VENUE #121 SOUTHEND UNITED Roots Hall

ROOTS HALL STADIUM

     Roots Hall stadium is in Southend-On-Sea and is the home ground of Southend United who currently play in the Sky Bet league one in England.  It is the largest stadium in Essex and is the venue for the final of the Essex senior cup.  Plans are in place for a new 22,000 all seated stadium at Fossetts Farm though work has yet to begin on the new development.

GROUND LAYOUT

 A   MAIN STAND (EAST)

On one side is the East (Main) Stand which is a single tiered, covered stand, that has a row of executive boxes running across the back of it. At the front are some strange looking dugouts, which has the management team standing at the front leaning on a wall, with the players sitting behind. The ground has four tall traditional looking floodlight pylons. In other words a proper football ground!

 B   PAUL ROBINSON (WEST) STAND

The West Stand extends around to the North Stand so that one corner is filled with seating. It has a number of supporting pillars right at the front, which may hinder your view of the action. It also has the most precarious looking TV gantry that stands on stilts and is accessed by a long ladder.

 C   SOUTH STAND

At one end of the ground is the relatively modern South Stand. This stand which was opened in 1994, replaced a former open terrace and greatly improved the overall look. It is a small 'double-decker' type of stand, the upper tier hanging over the lower. It is all seated and covered but unfortunately has a few supporting pillars. On its roof is a small clock, dedicated to a former player, Director & Chairman, Frank Walton. There are a couple of blocks of flats that overlook the ground from behind this stand.

 D   NORTH STAND 

Opposite is the North Stand, which like the West Stand at one side of the pitch, is single tiered and has an old looking 'barrel' shaped roof (that dates back to the 1950’s), with the West Stand having a unique double-barrel roof.

Away fans are normally housed on one side of the North Stand (on the Main Stand side of the ground), where up to 1,200 away supporters can be accommodated. If demand requires it then the whole stand can be allocated bringing the allocation up to 2,000 seats.

FIRST MATCH AT ROOTS HALL STADIUM

SOUTHEND UNITED V ACCRINGTON STANLEY AT ROOTS HALL

     There have only been five competitive matches between these two clubs at Roots hall and the visitors have a slight edge over the Shrimpers winning 2 with 2 draws and one defeat.

SOUTHEND            ACCRINGTON

13th November 2010   League Two

                                     1                              1

                     Bilel Mohsni  65                     Jimmy Ryan  26

  10th March 2012  League Two

                                     2                              2

                     Luke Prosser  65                    Jamie Devitt  41

                   Elliott Benyon  76                   Padraig Amond  90

18th August 2012  League Two

                                     0                              1

                                                                 Karl Sheppard  61

21st April 2014  League Two

                         1                               0

                     Barry Corr  64

14th February 2015  League Two

                        1                                2

                     Barry Corr  72                         Piero Mingoia  53

                                                                  Terry Gornell  71 

SOUTHEND WIN THE BATTLE OF THE MOST OUT OF FORM TEAMS

IN LEAGUE ONE

     Southend win convincingly to end a spell were they hadn't won in the league since beating Scunthorpe 2-0 at the end of November.  Accrington have a similar record only sustaining two draws in league one in the last month.

     It was Stanley who started the game brighter but fell behind to a goal scored by Shrimpers Captain Sam Mantom in the 19th minute after Simon Cox had a shot blocked by Stanley keeper Connor Ripley.

     Four minutes later and it was 2-0 Stephen Hendrie's shot was parried by Ripley into the path of Taylor Moore who's effort was deflected into the net by Cox for his ninth goal of the season.

     The weather got increasingly bad with torrential rain and a swirling winds adding to the freezing cold temperature in the second half but Southend still played some skilful football despite the appalling conditions and managed to drive the final nail into the Stanley coffin in the 72nd minute, the Accrington defence moved too far up the field and were caught out when Cox stole the ball high in his own half and played a wonderful ball behind the defence for Theo Robinson to run onto and slot the ball past Ripley from the edge of the 18 yard area.   

VISIT REVIEW

     I'd like to be kind to Roots Hall but what I saw today from the West stand was appalling, the viewing conditions were atrocious with many supporting pillars holding up the the roof plus a step ladder which which runs up to the TV gantry on the roof, it is not good at all.

     There is talk of a new stadium being built at Fossetts farm which will seat 22,000 spectators plus a whole lot of new facilities in and around the build and work is supposedly going to start in the new year.

     Roots Hall is a lovely old ground and there ain't a lot left these days but I feel the sooner they move into the new stadium the better, we go to football matches to be entertained and how can that happen when you can't completely see what's going on.

     Apologies for the awful pictures I've taken this afternoon the weather conditions can take the blame for that as well.

MATCH DETAILS

    

                                                                                                      

VENUE #120 CARDIFF CITY Cardiff City Stadium

CARDIFF CITY STADIUM

After spending 99 years at their former Ninian Park ground, the Club in 2009, moved only a quarter of a mile away to the new stadium. Although with far superior facilities than Ninian Park, the design of the stadium itself was rather uninspiring.

GROUND LAYOUT

 A   NINIAN STAND

In 2014 the Club after being awarded the hosting of the UEFA Super Cup Final, set upon increasing the capacity by 5,000 seats chiefly by expanding the Ninian Park Stand on one side. This stand was originally single tiered, but has since had a small second tier and then an overhanging third tier added, making it the tallest and largest stand at the stadium. However, it's most striking feature is its roof, which is simply huge, elevating and extending quite a distance forward to provide cover to those below. A little reminiscent of the East Stand at Elland Road, the Ninian Stand is far more attractive having more of a distinctive look with clear windshields to either side.

 B   GRANDSTAND

Located opposite is the Grandstand. Named after the corresponding stand at the old Ninian Park, this stand is two tiered, with a small second tier of seating that overlaps the back of the lower tier. In this area at the rear of the lower section there is a row of executive boxes. Whilst at the back of the second tier there is visible a glassed frontage to and area used for corporate entertainment. The team dug outs are located at the front of this stand.

 C   CANTON STAND

Both ends are virtually identical, being single tiered, all seater affairs. The roofs above these stands are situated quite high above the seating areas, with a large back wall, part of which contains Perspex panels to provide more light to the playing surface. The stadium is completely enclosed with all four corners having spectator seating. Above each end there is digital video screen. In view of its multi purpose nature the stadium has in each corner a large access tunnel.

 D   GRANGE STAND

 E   AWAY SUPPORTERS

Away fans are located in one corner of the stadium, between the Ninian & Grange stands. Up to 1,800 fans can be accommodated in this area. The Club operates automatic turnstiles, where you have to put your ticket (which has a bar code on it) into a slot reader, which then allows the turnstiles to admit you.  As you would expect from a new stadium the view of the playing action and facilities are good. The acoustics are also good, with the stadium having a loud p.a. system. The concourses are spacious, have televisions to keep you entertained and serve the usual fayre of food. 

FIRST MATCH AT THE CARDIFF CITY STADIUM

 CARDIFF CITY V SOUTHAMPTON AT THE CC STADIUM

     Only two matches have been played between these two clubs at the Cardiff City Stadium and the honours are even.

                            28th September 2011   Championship                     

                      CARDIFF CITY                                 SOUTHAMPTON
                                  2                                                          1
               Kenny Miller  56, 63                                                  Steve De Ridder  90

26th December 2013   Premiership

                                        0                                                          3

                                                                                                          Jay Rodriguez  14, 20

                                                                                                          Rickie Lambert  27

THIRD HOME WIN ON THE BOUNCE HELPS CARDIFF MOVE UP TO 

FOURTEENTH PLACE

CARDIFF CITY ... 1   SOUTHAMPTON ... 0

     Neil Warnock's Cardiff City have found their home form which could save them from a return visit to the Championship while the new Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl who replaced Mark Hughes in the week tastes defeat in his first game and sees his side slip into nineteenth place in the table.

     Cardiff who dispatched Wolves last weekend on Sky Sports Friday night football found Southampton a different kind of opposition this afternoon as well as having to cope with the wet and windy conditions the Saints started brightly but the first real chance of the game fell to Cardiff's Harry Arter who's shot failed to trouble Alex McCarthy in the Southampton goal.

     In the 17th minute Josh Murphy had a chance to put the Bluebirds ahead but his effort was blocked by McCarthy and again seven minutes later when Paterson slipped Murphy through McCarthy took the ball from the Cardiff number eleven as he tried to round him.

     It seemed to be an on going theme as Nathaniel Mendez-Laing had a fierce shot tipped over the bar by the Southampton first half hero McCarthy just before half time.

     Southampton had a strong penalty appeal rejected by the referee in the 59th minute when Roberto Camarasa appeared to have tripped Stuart Armstrong in the Cardiff penalty area.

     But, as we all felt that the game had nil, nil written all over it the goal came out of nowhere in the 74th minute when once again a lapse in the Southampton defence this time by Jannik Vestergaard was seized upon by Callum Paterson who hit a tame shot which beat Southampton's saviour in the first half trickling into his bottom right hand corner of the net.

     Southampton looked resigned to their fate as they failed to show any signs of coming back into the game and nearly conceded another towards the end but Sean Morrison's free header was off target and so the game ended 1 - 0 to Cardiff City.

VISIT REVIEW

     Beautiful ground  the Cardiff City Stadium, plenty of leg and bum room in the seats although the pathways to the concourse get congested horribly, they are badly designed need a bit more thought to free up spectators time during the interval. 

     Speaking of long lines of people the club shop done a raring trade with the queue almost out the door, I haven't seen anything like it since the Etihad.

     Nothing to do with the football ground but I must say seeing that Cardiff is the capital of Wales their central station is a disgrace it's dirty, horrible looking and the information on the departures board is wrong more times than not.  GET IT SORTED!  

                                   MATCH DETAILS