Ground #154: Hillsborough, Sheffield Wednesday. (39/92)

Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 Middlesbrough

28/02/2015

Att: 23,744 (4,627)

Goals: (Nuhiu 52', Keane '54)

Admission: £25

Most normal people grow up harbouring ambitions to have a fruitful career as an astronaut or a gynecologist, while settling down to start a family with the woman of their dreams. 

I'm not normal though unfortunately, so in the meantime I'll have to make do with filling out the ambition of completing a visit to each of the 92 football league grounds.

This task is a contentious one, can I really claim to have done 39 already? Anfield I have included but I have only been inside the stadium for a tour, Home Park has had three sides redeveloped since I last went in 1999, while I've only ever been to Stevenage and AFC Wimbledon when they were hosting non-league football. So I really ought to consult with the groundhopping geeks for the full etiquette of 'achieving' such a feat

I have no real timespan to complete such a mission but seeing as I'm nearly halfway there, it would seem a bit of a waste to suddenly abandon it to a halt. So on days like Saturday, when Dover's away game at Wrexham was sadly postponed due to their FA Trophy exploits (rather than ours), an opportunity was provided for me to increase the tally. 

I'd already booked the weekend off work in pursuit of a weekend in North Wales so I had an expansive list to of options choose from. Edinburgh was strongly considered but I chose to overlook it, and fortunately I didn't seem to miss out on much there - Hearts only managed to stick ten past Cowdenbeath. 

Instead I chose to pursue the delights of Sheffield. 

I'd already briefly been to the Steel City this season, immersing Plymouth's cup tie defeat at Brammall Lane when Dover had another free Saturday, and I certainly enjoyed the taster I had in the brilliant Sheffield Tap station pub that afternoon. 

This time it would be the blue and white side of the city that I'd be heading to; Hillsborough being one of the biggest and most historic English football venues that I've still been yet to visit. 

And what an absolute delight it was too. The ground still retains that magical feeling and character that few top English grounds still evoke. It's up there with Villa Park, Goodison Park and Old Trafford as my personal favourites. 

And a decent game it were as well. Well, not quite actually, that would be revisionist as the first half was absolutely dire. It sprang to life in the second though, Wednesday surprising the title challenging North Yorkshiremen, spurred on by a 4,500+ strong following ,by racing into a two goal lead ten minutes within the restart. 

'Boro committed men forward in search of rescuing something from the game but rarely threatened to get back into it, instead with Wednesday looking the more likely to add to the scoreline. They played some nice fluid football on the counter-attack with Lewis McGugan usually at the heart of it, but failed to add to the scoreline. Regardless, they held out for a thoroughly deserved rare home success. 

I grew fond of Wednesday from this visit, even in spite of the tragically shit trumpet wielding band that are more detrimental to the atmosphere than they are positive. I
The Owls still have a uniquely catchy repertoire of songs when they get going, however, and are a fanbase that hugely impressed me when I saw them at Nottingham Forest last season. My soft spot for them became even softer over the weekend. AND IT'S HIIIIIII HOOOOOO SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY!!!!!!!!

Like most major cities in the north, it's fucking good night out too. Hospitable people, great pubs and even better beer. The Rutland Arms before the game conjured up a chocolate chipotle chilli porter that nearly blew my fucking brains out! 

There's always something so sexual about a clock....