With winter now beginning to take a chilly hold I have come to the end of my European travels for the time being. However, I thought I would jot down some notes on the games I have seen this season.

I will begin with a rather hectic trip I did with an Oxford fan who shares my interest for overseas football. He had organised this break and I was able to take some time off and accompany him on a breakneck tour of four countries (the fourth is Luxembourg, which we crossed without seeing any games).

AUXERRE (28/9/06)
Our flight was diverted to another airport due to fog but we were able to sort out car hire at the new arrival point and head for Auxerre in France. They were taking on Dynamo Zagreb in the UEFA Cup and when we parked up we noticed a number of intimidating Croatians heading for the ground. The Stade Abbe Deschamps holds 23,500 and I had expected more than the 9,000 who turned out for this game. The Dynamo fans were a real nuisance throughout the game, with outbreaks of scuffles and lots of throwing of flares onto the pitch. Auxerre had won 2-1 in Croatia and I was pleased to see the go in at the break with a 2-0 lead (a double from Treneusz Jelen). Dynamo pulled one back with a penalty converted by one of the 4 Brazilians in their squad, Eduardo, but Lionel Mathis, who sounds more like a crooner than a footballer, restored Auxerre's two goal advantage.The ground consisted of four individual seated stands - showing their age, I thought - and the town seemed very pleasant indeed as we made our way to and from the ground.

TuS KOBLENZ (29/9/06)
The following night we were in the German town of Koblenz, another place that merits a visit - although our busy schedule didn't allow time for a look around. The home side, TuS Koblenz, were promoted to the 2nd Division last Spring and they hosted Kickers Offenbach - a side we renamed Drinkers Offenbach thanks to the exploits of a dozen of their fans on our row; they spent more time on trips to the bar than watching the action! This game had attracted a bigger crowd than we'd imagined (8,561 in the 18,500 capacity Stadion Oberwerth) and parking had proved to be tricky. The home side led at the break but a gutsy showing from bottom of the table Offenbach was rewarded with an equaliser from Suat Turker on 66 minutes. The ground had obviously been one stand and three sides terracing but TuS have put seats on the side opposite the grandstand and then built a temporary stand behind them so it appears to be one large structure. If they survive at this level then I imagine they will need to improve on that.

ARMINIA BIELFELD (30/9/06)
We stayed in Germany overnight and made our way to Bielfeld on Saturday afternoon to see the local Bundesliga side Arminia take on Energie Cottbus, a side from the old DDR. Arminia had beaten Bayern Munich in the last home game and 17,543 turned up at the Schuco-Arena (26,600 capacity) for this match. Of course German top flight clubs still have terraces so this ground is made up of one side and one end of both standing and sitting. Three sides join together with one separate. Cottbus, resplendent in an Ajax syle kit, took the lead through Romanian Vlad Munteanu and held it until the 48th minute. Zuma levelled for Arminia, then Wichniarek made it 2-1 on 62 mins and Masmanidis notched a third on 74 minus. It was the first time Cottbus had conceded 3 in the league since May 2003. Incidentally the programme was not the usual German A4 design but an English style issue of 64 pages, selling for just one Euro (65 Pence).

FC TWENTE (30/9/06)
When the final whistle went we made a mad dash for the car and headed for the Dutch border. With German games being played on Saturday afternoons and Dutch ones on Saturday nights you can often find a double header and we were able to get to Enschede in perfect time to see local heroes FC Twente entertain RKC Walwijk in the First Division. We were quite fortunate to get in as the capacity of the Arke Stadion is given as 13,740 and the official gate was 13,100. Had Waalwijk brought more than a handful of followers we might have been in trouble! Twente (who fielded former Bristol City player Luke Wilkshire) seem to base themselves on Liverpool; they wear all red, have entrance gates that resemble the Shankly gates and they play "You'll Never Walk Alone" at kickoff. This is a new stadium and the atmosphere was excellent in it, not surprising when you consider the game we saw. The scoring went: 0-1,0-2,1-2,1-3,2-3,3-3,4-3. The winning goal came on 88 minutes and I had to feel sorry for Waalwijk, one of the minnows of Dutch football. They also had the best player on the pitch, an ex-Ajax Nigerian winger called Pius Ikedia (Ikedia not!).

NANCY (1/10/06)
It was a case of deja-vu (well, we were in France) the following afternoon when we arrived at the Stade Marcel Picot in Nancy, as it seemed very similar indeed to Twente's ground. It was a bit bigger, holding 20,100 in all and 18,017 for this game against Lens. The home fans were still revelling in an impressive UEFA Cup win over Schalke 04 but the Lens fans prior to kick off were more keen in finding the local hostelries. We joined them for une biere and had to smile at the least impressive of covert monitoring you can imagine, obvious police officers in leather coats and shades sitting in cars outside the pub watching the fans! The Lens fans may have wished they'd stayed in the bar as first Benjamin Gavanon (25 mins, pen) and then David Sauget (57 mins) put Nancy in control. Another penalty saw the Brazilian Jussie pull one back for Lens but it was not enough. For my part, I was surprised to see a former player of my beloved Walsall in the home line-up. Frederic Biancalani was the man who'd swapped the Black Country for Lorraine, a decision that surely keeps him awake well into the early hours each morning.....

Neil Morris