R11 v WSW | Sat 17 Dec | 7.35pm | Mt Smart / The Oaks Tavern

Considering this was the only grand stand available for fans, despite my best wishes I don't see this as 9-10k people. Mount Smart's capacity is 30,000, you could assume this grand stand contains a third of the chairs in the stadium, and it looks about 2/3 full,. For me, unfortunately it looks a lot closer to 5700 then it does 10,000

though- I was getting annoyed at all the security guard stuff! The team needed lifting especially when they were pushing at the end of the first half. And some of the chants the crowd were listening to the zone and really picking up. Where was Alan?

Felt like we were out of it 65% of the time. Almost left 5 mins before the goal. But great to come back. Should have won it with our counters in the second. Kosta was a bit flat.

and something else...can't remember too post-alcohol time of the year state. Ahh- yeh, wouldn't have hurt to have a chant acknowledging the host city aka Hamilton...Oh Wellington is a great chant, but I didn't feel it was the most inclusive for locals... anyway have to get down to Welly...

Like Mt Smart, great rectangular stadium, could definitely fire up with a good crowd. 10 K in there and it would absolutely go off.

met some WSW lads who'd come over. THey were confused they weren't in Wellington...

Yep, based on all the evidence it looks like 5,700 was accurate.

That said, it certainly felt like a whole lot more than 6k. Felt a lot more like 10k, which says a lot about rectangular stadiums vs Westpac's oval.

That bottom tier really filled up. It was good to see the locals getting into the chants.

Screw all this crowd talk, there are real questions to be asked.

The Oaks out of 10? 
Bonus points if no-one got glassed.

Anyway, we weren't even the worst attended game of the round, the Jets vs United only got 5,642 according to ultimate a-league.

As previously mentioned, a dark and slightly run down working men's bar, but seemed to be an Indo-Fijian establishment so: a) very friendly staff who love Roy Krishna; b) Fiji Gold beer which was new and delightful for our visitors. As good as could be expected for industrial Penrose. The opposite of glassing.

Yes, Auckland's new trains are great and will be even better in 5 years when the CBD subway is finished. Problem is that Aucklanders and particularly the Herald and the other media are relentless whingers who obsess on the negative and fight all progress. As opposed to Wellingtonians who won't hear a word said against their city.

There was a Lotto shop in the old mall opposite Britomart that was demolished for the new subway construction - sorry!

Highly entertaining game......so all those Aucklanders who are into football and didn't go, missed a good game. Totally piss poor media publicity. Saturdays NZHerald had a tiny one column article with no photo.

Really pleased with the fightback. Somewhere in there we actually have quite a good football team. What we need now is a good experianced coach who can sort out the right players in the right positions with the right tactics. If we can get Finkler, Costa and Roy in sync then they will carve sides up. The defense as a unit still looks a worry. Individually they are OK but collectively.....wot was with Moss's brain fart?

Welnix have a huge huge decision to make for the next coach. The players are there, they just need to get the choice right. 

High on adrenaline after his penno save. I've been there.

Fark, wish the next one was at Mt. Smart instead of Albanya. Didn't get to the Oaks because had kinda Christmas partied myself to a stand still this week. The trains are a great thing in Auckland, but a bit limited in their coverage and frequency. So great for Mt Smart, useless for Albany, though I hope the busway does the job there. Some lines go a round-about way. But yeh the new hop card and electrification with the new trains has improved them a lot, and the opening of the Onehunga line is great for Mt Smart.

Martin yiu are quite right. I would rather go back to Mount Smart any day than North Harbour. Piss easy to catch the over night bhs and train to the game, but with North Harbour I am going to have to drive up. 

Not even a lightening speed rail or bus will get me back to Britomart before 10:45pm in time for the over night bus back. Even back to the airport is not a gofor me as I really dont want to motel hotel it up there if I can avoid it.

I have to say it, that this was the easiest game to get to with Eden Park next venue in Auckland. 

The Oaks is a working mans pub and those that dont drink straight from the big bottle stand out as not being one of the locals. The beer was cold and next time I will try that Fiji beer, my Tui was playing it safe.

Fiji Gold is bad in Fiji, I can't imagine it's any better in NZ. Next time just ask for a hand-pulled lambic. :)

I dared someone, (Dale ?), to ask for a craft beer!

A craft beer in Penrose is Lion Red in a stubbie

The WSW guy I spoke to reckoned game should've been at Hutt Rec. Said Allianz was worse than Westpac for crowd enjoyment.

Yeh pretty fun seeing people being given a big bottle, would you like a glass? Ah Nah.

god you cant drink beer from a bottle, it doesn't taste the same at all, its awful.

Tasted like normal Tui to me. When in Rome do what the Romans do. Drink from the glass bottle.

You guys have grown soft living in Wellington.....

Tratt is no Manny Muscat, but then he is a young bloke.  I agree that he was often caught but that is probably just inexperience. He has time to improve and looks a better prospect than Fenton would be (in this position) at present.

Tratt just looks awkward and lanky playing at full-back; looks more like a CB to me.

When he beats a player it almost looks like it was by accident.

Damn, he looked all right from where I was standing. Quite a few good balls which got Roy or Kosta.

Hes not the best RB in the league by any stretch but I think he does an alright job and is better than the alternatives (Fenton, Fox, Ridenton?)

I think we need too keep some faith, these two - Tratt and Parkhouse could well turn out to be two excellent players in their positions. They have done well enough thus far and being so young we should cut them some slack. I think they could tie up those two positions for 5 or so years if they continue to progress.

You shouldn't eat Carls Juniour, the guy that owns the chain is a real dick. He is the next Secretary of Labor and is known to campaign against paid sick leave, minimum wage, and equal treatment of women. Besides, there are plenty of local burgers which are better even chains like Burger Wisconsin.

fair points but on that logic we won't be able to buy anything American pretty soon because of those same reasons (or simular)

For me, that just screams the description of Boxall. Of course I would take Boxall over Tratt any day of the week, but being unreasonably tall, somehow beating players on the wing while not being the most gifted players? Tratt could grow into a Boxall 2.0 figure in the future. I actually rate both him and Rossi at the back. I don't think Dura had a very good game if there was anyone to criticise at the back for the Nix. 

Just as an aside issue everyone. I do most of my typing on a touch screen tablet and it is frigging annoying me with the number of my own typo errors. I usually try and proof read them before hitting the save button but.......

Glass for your swappa! Pfffft. You'll be telling us you don't know who Paolo Maldini is next.

I didn't think the attendance was anywhere near that at the Waitakere United v Ba OFC Champions League Final back in 2007 - that only had the same side of the ground open and was much fuller...from what I've found, that was around 9,000 crowd.

Ba playing anybody at Mt Smart would get 9000 Fijian Indians coming along.