VENUE #90 CARLISLE UNITED Brunton Park

BRUNTON PARK

Directions From Railway Station

     The nearest railway station is Carlisle upon exiting the station's main entrance, walk the short distance around the Crescent until reaching Warwick Road. You will be able to see the old Main Stand and the strangely-shaped roofs of the Warwick Road End after walking for about twenty minutes. There are directions to the away supporters' turnstiles above the Carlisle United club shop.

Brunton Park
     Carlisle United were formed in 1904 firstly playing their home games at Milhome bank then later at Devonshire park until Brunton park was built in 1909.  Brunton park has a capacity of 18.202 but the ground has been inspected by Cumbria county council who have deemed certain areas unsafe and so a slightly less capacity of 17,000 is in place at this time.
     In it's heyday Brunton park had a record crowd of 27,500 that was on  the 5th January 1957 when they were drawn against Birmingham City in the 3rd round of the FA cup a match that finished in a 3-3 draw, four days later Birmingham won the replay 4-0 at St. Andrews.
     If you plan to visit this stadium I would suggest you make it soon as Carlisle are planning to move to a 12,000 all seated stadium in the near future and that will be another classical old fashioned ground to bite the dust in the name of progress. 

PIONEER STAND (EAST)

     The Pioneer (East) Stand on one side of the pitch, is a covered all seated stand, which looks quite smart, this stand was opened in 1996.  An unusual aspect of the ground is that the central point of the East Stand, is located just off the half way line. This means that one side of the stand extends past the one goal line, whilst the other side falls short of this. This was due to the fact that the Club were intending to re-build the whole ground and move the pitch a few yards further north, but alas the development funds ran dry.

MAIN STAND

    The other side is an old partly covered (to the rear) Main Stand, which has seating at the back and a terraced paddock to the front. The central part of this stand was built in 1954 and the wings added at a later stage.

WARWICK ROAD END

    The Warwick Road End is a covered terrace that has a peculiar looking roof, which consists of three triangular sections.

PETTERILL END

    The other end, the Petterill End (aka The Waterworks End), is largely a small open terrace, which oddly contains a small section of seating on one side. This end is only used for the bigger games. On one side of this end is a Security Control Box, which also has a small electric scoreboard mounted below it. There is also a video screen situated at the back. The ground also has some strange looking floodlights that don’t have the normal bank of lighting on top of the pylon, but instead have the lights mounted up the side.

HUGHIE McLLMOYLE

    Outside the ground entrance is a statue of former Carlisle favourite Hughie Mcllmoyle, who over three separate spells at the club, scored 91 goals in 189 appearances.

GROUND LAYOUT

Today's Opposition CREWE ALEXANDRA

     It is no secret that I used to be an admirer of this team back in the days of Dario Gradi when the club enjoyed what has been described as the best years of the clubs history.  I can't really do justice with words what the man done for the club taking the team from applying for re-election to the football league every year to a team with promotion ambition.  He was one of the pioneers of the youth academy and has brought some brilliant young talent through the ranks at Crewe and some have gone on to be household names in Premiership football and represent their countries at the very top level. 

     When Dario took to the stands in his new roll of director of football it seemed as though they had found the perfect replacement in Steve Davis although his Crewe side were at the bottom end of the league two table at Christmas the second half of the season couldn't have gone better with the Railwaymen finishing in sixth place and beating Cheltenham 2-0 in the play-off final and earning a place in league one.                            Crewe finished just below mid table in 2012/13 season but managed to win the Johnstone's paint trophy beating Southend 2-0 at Wembley but since that game things haven't gone at all well for the  ex Crewe defender, maybe selling Nick Powell to Manchester United sparked a downslide for the Cheshire team or maybe that the Crewe academy weren't producing the talent that they were during Dario Gradi's reign.  Whatever the reason Crewe avoided relegation by the skin of their teeth for the next two seasons finally succumbing to their fate at the end of last season being relegated to league two weeks before the season's closure.                                                                                       The first season back in league two started well with Crewe reaching the heights of third place in the table in September but then came the trip to Wycombe at the end of the month when Crewe once again showed their frailty and went down 5-1 at Adams Park. Crewe only won two games since that game against Wycombe until the 7th of January when they went to Mansfield and lost 3-0 this was the final straw for Steve Davis who was sacked and another ex player was appointed in the form of David Artell.  This must have been a God send send for the long suffering Crewe fans for Artell has stopped the rot, there have been some set backs like losing 4-0 to Hartlepool and 2-1 at home to Newport but they are showing signs of staying in this league and not ending a long run of English league football history.

CARLISLE UNITED ... 0   CREWE ALEXANDRA ... 2

     On a beautiful sunny day in Cumbria Crewe Alexandra came to Carlisle with ambitions of making their place in league two safe while Carlisle had a dream of at least making the play-offs as their form of lately has deteriorated as once they was looking prime candidates for automatic promotion.

     From the kick off Carlisle came out the traps with gusty causing Crewe some early discomfort and actually had the ball in the back of the net but Jamie Proctor's goal was ruled out for offside. 

     As the half rolled on Crewe slipped out of their shell and began to make a game of it you could see their confidence grow as they pushed for an opening goal their selves as the Cumbrians started to look a little shell shocked.

     Just after the half hour the noisy Crewe supporters had something to bang their drum about as George Cooper played the ball over the Carlisle defence for Callum Cooke who looked suspiciously offside to run on to and sweep the ball past Mark Gillespie for the opening goal.

     Crewe started the second half as they finished the first looking the most likely team and frustration got the better of Snaun Miller five minutes in as he jumped two footed into a tackle with Oliver Turton, the referee took his time but then produced a straight red card to the ex Crewe striker making the Blues task a lot more harder than it was originally.

     The sending off livened Carlisle up a little and began to show the zest they had at the start and they had the ball in the net yet again for the linesman to rule for an infringement against them it really didn't look like their day at all and in the 61st minute came the final nail in their coffin for as they pushed to get the equaliser they left there selves a little thin at the back and Cooper raced passed Luke Joyce on the right and crossed the ball to the back post for Jordan Bowery to tap into an empty net from a couple of yards.

     Cooke should have made it 3-0 in the closing stages but was denied by Gillespie and so the score remained as it did the last time I saw Crewe play at Wembley 2013 in the Johnstone's paint cup final when they beat Southend 2-0. Crewe now look as though they will keep their league two status next season as the gap between them and the drop zone is now 15 points with seven games left, as for Carlisle, they slip out of the play-off places on goal difference to Exeter there is still a chance for them to grab a chance at promotion but they need to turn things around now rather than later.

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VENUE #89 MILLWALL The Den

THE DEN

Nearest Railway Station

     South Bermondsey station is at the back of North stand designated to away supporters.  There is a path leading up from the bridge on Bolina Road that takes you directly to the station or so I'm informed.

The Den

      The Club moved the relatively short distance to then was called the New Den after leaving their original Den ground which was their home for 83 years. This was first new major football ground to be constructed in London since before the Second World War. The stadium is made up of four separate two-tiered stands that are of the same height and look fairly similar. On one side is the Barry Kitchener Stand (named after a former player) which has the players tunnel and team dugouts at its front. This simple looking stand, has the same characteristics as both ends with windshields to either side in the upper tier and with the upper tier slightly overhanging the lower tier. The Dockers Stand on the other side, is slightly different having a row of executive boxes running across its middle. Between the East & North Stands in one corner is a large video screen.

     Away fans are located at one end of the ground in the North Stand (usually in the upper tier only). Around 4,000 away fans can be accommodated in this end. Like the general improvement in football, a trip to Millwall is not as threatening as it once was. However, it is hardly a relaxing day out for most people find the Den to be quite intimidating.

Ground Layout

BARRY KITCHENER STAND

DOCKERS STAND

COLD BLOW LANE END

NORTH STAND (away)

Today's Opposition  BURY had a bit of a dodgy start to the season but picked up in the month of September winning six on the bounce but went backwards losing every game in October.

    The shakers are having a revival of form coming into this year beating Peterborough inJanuary and Swindon plus Coventry last month and on Tuesday night entertained Bristol Rovers at the JD stadium winning 3-0 all goals coming in the second half after Rovers were reduced to ten men with the sending off of Stuart Sinclair in the 39th minute.

     Bury before this game were six points clear of the league one drop zone although have played three games more than Port Vale in 21st position and will be trying to avoid defeat again against the Lions after losing 3-2 at the JD at the end of November.

MILLWALL ... 0   BURY ... 0

     Been dreading going to this ground since it was pulled out of the bag last June although I must say people were quite friendly and it wasn't what I was expecting at all.  You got the odd one or two "D" heads but you get that where ever you go in the UK.

     The ground is stunning although the setting could be a bit more pleasing to the eye with small garage work shops strung together down Bolina Road and railway lines at the back of the Dockers stand and the North stand and as you enter via Zampa Road through the railway tunnel which is littered with dismembered cars and such it does make you wonder what kind of an afternoon are you in for.

     The game was very scrappy and looking at the two teams from the heights of the Barry Kitchener stand it seemed to me that The Millwall side looked a lot older than their opponents, older but wiser maybe for they did seem to be more experienced against a quicker more agile Bury side which meant they just cancelled each other out.

     The Lions played long balls over the top of the Shakers defence in hope that Lee Gregory could latch onto one or two but with the outstanding Joe Murphy in goal playing sweeper and heading the ball wide for his defence to mop up the Millwall faithful were getting frustrated and were baying for their team to change tactics which they did trying to use the wings to cross the ball into the box but it was all bread and butter to the Bury back line and keeper.

     Bury had the best chance of the first half with Millwall pushing forward looking for the first goal they left themselves a little light handed at the back and James Vaughan broke through from his own half and was about to strike the ball past Tom King in goal for the Lions when the Millwall skipper Tony Craig made a wonderful last ditched recovery tackle to keep the scores level at half time.

     In the second half with the wind at their backs Millwall looked a much better side keeping the Shakers glued to their own half for the first ten minutes or more but lacking the much needed penetration which the home fans were crying out for.

     Jed Wallace had a fine attempt well saved by Bury's man of the match keeper in the 51st minute and seventeen minutes later Millwall had the ball in the net when a swift counter attack saw Steve Morison played through and the 33 year old striker thought that he had given his side the lead but the linesman's flag was raised ruling the goal to be off side.

     Millwall applied more pressure in the final stages of the game but there was no way that they were going to beat Murphy on this day and so the spoils were shared a point a piece leaving the Lions in seventh place a point behind Southend with two games in hand over them and Bury now in 17th place 4 points clear of the drop zone and with Lee Clark's unbeaten away record in tact.

     One last thing that has to be said WELL DONE MILLWALL for having the best pies in "English" football that I've ever had up to yet.

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VENUE #88 ARBROATH Gayfield Park

GAYFIELD PARK

Nearest Railway Station  Arbroath

     Arbroath Railway Station is around 15 minutes walk away from Gayfield Park. From the railway station come out of the main entrance and turn left. Walk down to the bottom of this road and turn right into Millgate Loan. The ground is approximately half a mile along this road - you can't really miss it.  The stadium is situated on the sea front, to the west of Arbroath harbour, on the southern edge of the town. There is no other football stadium in Europe which is as close to the sea

Gayfield Park

Gayfield is predominantly made up of terracing which extends around three corners of the ground. However, this gives the stadium lot of character, especially as terracing is slowly but surely disappearing generally from football stadia. On one side is the Gayfield Main Stand which was opened in 2002 and extended in 2010. This is a covered single tiered, all seated stand, which has a large floodlight pylon protruding from the centre of its roof. The other sides of the ground are all terraces that are of a similar size. Each side has a small covered area, that covers the centre part of the terraces to the rear. There are also a number of small floodlight pylons that run down the East side of the pitch, the bases of which are situated within the East Terrace.  At the back of the Seaforth End there is an amusement arcade called Pleasureland and directly across the A92 from the arcade is Totties Neuk pub and restaurant which is well recommended.

     

Ground Layout

Main Stand

East Terrace

Harbour (Town) End

Seaforth End (Away)

Record Holders

Arboath record breaking team

     I think most people who are into football know that Arbroath are the record holders for the biggest win in a competitive game and have held this record for over a 100 years.  12th September 1885 was the date that Arbroath were drawn in the first round of the Scottish cup against Bon Accord of Aberdeen and went on to win the game 36-0.  The papers say that a further five goals were dis-aloud but in the referees report Mr. Dave Stormont said that he actually dis-aloud seven goals for offside but the Arbroath side were so quick in the manner they moved the ball that he may have been a little harsh on the team from Angus which would have meant that the score would have ended up 43-0 if he had aloud them, linesmen weren't around in them days being introduced some years later.

Arbroath 1885 kit

    Bon Accord were a new team just being formed and thrown into the mix of the Scottish cup draw, so new was the side that they didn't even have a proper kit.  Rumours about them being a cricket team that got invited to play in the Scottish cup by mistake are false even if the result turned out to be a cricket score.  A friend of mine quipped that several Bon Accord players were booked for taking the game too seriously but as in the case of linesmen booking players was a little premature to the game.

Arbroath harbour at night

        I always thought that the Arbroath nickname the Red Lichties was to do with their record win being the team in maroon who licked the non-league side but a friend also said, (maybe in jest), that they were called the Red Lichties because Arbroath was a red light district.  To put the matter straight he was right about the red light but it was men painting the harbour lights bulbs red so as ship/boats out at sea knew that they were approaching Arbroath harbour by the colour of the lights, a sort of a homing signal. 



Today's opponents  CLYDE were formed in 1877 and played their home matches at Barrowfield park but out-grew the ground after 21 years and moved across the river to Shawfield Stadium which was purposely built for the club but became a financial burden and so it was finally agreed in the 1930's that Shawfield could be used for greyhound racing as well to bring much needed revenue.  Clyde ended up selling the stadium to their tenants the greyhound association as money difficulties got more serious and spent the next fifty years as tenants themselves.  In 1986 the GRA announced redevelopment plans for the stadium and gave Clyde notice to quit.
     Clyde spent 8 years unhappily sharing grounds with both Partick Thistle and Hamilton Accies before moving to their new home in Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire.  Broadwood is an 8,000 all seated stadium which they share with Cumbernauld Colts and is a place I visited last season when Clyde beat Elgin City 4-2 on the 14th November 2015.  Clyde's defender Chris Mitchell was sent off that day in the 81st minute for a second bookable offence the unfortunate player was tragically killed 6 months later in a train accident.


     The Bully Wee before this game are in eighth place in the table 8 points clear of the the relegation play off spot with ten games to go to the end of their season and so have it all to play for in today's game.  
     
     

                                                ARBROATH ...  1    CLYDE ... 0

    

     Well the score line was a long way from Arbroath's record of 36-0 but in this day and age you'd expect that.  In the game I saw the night before there was too much passion and it turned into a really bad tempered affair but in the match at Gayfield between Arbroath and Clyde it was the total opposite with neither side showing any real desire to win the game.

     Arbroath did win it grabbing all three points from a dire and dreary game against their Glaswegian opposition with a goal from their captain Mark Whatley in the 41st minute with the assist coming from Ryan McCord.  The Red Lichties now move just three points behind leaders Forfar who lost 2-1 at home to lowly Edinburgh City.

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VENUE #87 DUNDEE UNITED Tannadice Park

TANNADICE PARK

Directions From Railway Station

      Tannadice Park is around 2 miles away from Dundee railway station and so I jumped into a taxi which cost me £5 to get there and £7.30 on the way back slightly more because of heavy traffic around the football ground trying to get back home.  Here are some directions anyway supplied by a visiting supporter.

    Leave the station and cross the road at the predestrian crossing. Take the exit to the right before the walkway enters the Nethergate centre, this exit has steps down to Union Street. Go to the top of Union St & turn right into the High St, after a couple of hundred yards veer left into the pedestrianised Murraygate and proceed to the Wellgate centre. Go via the escalators in the Wellgate centre to the top floor of the centre and exit onto Victoria Road. (If Wellgate is closed, turn left along Panmure Street, right up Meadowside and right onto Victoria Road to rear of Wellgate Shopping Centre). 

Here you have two choices, via the Hilltown (Shorter distance but like climbing the north face of the Eiger) or via Dens Road (much longer but far less likely to induce a heart attack).

Option 1 (for those fit enough) cross Victoria Road to the foot of the Hilltown walk up this for approx 1/3 mile (it feels like 3) till you reach the junction of Main St & Strathmartine Road this is easily recognisable by the ornamental clock near the junction. Turn right onto Main St and proceed until you reach the junction with Isla St (Church on the corner opposite the excellent Snug Bar). Turn left into Isla St & you will see the ground directly ahead of you.

Option 2 Turn right onto Victoria Road proceed about 1/4 mile, veer left at the Eagle Mills into Dens Road. Pass Dura Street, Alexander Street and Dens Road Market then right into Arklay Street. Once you reach Tannadice Street you can see the Tannadice ground.

Tannadice Park

George Fox Stand

     The ground was improved in the 1990's with the construction of two new stands and an extension to the existing Main Stand. One of these is the impressive two tiered George Fox Stand, running along one side of the pitch. This stand has a large lower tier and a smaller top tier. It opened in 1992 and was named after a former Chairman of the Club. On the other side is the Main (South) Stand, which was renamed the Jerry Kerr Stand in 2003, after a former player and manager. The original Main Stand was opened in 1962 and holds a place in the history of Scottish football grounds in being the first in Scotland to be

Jimmy Kerr Main Stand

constructed with a cantilever roof to provide column free viewing. It is also unusual in that the stand is slightly 'L'-shaped, just extending around the South East corner of the stadium. It was intended at the time that the whole ground would be re-built in a similar manner to the Main Stand, but due to lack of finance it never happened. It is worth noting though that the Club was the first ever to have a glass fronted lounge in the Main Stand for the benefit of sponsors. This was opened in 1971 and overlooked the pitch, something that is now a common sight in grounds across the country today. 

West Stand "The Shed"

     The Main Stand was extended in 1997 so that it now runs the full length of the pitch.The extension replaced what was known as the 'Fair Play Enclosure', so named as it was funded from an award made to the Club from UEFA in 1987. The stand is two tiered and has a strip of perspex running across the back of it, just below the roof to allow more light to reach the pitch. The relatively new extension to the stand can be identified as it has an unusual roof jutting out towards the pitch. At one end of the ground is the West Stand (known affectionately as 'The Shed'), a former terrace with seating now fitted to it. Parts of the

Eddie Thompson Upper Stand

original terrace that are no longer used for spectators can be seen on either side of it. There are a couple of supporting pillars in this stand that could hinder your view of the pitch. Opposite is the covered two tiered East Stand, opened in 1994. This was renamed the Eddie Thompson Stand in 2008 after the Club Chairman.

Today's Opposition  HIBERNIAN  are currently top of the Ladbrokes Championship and looking strong candidates for an automatic return to the premier league.  Hibs dropped to the Scottish second tier after losing the Premier play off final to Hamilton on penalties two seasons ago and now with ex Celtic manager Neil Lennon at the helm are hoping to join their Edinburgh rivals Hearts back in the top flight.

     The Hibees qualified for the play off's last season only to be beaten in a two leg semi final by Falkirk 5-4 on aggregate and so will be battling to maintain their position at the top to avoid such a disappointment this time round and match their Tynecastle neighbours with a Premiership return with honours. 

DUNDEE UNITED ... 0   HIBERNIAN ... 1

     Hibernian went nine points clear at the top in what can only be described as a bad tempered contest between the two teams.  Referee Don Robertson who struggled to keep a hold of the game produced twelve yellow cards two of them resulting in a dismissal.

     Dundee started the brighter of the two teams and looked as though they were up for the battle ahead, well, that was until the 31st minute when Lewis Toshney got booked for the second time for a foul on the same Hibernian player, Andrew Shinnie.  This seemed to turn the game around and eight minutes later Hibernian were in front Jason Cummings beat the Dundee offside trap when a ball from Shinnie was played through to him and the 21 year old striker finished with aplomb.

     The fouls and flare ups kept coming and the referees book got more full as the game went on neither team could afford to drop points in this one and it showed.

     Cummings claimed a penalty when he seemed to get brought down in the box by Dundee man of the match William Edgenguele but the referee ended up booking the Hibernian goal-scorer for over protesting.

     Three minutes later and the Hibs number 35 had the ball in the net for a second time but all around the ground you could hear the thud of the ball hitting Cummings's palm before it crossed the line so instead of putting his team further ahead he only managed to level the teams to ten aside as the ref produced a second yellow card and sent the Hibs man off.

     Martin Boyle had a chance before being retired to the bench but sent his volley flying over the bar from six yards.

     And so the game ended with a Hibs win that wasn't for the faint hearted but took them closer to their dream return while Dundee were left nursing the bruises and contemplating a place in the play offs currently holding fourth spot nine points clear of Queens and one point behind Morton. 

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