Exeter City Vs Eastleigh

Matchday 62 was a long day with a long journey down to Devon. I decided to use the trains for this trip and headed on a direct train from Birmingham New Street straight to Exeter St David’s. We did have a short journey from Sandwell and Dudley beforehand and arriving about 30 minutes prior to our train to Exeter, I decided to treat myself and Grandad Steve, who occupied us again with a Greggs breakfast and coffee to get us started.

We travelled with CrossCountry Trains, the staff allowed me to travel in first class and all staff were incredible and really looking after us all, so thank you once again to all the staff members, making our journey so much better.

The train arrived into Exeter on time, which meant we had a couple of hours before the game. We decided to kill some time and head to a nearby Weatherspoon’s call the Imperial.

I have been to a number of Weatherspoon’s in my time, not as many as Grandad Steve who has visited nearly 100 different ones and all I can say about this one is WOW! The actually building and the ground is incredible and looks more like a manor house than a pub. The inside architecture was amazing and has to be one of the best Weatherspoon’s own. For anyone reading this blog, I would highly recommend it and with less than a 10 minute walk to the station, this is in a perfect location.

Myself and Grandad Steve ordered an IPA and only £1.79 where Liam decided he wanted Pasta and a glass of milk. The IPAs arrived and was very refreshing given the warm weather. Liam unfortunately wasn’t impressed with his pasta. The portion was extremely small and the smell was disgusting. Given our last experience at the Wetherspoon’s in Fleetwood we decided not to say anything and give us a reputation of simply complaining. This was the only negative for the venue and certainly wouldn’t put me off visiting again.

Once we have finished we decided to take the 30 minute walk to the stadium enjoying the weather along the way and having a couple of cans of cider on route.

Once at the stadium I was amazed how close it was to St James Park train station, which was literally just outside.

We met another man who realised what we were doing visiting the stadium as part of the 92 and he confirmed he was doing the same, although he lives alot closer in Southampton than us in the Midlands

We then decided to head to the toilets before treating Liam to a proper Cornish pasty although at £5 each I thought this was really expensive. However Liam did enjoy it and after this pasta experience I didn’t mind paying it.

We then headed outside where we took jumpers photos and collected our match day Scarf and program.

We then spoke to a steward and asked for some advice of where to go in relation to an email/offer I had received from Exeter a number of days beforehand.

Their Customer Relations Supporters Liaison Officer Richard, contacted me following an email I sent than and kindly offered Liam to be apart of the Flag Guard of Honour. Another incredible gesture from a club in the lower league of the 92. Something that is becoming very clear in doing this challenge.

We were told that the stand we were booked in was the actual stand required to meet Richard, so joined the queue and waiting to go through the bag/security check before heading through the turnstiles.

Once inside we headed to our seats which were in a great location. The stadium was really nice with the 2 side stands being seated and the 2 stands behind the goals being terraced. We took some photos and Liam did a VLOG video before I started the search to meet Richard. Once we had met Richard he directed us with what to do and joined a number of other children that were selected to help with the guard of honour. I was asked to help issue certificates after they had completed the guard of honour. The flags were surprisingly quite heavy but this was due to the quality of them. Liam absolutely loved being apart of this and again I cannot thank Richard and Exeter for offering Liam to be apart of this and another memory he will never forget.

We then headed back to the stands and enjoyed the game which was much better than the game the night before seeing Exeter comfortably win 3-0.

We decided to leave on the 85^th minute so we can walk to the station in order for us to catch the 1729 back to Birmingham, given the long 24 hours we had.

The train journey home was great and again the TM was superb, really making us feel welcome with looking after us and a fellow football fan traveller appreciate what we were doing.

With a delayed and cancelled train at New Street back to Sandwell and Dudley, we decided to hang back and wait for another train that was only a couple of minutes behind the one that arrived. To our amazement we witnessed a male jump onto the train track to retrieve his girlfriends shoe that had fallen onto the track. He soon realised the seriousness of this and was very apologetic, although in my opinion was left off too easily, given the volume of people watching this.

We arrived home just after 9pm very tired and exhausted but grateful of ticking this stadium off and the enjoyable day we had.

Once again, thank you Richard, Exeter City and all the staff at CrossCountry Trains (Andy, Laurie and James) for making our day special and Memorable. With Matchday 63 the following day and another long day on the cards, with a trip to the South Coast down to Bournemouth, we all were in bed by 2200.