Fleetwood are 4th in League One - and it's pretty damn incredible!

Last night, I was Brammall Lane, as Fleetwood Town overcame Sheffield United 2-0 in their own back yard and stretch an unbeaten run which has lasted nearly two months, to 11 games. This in itself is unbelievable, but even more so is that they're fourth in League One, and comfortably in the play-offs. 

There was low-key chatter in the Bramall Lane press box that the Cod Army could assemble a serious charge towards the automatic promotion spots, and whilst the guys at Fleetwood are not getting carried away, I think so too. I've worked five Fleetwood games since I agreed to help out with the media at Highbury, and each of those five games has seen me witness fast-flowing, organised and creative football. They've won four of those games comfortably - the other was a draw - and Uwe Rosler has created a winning formula. 

It's not just a winning formula on the pitch either. For last night's game, Andy Pilley, Town's chairman, subsidised coach travel to the game - something he's doing for the rest of the season - and a crowd of 133 backed the Cod Army. This is above the away attendances seen some of Fleetwood's Saturday matches this season. Ticket offers are drawing fans through the gates at home, and they're staying as the Cod Army's dream season continues. 

Janaury has already seen Rosler bring in the top signings of Markus Schawbl from Aalen and Wes Burns from Bristol City. Both impressed me last night, as Schawbl controlled the midfield play, with Burns creating clear cut chances up front and was perhaps unlucky not to score. They both moulded into the team quickly, as if they'd played there all season and have, in less than 180 minutes of football between them, forged a huge impression upon Fleetwood fans. Add these two to the capture on Joe Maguire from Liverpool and Rosler has assembled a team that can continue their fine run of form through to April.

Three years ago, Fleetwood and Burton Albion met in the League Two Play-Off Final. Could Fleetwood replicate Burton's incredible rise, and could this be a genuine second-tier fixture next season?

An Update: My 2016/17 Season So Far

Hello all,
So this is my first blog in over a year and it feels great to back. In fact, it may just be my first since I started university. For those of you who don't know, I'm currently studying at the University of Huddersfield, reading Sports Journalism. This has been something I've wanted to do for a long time, and here I am, realising my dreams! Anyway, onto the actual purpose of the blog, and a little update about my season so far. 

My season started way back in July, at a game which certainly wasn't planned. As I was moving into my new student house in Huddersfield I was asked by Ben Robinson, my York City supporting friend, if I wanted to go to a Europa League Qualifier between GAP Connah's Quay and Norwegian side Stabaek. 24 hours later me, Ben and Lostboyo Matt who we'd persuade to come were all packed into my little Fiat as headed to North Wales. This was just the start of a crazy evening, minus the football, which was dreadful. Really dreadful. As we entered Rhyl's Belle Vue (Connah's Quay were borrowing the ground for UEL games), we headed towards the rowdy Stabaek fans. 90 minutes of bouncing around and singing ensued and Stabaek supporters had grown on us. It was subtly invite to the pub by Matt that really got the night going though: Chairs were aloft and Norwegians were sat on the floor singing as pure organised chaos kicked off in the bar. It was epic! 

The Rhyl pub party with the Stabaek fans

My sixth game of the season was FC Halifax Town against Morecambe. I have acquired a placement at Halifax for this season, and this was my first game covering the Shaymen as Jim Bentley's Shrimps rolled into Yorkshire. This wasn't your typical pre-season clash, as Morecambe fielded an almost full strength squad and lost... 6-2. The rest of pre-season was filled with Crawley Town games as I prepared to say goodbye to my football family ahead of the new university year, but there was one last place I had to tick off. West Ham had just moved into the Olympic Stadium, and their Europa League Qualifier against Astra Giurgiu was to be their first competitive match there. Tickets acquired, and binoculars packed (not really), I was at the Olympic Park. The London Stadium has been hounded with problems ever since it opened, but personally, I think it's an awesome place to watch football. 

Olympic Stadium for the first time - It's really not that bad!

September allowed me the chance to visit Matt who had moved to Slovakia. Just a week before uni I was on a plane to Bratislava to meet him as he was settling into his new life in Central Europe. Obviously I was there to see my best pal, but there was a more pressing reason: DAC 1904 Dunajska Streda. Ever since Matt moved I started looking occasionally at the Fortuna Liga table and looked at results. It was here I spotted a really cool name, with equally cool kits and a hipster stadium too. Obviously Matt would side with his now local Spartak Trnava, but I really wanted to see the yellow and blue of DAC in action. Onwards to Zlate Moravce which included a bonkers train journey, the world's most boring town, angry DAC fans and very happy English lad falling in love with a pro-Hungarian Slovak football team. To understand, just read Matt's blog: https://lostboyos.wordpress.com/2016/09/13/lost-in-zlate-moravce/.

The day I became a DAC fan

I spent my last few days before uni started in Fleetwood. Through a friend I had managed to get work experience at the Cod Army's plush new Poolfoot Training Centre working with Sam & Will in the media department. This was an incredible week which has since seen the club ask me to help out on match days at Highbury and some away games too, writing match reports for the official website. This is a fantastic opportunity and I have a great feeling it could boost me onto bigger and better things in the future. 

Back in Huddersfield and settled into my new home, I was back on media duties with Halifax before a free Tuesday gave me the opportunity to watch my second love, Curzon Ashton. When I went to my first Curzon game nearly two years ago, I fell in love with the club. The fans, players and staff epitomise everything about non-league football and give me everything I need when I can't watch Crawley. FC United of Manchester was the team who were hosting Curzon and it felt great to be back, despite a drab 0-0 draw. The company made everything so worth it though. 

I was able to catch Crawley in one game up North, as they visited Hartlepool. This was a big game for me as my old flatmate from my first year Alice was a Pools fan. This meant we'd dubbed the game the 'Bratt-Dunn derby.' There was to be no big three points for Crawley (like the previous fixture) as it finished 1-1, but it was great to see Alice's parents Mel & Phil up in Hartlepool. 

Possibly my favourite day so far this season came a week later as York City hosted Curzon in an FA Cup fixture. Long story cut short, this was a big game because Curzon fans and York fans have become really good friends over the times. One or two or...okay a lot of drinks were consumed, and it was an overall great day (of what I can remember). The 1-1 draw meant a replay (which Curzon famously won to reach the first round.

This meant Curzon were to play lowly Westfields FC of Hereford in the next round, live on BT Sport. This one featured cocktail making on the coach, a pitch invasion, a television appearance by a drunken Curzon fan (definitely not me) and one of the best days out all season. It was 1-1 again though, and another replay... which Curzon won 3-1. This was huge - the SECOND ROUND OF THE FA CUP!!!

Another visit to Slovakia meant I was able to catch two international games: Slovakia v Lithuania and Austria v Republic of Ireland. The Slovakia game saw me introduced to Matt's Slovak, French and various other nations' friends. I'm sure the CityArena was actually a United Nations Conference that evening. Slovensko ran out 4-0 winners. Austria v Ireland wasn't a spectacle on the pitch but it definitely was in the stands as 40'000 Austrians waved flags to some kind of power ballad which we now know to Rainhard Fenrich's I Am From Austria. Vienna was a stunning city and I've fallen in love with the place, so much so I'm trying to persuade Matt to move there instead!

Austria's pre-match show

The next game of note for me was Curzon's FA Cup game against AFC Wimbledon. You probably all know how that went. When Adam Morgan put Curzon 3-0 up with twenty minutes to go I was in dreamland. The plucky old Nash were stunning a play-off chasing League One side and were within touching distance of a famous third round. Then, in a cruel twist, Wimbledon scored four goals in the last ten minutes to snatch away victory from Curzon. I was shattered, I was emotionally drained, but most of all I was heartbroken. But, I was so so proud of everyone associated with Curzon Ashton that day, and always will be. From John, the manager, and Natalie, the CEO, the amount of hard work that went into the day was incredible, and it's just a shame the result didn't go the right way.

I worked a couple more Halifax and Fleetwood games in the build up to Christmas, before I headed back to Sussex. Finally, after an eternity, I was back in the stands at the Checkatrade.com Stadium watching the Crawley boys. And they certainly welcomed me back with a bang, as they ran out 3-1 winners in a game which saw FIFTEEN yellow cards. 

Matt joined me over in England, via Paris, as we set out on a three day three game voyage; the first being a Crawley awayday to Plymouth; the second was Sutton United v Bromley; the third Crawley v Yeovil. All of the games finished in 2-0 home wins strangely, but two more grounds were ticked off and Crawley had picked up six points in two home matches - I can't complain!

I'm confident I will be able to update this blog more regularly as the rest of the season goes on. I'm heading back to Slovakia again in February, and Germany in May, so hopefully I'll have a lot more to talk about. For now though, ciao. 

Craig