Referee: Martyn Jarvis.                              Attendance: 53

Admission: OMGDS £2.00 (£3).             Programme: NONE

“Best ground in the league!” according to the locals! They have a lovely club house and bar, the ground is completely enclosed, fully and substantially railed and with hardstanding on three sides, with covered seating for around 80 or 90 spectators. Whilst today’s hosts are midtable, the visitors are rock bottom with only one win and fifteen defeats from their sixteen games this season. Only one player on the visiting Teamsheet had the correct number and the score line was definitely in their favour. Sileby let them off lightly and really should have scored more goals!

There were twelve of us in the party at various points during the weekend, flying out from Stansted to Leipzig on 10th February and staying for two nights at The Premier Inn Leipzig City Oper Hotel, hard by Leipzig Hauptbanhof, the largest railway station in Europe, they tell me. It can be very cold in East Germany, with temperatures dropping to as low as  -30 degrees Celsius, but this weekend, it was a relatively balmy 5 – 9 degrees Celsius! There was time for a snooze before embarking on another short train ride to the outskirts of the city.

Referee: Florian Butterich.                                 Attendance:- 3,321

Admission: OMGDS €13.20 (€15).                   Programme: €2.00

A vast sprawling mass of a ground with soft earth underfoot and high fencing around the pitch, this eccentric stadium had a real charm and the fervid home fans behind the goal kept up the noise and chant all the way through the match. The home side started brightly and looked nailed on certainties for victory until two quick strikes, on the break, around the half hour mark, seriously jolted their ambitions. In the second period, they attempted to redeem the mess, but only managed a consolation, just after the hour mark. It didn’t, however, dampen the enthusiasm of the faithful. With sons, Jim, Mike and Liam in a party of twelve hoppers on a weekend in Germany.

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Hallescher is a away to the west of Leipzig, perhaps an hour by train, followed by a tram ride to the ground. Once again, the train tickets and transport were co-ordinated, which made it a cheap journey to The Leuna Chemie Stadion. Interestingly, I got talking to a woman seated next to me and I asked her about the re-unification of Germany. She said that she had been born and brought up in Cologne and came out to live in the former East Germany long after the re-unification. She said that she didn’t feel any difference between east and west, which was in sharp contrast to the woman I spoke to this evening at RB Leipzig, who hated the unification and wished she was back in the old DDR (German Democratic Republic). The other issue that both raised was the perception of Red Bull Leipzig. At the afternoon match, RB Leipzig was a hated team (and equally so last night at BSG Chemie Leipzig). They were the only team in Germany who were run by an outside company (Red Bull), all the other teams in Bundesliga are run by the supporters. In sharp contrast, the woman at the evening match argued that RB Leipzig were the ONLY eastern team in The Bundesliga. Other great names from before re-unification, like Karl Zeiss Jena and Dresden or Magdeburg, were down in Bundesliga 3 or lower. She felt that West Germany only accepted the east on sufferance and resented the huge amounts of federal monies that had been used to bring it up to West German standards.

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The Red Bull Arena was a fifteen minute tram ride from Leipzig Hauptbanhof (railway station), once again, free of charge with your football ticket. This was the biggest crowd of the weekend, but well marshalled and organised so that there was relatively little queuing either before or after the match. Compared to our country, Germany is light years ahead in transport organisation and infrastructure. Trams, buses and trains are co-ordinated and all of them are fast, cheap, clean and punctual – all the things lacking in our own transport system. It made me ashamed to be British.

A lunch time “ICE” train (the German High Speed train), took us from Leipzig to Berlin Hauptbanhof in just under two hours and we had time to decant our bags at The Hotel Amano, just outside the station, before catching the tram (once again, free with your football ticket) to Olympiastadion, the massive amphitheatre that Adolph Hitler built for the 1936 Olympic games. Nearly one hundred years later, it is still a very impressive stadium, a little tired and in need of some TLC, but, nonetheless, a fine arena. There were drinks stops on the (short) way from the tram station to the ground, but with Hertha not enjoying a particularly good season, the ground was just over half full (official capacity just under 75,000). Despite their lack of success this season, the crowd was in full voice and blue and white were the dominant colours.

Referee: Sophie Dennington.                                     Attendance: 95

Admission: OMGDS £4.00 (£8).                              Programme: NONE

This was my seventh visit to The Hollow, but the first since December 2018. There is a large car park at the ground and a fine clubhouse, but there was no hot food, this evening, and Potton United no longer produce programmes. They were playing Arlesey Town from maybe six or seven miles away and there was a considerable Arlesey supporter presence. Arlesey might be considered a larger club, having previously grace The Southern League, but on this evening’s showing, they were less effective than the hosts, who really ought to have won the tie. In afractious, niggly match with frequent stoppages for minor injuries and a couple of handbag melees very little was achieved. Add to that some atrocious finishing and eventually the match, thankfully, drew to a close with nothing on the scoreboard. Arlesey won the penalty shoot out, despite having been behind through most of it  and advanced, somewhat fortuitously,  to the next round.

Referee: Andy Woolmer.                               Attendance: 6,544

Admission: Hospitality.                                Programme: NONE

footballhopper.com sponsored this match and our party was splendidly looked after in a private hospitality suite. All my sons and grandchildren were there and the only downside was the result! Bolton and Wycombe were evenly matched, and it took a wonder strike from Lewis Wing eight minutes into added time at the end of the first half to win the match. Bolton huffed and puffed mightily in the second half, but couldn’t find the equaliser.

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