Saturday 31 January 2009.
We all met up at the Fleet Town car park at 8:30am on a nice and sunny, but very cold day. Jim, Phil & Peter drove us up to the Lindford Christie stadium, which is right next to Wormwood Scrubs prison. Here we met the QPR coaches and all the other boys who were attending the Match day experience – there were about 70 boys in all.
Each team was then given it’s own training pitch – a very nice, fully enclosed 5-a-side Astroturf pitch. Our coach was Mark, the head coach.
We started with a simple warm-up routine and demonstrated some of our tricks and skills to Mark and then it was down to business. Mark created several great drills to enhance ball control and passing – we even got some of the Dad’s involved.
We then played our first match on a small pitch with two goals. We were split up into 4 teams and were allowed to score in either goal. Phil & Richard were volunteered for goalkeeping duty. The idea of the game was for your team to score at least 3 goals and the last team to do this were eliminated. The match was all about practising shooting on sight, as quick as you can before you are tackled. The blue team were the eventual winners.
Then we had our main match. We were split into 2 teams with Peter & Richard in goal. A great match was eventually won 1-0 by Mike’s team.
After the match we posed for photo’s with all the other boys – we were told that these pictures will hopefully make the next home programme at QPR.
Then it was off to Loftus Road Stadium. Once there we headed straight for the club shop were we all bought souvenirs of the day. We then walked around to the entrance and once through the turnstiles it was time for lunch – cheeseburger & chips all round.
Then it was time for the highlight of the day – the match. We all sat together in the Ellerslie Road stand and the atmosphere was electric, helped by the biggest crowd of the season – 17,120.
The chanting started as the players came out onto the pitch and carried on the full 90 minutes. Although the game ended 0-0, it was a cracking game. QPR probably played the better football, but Reading probably created the better chances – a fair result all around.
Saturday 31 January 2009.
We all met up at the Fleet Town car park at 8:30am on a nice and sunny, but very cold day. Jim, Phil & Peter drove us up to the Lindford Christie stadium, which is right next to Wormwood Scrubs prison. Here we met the QPR coaches and all the other boys who were attending the Match day experience – there were about 70 boys in all.
Each team was then given it’s own training pitch – a very nice, fully enclosed 5-a-side Astroturf pitch. Our coach was Mark, the head coach.
We started with a simple warm-up routine and demonstrated some of our tricks and skills to Mark and then it was down to business. Mark created several great drills to enhance ball control and passing – we even got some of the Dad’s involved.
We then played our first match on a small pitch with two goals. We were split up into 4 teams and were allowed to score in either goal. Phil & Richard were volunteered for goalkeeping duty. The idea of the game was for your team to score at least 3 goals and the last team to do this were eliminated. The match was all about practising shooting on sight, as quick as you can before you are tackled. The blue team were the eventual winners.
Then we had our main match. We were split into 2 teams with Peter & Richard in goal. A great match was eventually won 1-0 by Mike’s team.
After the match we posed for photo’s with all the other boys – we were told that these pictures will hopefully make the next home programme at QPR.
Then it was off to Loftus Road Stadium. Once there we headed straight for the club shop were we all bought souvenirs of the day. We then walked around to the entrance and once through the turnstiles it was time for lunch – cheeseburger & chips all round.
Then it was time for the highlight of the day – the match. We all sat together in the Ellerslie Road stand and the atmosphere was electric, helped by the biggest crowd of the season – 17,120.
The chanting started as the players came out onto the pitch and carried on the full 90 minutes. Although the game ended 0-0, it was a cracking game. QPR probably played the better football, but Reading probably created the better chances – a fair result all around.