The Anniversary Tour Match Chronicle

Fulham FC 0-4 Tottenham Hotspur
The first match of our tour took us to Craven Cottage in south London, the home of Fulham FC. Tottenham Hotspur were the visitors and showed a touch of class as they outplayed Fulham from the opening whistle. Two outstanding goals from Ireland International Robbie Keane and two from Bulgarian International Dimitar Berbatov were the only shots Tottenham had on goal. The match itself was a letdown, but it could only get better from here.

Swansea City 0-2 Scunthorpe United
We were anxious to show the Jeff's our home-town club Swansea City and its state of the art stadium, the Liberty Stadium, and the Tuesday night match with first-place Scunthorpe United was a perfect opportunity. The evening was cold and the Swans started off slowly, conceding a goal in the 3rd minute. A fightback was not on the cards, and the visitors put the match away in the second half with a dominating performance and a second goal in the 71st minute.

Newcastle United FC 1-0 Zulte Waregem
After a 7 hour train ride to Newcastle we were back in familiar territory at St. James' Park for a Thursday night match as Newcastle United played host to Belgian side Zulte Waregem. The Belgian supporters were in full voice before and during the match, that is until Nigerian International Obafemi Martins put the match away with a beautiful chip in the 68th minute. The match was the highlight of the trip for the Reverend Jeff, officiant for our wedding, a Newcastle supporter. We were treated to great seats in the 'Platinum Club' level of St. James' Park that has an enclosed bar and features padded seating near the halfway line. Our now usual pre-match pint of Newcastle Brown Ale at the The Strawberry was as tasty as ever.

Liverpool FC 4-0 Sheffield United
After a day of looking around Newcastle, we were off to Liverpool to see a match between the hosts Liverpool FC and Sheffield United. It was a nice day, with pre-match, street-side fish & chips and curry rice & chips to keep us through the match. The rains came once the match started and the game was a bit sloppy. A quick start from Liverpool saw them go 2-0 up through two Robbie Fowler penalties, both resulting from fouls on England co-captain Steven Gerrard. The match ended with a rare Sami Hyypia goal and goal from the man-of-the-match Gerrard. Angie was pleased with the result and can boast of seeing Liverpool at home 3 times with a combined score of Liverpool 9, visitors 0. After the match it was back on the train, this time to Wigan.

Wigan Athletic 1-0 Newcastle United
A mid-day match at the JJB Stadium between hosts Wigan Athletic and Newcastle United proved to be one of the more open matches of the bunch with action from end to end, if only there were goals to show for it. Newcastle could have changed the attitude of the match when they were awarded a penalty that Nolberto Solano had saved by Wigan's John Filan. The match ended with Wigan taking all 3 points through a Ryan Taylor free-kick. The man-of-the-match in our opinion was American International Oguchi Onyewu, on loan to Newcastle from Belgian side Standard Liege. Aside from the set-piece goal, Wigan saw very little of the goal with Onyewu dominating their front line.

Blackburn Rovers 1-0 Arsenal FC
With Arsenal's 0-0 draw with Blackburn at home at the Emirates Stadium the previous week, the 5th Round FA Cup tie was forced into a replay at Blackburn's Ewood Park. With Jeffray shut out during the last trip and faced with the prospect of not seeing his favorite team again, this opportunity to see one of the world's great teams had seemingly fallen into our lap. Unfortunately Angie couldn't join us on this trip due to work conflicts...it was a Wednesday after all. After a difficult trip getting to Blackburn we were in for a treat; the tightly contested match was settled in the 87th minute with the goal of the trip from Blackburn's South African International Benni MacCarthy. The goal sent the home crowd into delirium and sent the previously very loud and creative traveling Arsenal supporters home in silence. Jeffray wasn't the most pleased either, but seeing his team left him with good feelings in spite of the disappointing result.

Fulham FC 1-1 Aston Villa FC
A bittersweet end to a great journey found us at Craven Cottage again to see Fulham play host to Aston Villa FC. The match was a good one, too, and on a beautiful day. Goals from Aston Villa's John Carew and American International Carlos Bocanegra in the first half finished the scoring and made for a tense second half. We unfortunately did not get to see all 3 Americans play for Fulham on the day because Clint Dempsey was an unused substitute.

The Jeff's visit came to an end but the dream will continue, of course. The Houston Dynamo season is just around the corner and there's nothing quite like a day out to tailgate and watch the MLS Champions defend their title. We can't wait to join back up with the Jeff's in Houston and tap a few more kegs of Heineken. Thanks to the Jeff's for coming all the way over here to visit us, it was a truly enjoyable and memorable trip! We'll post some photo highlights of the trip soon.