FC UTRECHT (Stadion Galgenwaard)

EREDIVISIE, FC UTRECHT 1-2 PEC ZWOLLE, ATTENDANCE: 15,831

Day three and it was west to Utrecht, the fourth largest city in The Netherlands. Utrecht is essentially a student city as Utrecht University is the biggest in Holland.

The old city though has many ancient buildings, dating back to medival times, and a picturesque curved canal, however this is not the first impression of the city you get as when you step off the train, you step into a modern shopping arcade!

As you would expect, I also found the splendid delights of some great beer houses, one of which (Oliviers) produces it's own ale on tap.

FC Utrecht came into being in 1970 as a merger of three clubs from the city of Utrecht: DOS, USV Elinkwijk and Velox.

Stadion Galgenwaard has been Utrecht's home since their formation but has been totally rebuilt in the last decade.

GOAL! The home fans
celebrate in style

The ground is a 10 minute bus ride from the station, but we opted for the 40 minute walk from the city centre, which was broken up by a visit to Ledig Erf, a fine drinking establishment, which is only 20 minutes from the ground. 

The bus to the ground stops near to the Ledig Erf but we opted to carry on walking. This was a great decision as the traffic was so bad that we beat the bus easily. There were also traffic problems outside the city for the visiting Zwolle fans and most never appeared until after half time.

Tickets again were no problem and readily available on the night. After leading 1-0 through Stoke City loanee Juan Agudelo's goal (24) and in control the home side were reduced to 10 men when Adam Sarota was given a straight card for dangerous play. 

As time ticked on Utrecht sat deeper and deeper and once Zwolle equalised through Denis Mahmudov's header (74) they inevitably went on and secured the win when Fred Benson (77) fired home.

Proper nutty - The Zwolle ultras finally arrive