Fantastic!

December 8th: Leicester City v Bristol City (Championship)

I stop off in town on the way home from work to pick up a few things, and while I'm out shopping I receive a call. The young lady on the other end of the line introduces herself and informs me that she's calling from Fantastic Telecom. This is a company I've never heard of, but nonetheless I allow her to elaborate. It seems this call is a follow up from when I had a spare ten minutes (at work) and filled in the Football League Survey. I know this because she spends the first few minutes of the call talking about tonight's game. Football chatter isn't her strong point.

Eventually she starts to outline the phone and internet deal she's been tasked with offering me. It's cheaper than what I'm paying now, certainly, but it's not for me. As the call ends, my mind goes back to something she said: "Ten per cent of your bill goes directly to the Leicester City academy." Yeah, that's a fucking charity isn't it? What a load of cock that idea really is. As if I don't spend enough money on this club already, I've now got phone companies asking me to donate part of my phone bill to the football club to aid their youth system, so they can help other people become rich at my further expense. No, sorry, that idea is beyond terrible.

I go home, wash and change, then come straight back out again to walk down to the stadium. I'm hoping that tonight we can forget about last weekend. Saturday was a freak, an anomaly. I arrive in plenty of time and talk to the usuals for a short while, then sit numbly watching the rain fall. Last Saturday is still in my head.

[Here's something from the abnormally long list of things that have always bugged me: people referring to one or other Bristol-based football club simply as 'Bristol'. It doesn't seem to make any difference whether the club in question is City or Rovers; both clubs' rightful suffixes are far too often ignored. Do we refer to Sheffield Wednesday simply as 'Sheffield'? No. Do we call the Premier League champions 'Manchester'? No. So fucking stop it. Two Football League clubs reside in Bristol, one is Rovers and the other is City. If you don't make sure I know which one you're talking about, my eyes will quickly glaze over and you'll soon be talking to an empty husk. There, rant over.]

The first quarter of an hour passes, and something's not right. I feel as if I'm just waiting for it to happen. Just waiting... And there it is. Ivan Sproule's dribble into the box beats Ryan McGivern, Richie Wellens, Andy King and Wayne Brown before a neat finish puts the Robins in front. After a bit of weak resistance from City, the visitors' lead is doubled when Cole Skuse lets one fly from 30 yards or more. Half time comes, and we're in exactly the same position we were at the same point at Forest.

At half time, Alan Birchenall etc.

The second half sees further wasted chances, one substitution (for anyone who's interested, Matty Fryatt in place of Dany N'Guessan), and little else until the 76th minute. An attacking move breaks down and the visitors break quickly. Skuse moves the ball rapidly up the pitch as Evander Sno makes an incredible run to his left. At exactly the right time, Skuse releases the ball to Sno and the big Dutchman nails it past Chris Weale at the near post. 3-0 down. Hundreds head for the exits.

Four minutes later, Martyn Waghorn's brainless challenge on Jamie McAllister earns him a red card. Even more people head for the door. That tops off a really great night, doesn't it? Not only are the team getting stuffed but they're also losing their discipline.

Late in injury time, Fryatt runs onto a long hoof from Weale and places a shot into the far corner of Dean Gerken's goal for an entirely pointless 'consolation' goal. I use inverted commas for 'consolation' because the goal is, of course, nothing of the sort.

Time to go. One win in five since the QPR game, yet I'm still not all that worried. At least it's better than two years ago.

Final score: Leicester 1 Bristol City 3