that's never been to Pride Park previously, the stadium is within easy walking distance of the railway station and it'll take no more than 10-15 at a leisurely pace.

Having visited on numerous occasions there is barely a bad seat in the house and the club usually price their tickets quite reasonably for English football - for this game ticket prices started at £26!

Not a bad view for a Sunday afternoon

To put Derby's ticket prices into a broader context, I'd briefly considered going to Leeds versus QPR today, but for a start the match was effectively a dead rubber and ticket prices STARTED at £34 for restricted view seats!

Pride Park isn't quite 'value for money' for families, etc, even though the club do usually have a few cheap games per season where prices are slashed drastically, but the comfort on offer is generally much better than quite a lot of other teams' grounds at this level.

Doncaster Rovers 0-1 Wigan Athletic

Doncaster Rovers 0-1 Wigan Athletic
Sky Bet League One

Saturday 5th May 2018

Wigan Athletic are back in the Championship - and as champions!

No pyro, no party for the Wigan fans!

History repeated itself today at the Keepmoat Stadium as the proverbial yo-yo club in the English Football League in recent seasons wrapped up the League One title for the second time in three years, with a 1-0 win at Doncaster Rovers.

The Latics looked a big strong and, at times, brutish side and it'll be interesting to see if the vastly underrated Paul Cook can finally bring some long-awaited consolidation to the DW Stadium in 2018/19, after all the recent yo-yo-ing.

It seems bizarre that just shy of five years ago, I was watching the Latics at Wembley - beating Man City in the FA Cup Final and playing a stylish brand of 'tippy tappy' football under Roberto Martinez, yet now they've opted for a totally different approach and it's absolutely worked 100%.

A Bank Holiday weekend with good weather. What's going on?

Cook deserves a crack at managing in the Championship for the first time, having sealed his third divisional title in five years, and the Latics look better equipped than they were two years ago when they won promotion then spectacularly ballsed it up and got relegated again.

As for Donny, they could do a lot worse than to have a look at Wigan's performance today and try to replicate a similar style, blueprint and identity next season - irrespective of whatever budget Darren Ferguson gets given.

Ferguson was actually absent from the sidelines due to his dad, Sir Alex, requiring emergency surgery following a brain haemorrhage so his assistant, Gavin Strachan, took charge instead.

The Keepmoat pitch is looking great for this time of year

Despite all the fanfare and what was riding on the result, the game itself wasn't spectacular and the opening 25 minutes consisted of not a lot, despite a great party atmosphere amongst the 4,000+ visiting fans.

The only time the party-like mood got deflated was when one of Donny's jobsworth stewards confiscated the fans' inflatable ball, but it was soon returned by a 'baldy-looking bouncer' who was a more tubby version of Grant Mitchell!

On the pitch, young Rovers full-back Danny Amos fell victim to some old fashioned shit house tricks inside the opening 30 seconds when he sustained an over-the-top knock on the ankle inflicted by Gavin Massey.

Danny Amos, taking a throw, had a good game

Amos has only made a handful of first team outings and this incident could have put quite easily forced him into his shell a bit, but he didn't wimp about and instead shook off his knock, before producing a decent display which only goes to underline his potential.

Wigan took around half-an-hour or so to get into their groove and once they did, they always looked the more likely to score first, despite Donny having the occasional half-chance.

Sam Morsy went close for the Latics before Will Grigg left Donny's defence terrified with a clever bit of movement and footwork inside the area just prior to half-time, but Marko Marosi was equal to his attempt at an opener.

Rovers players on the post-game lap of honour

The newly-crowned League One champions began in the ascendancy in the second half and Grigg went close twice more - forcing his Slovakian counterpart into a good low save on one occasion.

Rovers' Alfie Beestin nearly got on the end of a glorious ball across the danger zone by team-mate John Marquis as the hosts threatened an opener and Michael Jacobs saw a header bundled away from danger at point-blank range a few minutes later at the other end.

The Latics' travelling army began to chant 'If we score, we're on the pitch' and it wasn't long before they were in full-voice belting out a more familiar signature tune about one of their club favourites.

Grigg (well who else was it going to be?) pierced the high-line Rovers were playing defensively to get on the end of a long ball and in a one-on-one he made no mistake as he slotted past Marosi - sparking a pyro party in the away end.

That was enough to give Wigan the title, but there were a couple of 'shit yourself' moments in the closing stages - not least for Paul Cook when a squirrel got on the pitch and crept to within about two yards of him before he noticed!

No squirrel to be seen here, but a few tails on the pitch at the final whistle...

The squirrel clearly wasn't a Rovers supporter as the first thing it did was make a forward run, which is something the team haven't done for the vast majority of the last five games.

Not long after the post-match lap of honour, pitch invasions and trophy parade, Donny announced their released list and whilst it's no indicator of what the budget will or won't be, you suspect that plenty of summer signings are needed if a play-off push is going to be a realistic target for next season.

Finally, the man on the Keepmoat microphone, Jonathan Heath, came in for some criticism following the recent game against Blackburn Rovers for his constant babbling to away fans to 'stay off the pitch' when it was always going to fall on deaf ears.

The Latics are League One champions - again!

Today, the way he handled things was excellent in going on the pitch and up to visiting fans to address them directly ahead of the trophy presentation, rather than just being an anonymous voice over a PA system. Credit where it's due as this 'softly, softly' approach was well-received by the majority.

Doncaster Rovers 0-0 AFC Wimbledon

Doncaster Rovers 0-0 AFC Wimbledon
Keepmoat Stadium
Tuesday 1st May 2018
League One

A very boring game with a predictable outcome

Sometimes there are games that offer excitement, intrigue and are nail-biting from start to finish - the sort where you can't take your eyes off the action for not knowing what will happen next.

Then, on the flip side, there are boring matches which could cure insomnia and watching it is like some sort of 19th century punishment that you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy.

I don't know what crap was on BBC Two tonight but it was probably a damn sight more exciting than the snore-fest that was Doncaster Rovers versus AFC Wimbledon in League One.

If you stayed at home and gave the game a miss, well done - you made the right choice!

Anyone who stayed away made the right choice

It'd require a lot of thought and creative writing to make the first half sound exciting so the best way would be to tell it as it was; a shockingly bad 45 minutes with no excitement, lots of purposeless back-passes, no proper chances and absolutely boring to watch.

Rovers had the better openings in the second half with John Marquis directing a header straight at the visiting 'keeper, shortly before Rodney Kongolo made a plonker of himself when he had time and space inside the area yet fired harmlessly wide.

Donny's former big-time-charlie Harry Forrester, now of the visitors, got a surprisingly warm reception when he came on with around a quarter-of-an-hour remaining. However, pretty much like most of his career with Rovers, he flattered to deceive and in keeping with the game he did absolutely nothing to impress.

In the light it was boring...

The Keepmoat Stadium sometimes comes in for criticism for being a purpose-built soulless bowl where the atmosphere is flat and fans struggle to create any noise.

There were plenty of periods in tonight's game where the atmosphere was non-existent and the usual suspects with big voices were louder than usual, but when the team doesn't give the fans in the stands anything to shout about, the murmurs of discontent and grumbling is perfectly understandable and to be expected.

...and in the dark it was boring, too!

Darren Ferguson's decision to also deny young Danny Amos a starting place was also very strange.

After an encouraging performance in Saturday's goalless draw at Oldham, you'd have expected the teenager to be one of the first names on his team-sheet but instead he was only named on the bench.

Considering Rovers are safe and there's zero riding on results of the next few games, it's the perfect time to blood youngsters and how else is Amos (and others) going to get invaluable experience at first team level if they don't play games?

The 'Spirit of Doncaster' statue - possibly the most pointless statue outside a ground in the UK?

Maybe Ferguson dropped him to prove some sort of point, but it was petty to say the least as he was clearly fit and available for selection otherwise he wouldn't have come on as a substitute late in the second half.

Rovers are expected to confirm their budget for next season in the next couple of days.

I won't hold my breath that the changes which are actually needed to make Donny exciting to watch again are actually going to happen though and I fear that if Ferguson sticks around then it may be a long old monotonous campaign.