Bristol City v Huddersfield. Friday 17th March 2017

Bristol City 4 Huddersfield Town 0

We're a nosy species generally, us humans. So when my mate Dathan said he was coming to Bristol to watch his beloved Huddersfield Town at Ashton Gate, I jumped at the chance to cross the river and have close look at the neighbours recent home improvements.

Meeting up with fellow Bristolian Paul in city centre, we enjoyed a few beers on King Street before walking south and popping in to the Tobacco Factory for a break from the rain. Home and away fans were mixing happily. A friendly city fan came up to us and offered Dathan, who was wearing his Marcus Stewert era Huddersfield shirt, his hand: "Welcome to the land of 3 points". It seemed most City fans were resigning themselves for another defeat, after a promising start to the season they were now in the relegation zone. Having recently sacked their assistant manager, many felt the crows were circling for current boss, Lee Johnson. With automatic promotion chasing Huddersfield in town, managed by (the other) charismatic cap wearing German, David Wagner, few were expecting a change in fortunes tonight for the home team.

Just outside the ground we stopped off at a Clark's pie van and bought a meat pie each for £1.70. I can confidently say it was the best pie I've had this season. Please, please good people of Clark's, can you get a van on the Gloucester road for alternate Saturdays? 

I was last in the away end at Ashton gate in 2007 for the first leg of the JPT area final against Rovers. In the intervening decade, a lot has changed. After a proposed move to Ashton Vale hit the buffers, City supremo, Steve Lansdown set about transforming the existing stadium in to an arena fit for the Premier league. The centre piece of his plan is the giant two tiered stand that bears his name and opened this season. It holds an impressive 11,000 seats and now dominates the south Bristol sky line.

The Lansdown Stand Opposite the Lansdown stand is the classic looking Dolman stand, built in the 70's it's a smart two tiered stand with plenty of character, afforded a recent face lift it has also been extended to meet the new South stand with the corner filled in. That left the Ateyo stand behind the goal where we were with the large contingent who had come down from West Yorkshire.

Not long after the game started, it stopped again. An innocuous looking collision with a team mate, left Town midfielder Jonathon Hogg on the floor. Worryingly, he wasn't moving much and a 15 minute stoppage followed as he was carefully stretchered off with what turned out to be a fractured neck.

Soon after the restart, Lee Tomlin capitalised on a mix up in the Town back line and raced clear to round the keeper and slot home to give City the lead. 

Huddersfield looked to get back in to it and you could see they were a confident team, not afraid to knock it about patiently at the back starting with the keeper. They had a decent effort from a free kick that went just over the bar, but deep in to injury time the home team scored again through Chelsea loanee Tammy Abraham. David Cotterill played a low ball in from the right, Abraham met it at the near post and gave the keeper no chance, his 22nd goal of the season.

After what had been a long half, it was time for a cup of tea. Arriving at the hatch I smugly noticed that pies were over twice the price inside the ground, the snack bar had the last laugh though as I forked out £7.50 for three teas, "Be careful - the lids don't really fit" said the lady serving as I trudged back in to the stand. 

Not only did our hot beverages have crap lids, I'd wipped the tea bags out far too quick for my Yorkshire friend, "Life's too short for weak tea" he said with plenty of conviction.

Taking stock of my surroundings it was hard not to be impressed by Ashton Gate. It now has the feel of a modern stadium but retains it's history and much of its character. Sitting in the traditional setting amongst tightly packed terraces it feels far more homely than an out of town new build ever could. "Aspirational" was the verdict on the giant Lansdown stand. The upper tier was completely empty except for a media contingent huddled up at the front. With a big catchment area, If City do make the promised land of the Premier league, I'm sure it will be close to full every week. 

As the second half progressed it was evident the home team and fans were very nervy about holding on to their lead with plenty of time wasting going on. Huddersfield continued to dominate possession but it was clear it was not going to be their night when City centre back, Aden Flint, scored with a lovely back heel flick to make it 3-0 with ten minutes to go. A few minutes later, it was 4-0 as David Cotterill converted a penalty. City have lost a lot of games from winning positions this season and even in the 90th minute when 4-0 up they were engaging in the type of time wasting you usually only see when a team are holding on to a 1-0. There was to be no comeback however and both sets of fans were left surprised and scratching their heads at the final whistle. It was nice to see the Huddersfield players come over and exchange applause with the away end. After all, this was a blip in what's been an incredible season that could still end in automatic promotion.

Due to family commitments I was unable to join Paul and Dathan at the Mem the next day, when they ticked off both of Bristol's two league grounds in less than 24 hours.