I had first been to Cardiff City Stadium in 2012, the day after watching the Olympic bronze match at The MIllenium Stadium. This was to be the first league game I watched there since the game in 2012 had been a friendly against Newcastle. In fact, that game was the first at home to feature The Bluebirds playing in the all-red strip their Malaysian owner wanted them to play in. Back then, it was league ground #26 I had been to.

In the morning I had taken the train from Birmingham to reach Cardiff at 12.30. I located my hotel, an ibis in the city centre, then walked out to the marina to have a pizza for lunch. Out there it's very un-English and not just because it's Welsh. It's not hard to imagine you're on the other sice of the Channel, on the Continent. During the afternoon, I also found Spillers, the record shop that claims to be the oldest in the world with business since 1894. 

The game was a televised Friday game showing two teams relegated three months earlier from the PL. Early on in a season, TV producers seem to think that automatically qualifies them to be top teams in the Championship. I had a good 30 minutes walk to the stadium and then to locate the red ticket office where my ticket would be. I had a seat in the Ninian Stand so in the process I walked around the whole stadium. Inside I had a beer while looking at the giant paper clippings depicting the club's history with the peak being the 1927 cup final win. I was also reminded about the time The Bluebirds used to play almost every season in Europe as Welsh Cup winners. The clippings showed them beaten by Hamburger SV in the 1968 semifinals and beating Real Madrid in the first leg quarterfinal in 1971. 

Not much of quality happened in the game I was there to watch until the 42nd minute when Josh Murphy ran away on the left to put The Bluebirds in front, only for Aleksandar Mitrovic to equalise before half-time when he had the easiest of tap-ins to finish an attack he himself had started. Harry Arter, on loan to Fulham from Bournemouth and a former Cardiff City loanee, managed to get sent off with two yellow cards within 60 seconds in the second half. The first for a bad tackle and the second for diving when all he could have gained was a free kick outside his OWN box. City didn't manage to get their one-man-advantage count during the half hour that remained so it ended 1-1. 

Coming to the stadium I had taken the south route, going back I took the north route passing through the station area to reach my hotel. The next day would be more interesting in groundhopping terms, trying to reach Nailworth and The New Lawn.