VENUE #94 WATFORD Vicarage Road

                                                    

   VICARAGE  ROAD   

                                                    

             Home Of:  Watford

 Ground Opened:  1922

Previous Ground:  Cassio Road 

                                                 1898-1922

          Other Uses:  Rugby Union

VENUE #94

DIRECTIONS FROM TRAIN STATION
     The nearest railway station is Watford High Street, a ten minute walk away from the Vicarage Road ground. However you are likely to come into Watford Junction Railway Station, which is about a 20 minute walk. Either get a train to Watford High Street from Watford Junction or if you have time to walk to the ground then leave the station & take main road straight opposite (Clarendon Road) all the way (over Ring Road at lights) up to the High Street. Turn left and go past Wetherspoons (Moon under Water) on your right and then take the first right after 100 yards into Market Street. Continue along again crossing Ring Road to T junction & then left at an excellent chip shop. Vicarage Road is the next right turn. It should take around 15-20 minutes to walk.


VICARAGE ROAD STADIUM
     Vicarage Road Stadium has been improved recently, not only with the opening of the Sir Elton John Stand on the East side of the stadium but also with a number of cosmetic changes both inside and out. This has included new video screens, hospitality areas, and general improvements to the stadium corners, but also some smart external cladding, plus a new Reception and Club Shop. These have all been done very well and to a high standard making Vicarage Road not only a smart looking and tidy looking ground, but one that has some individual character too.

GROUND LAYOUT

 A   THE GRAHAM TAYLOR STAND

     The Graham Taylor Stand which is named after their former manager, who took the Club up from the old Fourth Division to Division One in just five years and firmly put the club on the map. This stand which was opened in 1986, is a two-tiered stand that has an interesting roof design, with a number of semi-circular arches. Light is also able to penetrate through the roof aiding pitch growth. It also has a row of executive boxes running across the back.

 B   THE SIR ELTON JOHN STAND

     Opposite the Graham Taylor stand is the Sir Elton John Stand, opened in December 2014 and was further expanded six months later, by the addition of more rows of seating to the front of it. Although quite simple looking, this covered single tiered stand has a capacity of 3,800 seats and its construction has greatly improved the overall look of the stadium. In a further tribute to Sir Elton John, some lyrics from one of his hit records; 'Your Song' are embossed in large letters across the back supporting wall.

 C   THE ROOKERY STAND

     The ground has had both ends re-developed during the 1990's along with the front of the Graham Taylor Stand. Both ends are similar looking large single tiered stands, with some strange looking floodlights perched on the roofs. The Rookery Stand is larger than the Vicarage Road housing some 6,950 supporters. There are two large video screens situated in opposite corners of the ground.

 D   THE VICARAGE ROAD STAND

     Away fans are housed on the Eastern side of the Vicarage Road Stand at one end of the ground. This stand is shared with home supporters (with the obligatory 'no-mans land' comprised of empty seats covered in netting in-between). Around 2,200 visiting fans can be accommodated in this area. The stand has electronic turnstiles, meaning that you have to place your ticket into a bar code reader to gain entrance. You should also then expect to be searched by the stewards on the way in.

Today's opposition BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION  This could be another first for me as I can't recall seeing either of these two teams in the flesh before.  Brighton are launching a Premiership campaign for the first time ever with a 34 year absence from the top flight and are one of the favourites to go back into the Championship next season.  Albion finished second to Newcastle last season achieving automatic promotion to the English top league.

     The Seagulls have made several signings in the run up to the start of the season to strengthen their chances of staying in the Premiership, Dutchman Soufyan Ahannach a winger from Dutch second division side Almere City has signed a three year deal with Brighton.  The Gulls also snapped up PSV midfielder Davy Propper for a record £10 million, the Dutch player should be a key addition to the squad.  Ales Mateju joined Brighton on a three year deal the Czech under 21 international defender leaves Viktoria Plzen for an undisclosed figure.  At the time of writing Brighton may break their record fee for a second time with the signing of Jose Izquierdo from Club Brugge, the Colombian winger is estimated to cost in the region of £13.5 million.

     All these signings plus others added to the likes of Anthony Knocheart, Solly March and Liam Rosenior make Brighton a formidable opponent this season and I wouldn't like to bet against them achieving their goal of staying in the Premiership for at least another season.

WATFORD ... 0     BRIGHTON ... 0

     Yet another football stadium with a graveyard across the road and yet another graveyard with residents that have more life in them than the home team players from the stadium opposite.  I was totally disappointed in Watford, after seeing them on TV a couple of weeks ago against Liverpool when their drive and passion saw them gain a point right at the death made me look forward to this game with great expectancy, but the Watford team that played that day didn't turn up for this match.

     They did start well and after only nine minutes a free kick taken by Tom Cleverly was headed goalwards by Nathaniel Chalobah but Lewis Dunk managed to clear off the line for the visitors.

     It didn't take long for Brighton to take control of the match and it was that man Anthony Knockheart that was leading the way for the Seagulls especially when his shot from the right side of the Watford box bent round Gomez and agonisingly cannoned off the post.

     A moment of silliness saw Watford reduced to ten men in the 24th minute when defender Miguel Britos made a knee high two footed challenge on Knockheart who was antagonising the Uruguayan on the right.  Referee Graham Scott ran half the length of the pitch to brandish the red card at the Watford number 3.  Marco Silva responded by bringing on Craig Cathcart to replace Nordin Amrabat who was sacrificed to sure up the                                                                           Watford defence.

     Brighton were trying their damnedest to make the extra man pay and Watford were

finding it hard to respond.  Solly March combined with Tomer Hemed but the Israeli's effort also came off the home sides woodwork leaving Watford feeling very fortunate to go in at half time on level terms.

     The Hornets picked it up a bit at the start of the second half but Brighton came back with a host of chances but the team in blue just couldn't find the touch to take all three points and so the game finished goalless with a point a piece and I bet everyone connected with Brighton at the game went home wondering how the hell they didn't manage to take all the points because they should have done for they were the best team by far on the day.

                         MATCH DETAILS

VENUE #93 CRAWLEY TOWN Checkatrade.Com Stadium, Broadfield

CHECKATRADE.COM STADIUM
(BROADFIELD STADIUM)

             Home Of:  Crawley Town

 Ground Opened:  1997

Previous Ground:  Town Mead 

                                                 1949-1997

          Other Uses:  None

DIRECTIONS FROM TRAIN STATION
     The nearest train station is Crawley which is about a 15 minute walk from the ground.  As you come out of the station turn left and walk down to the T-junction. At the junction turn left into Brighton Road. Keep walking straight down Brighton Road for just under a mile and at its end turn right. You should now be able to see the stadium in the distance behind the traffic island. Use the underpass to cross the A23 to the ground.



CHECKATRADE.COM STADIUM (BROADFIELD)
     This relatively new stadium was opened in 1997, the Club moving there from their old Town Mead ground. The stadium looks to be a quality one in terms of standard of build. It is dominated by the good sized West Stand on one side. This smart looking stand, is covered, all seated and runs for about two thirds the length of the pitch. It is raised above pitch level meaning that fans have to climb a small flight of stairs at the front to enter the seated area. The stand also has windshields to either side, plus three unusual looking floodlight pylons on its roof. It has a capacity of 1,150 seats. Opposite is the new East Stand which was opened in April 2012. This semi-permanent all seated stand, accommodates 2,145 spectators in 12 rows of seating. The stand does though have a fair few supporting pillars running across the front of it, that could impede your view. A pair of new floodlight pylons have also been erected to either side of the stand. Both ends are virtually identical, being small covered terraces that extend around both corners of the ground towards the West Stand, enclosing the stadium at those points. The stadium perimeter is surrounded on two sides by a number of trees, giving a rural look.

     Still known to many fans as the Broadfield Stadium, it was renamed the Checkatrade.com Stadium in 2013, as part of a corporate sponsorship deal.


GROUND LAYOUT

 A   THE WEST STAND

 B   THE EAST STAND

 C   THE BRUCE WINFIELD STAND

 D   THE KR-L STAND (Away) 

T

Today's Opposition CAMBRIDGE UNITED  Don't remember seeing the U's before in the flesh although I may have done back in the 70's at Walsall's old Fellows Park ground so this could be the first time I've seen both these clubs.
     Predominantly a bottom two league side throughout their English football league existence, had a brief three season spell in division 2 at the turn of the 21st century being relegated back into division 3 for the 2002/03 campaign.
     Things took a turn for the worse in season 2004/05 when they finished bottom of division 2 then known as league two and were relegated into the conference league alongside Kidderminster Harriers.
     It took 9 years for the U's to return to league football finishing second to Luton Town in the Conference Cambridge were resigned to do it the hard way beating Halifax 2-1 on aggregate in the play off semi's and then Gateshead by the same score in the play off final at Wembley.
     Cambridge finished eleventh last season 8 places and 15 points above Crawley Town and are currently at the time of writing one place above the Reds at the foot of the table.

CRAWLEY TOWN ... 0     CAMBRIDGE UNITED ... 1

     It wasn't hard to see why these two teams are finding themselves in the bottom three at the start of play.  Things did look promising early on when Mark Randall unleashed a curling shot that beat David Forde in the Cambridge goal only to rattle the U's bar.

     But it became clear as the game went on that these two teams would find it hard to score in a brothel.  Both teams lacked composure and the competence to do the simple things not just up front but all over the pitch.

     A prime example was when Uche Ikpeazu found himself clear of the Crawley defence and one on one with Glenn Morris the Crawley keeper, the big Cambridge striker never looked confidant enough to score and made a feeble attempt to put the ball in the net which Morris saved comfortably.

     The first half finished goalless unsurprisingly but the second started a little livelier with Crawley upping the tempo but the ball kept being given away cheaply by both sides.  Randall had a goal bound effort blocked on the edge of the penalty area and it seemed as though no one was going to break the deadlock this afternoon.

     But in the 63rd minute that illusive goal came when Ikpeazu broke clear again on the left and fired a shot that Morris could only parry across his own six yard box where Jabo Ibehre was racing in to jab the ball home in front of his own fans.  Ibehre had only been on the pitch five minutes replacing Liam O'Neil but the 34 year old striker was injured while scoring and had to come off six minutes later a brief but valuable spell.

     Crawley came close to getting a point with Thomas Verheydt and Matt Harrold both causing Cambridge concern but it was the u's who took all three points moving up to 17th in the table leaving the Crawley Red Devils pointless and bottom of the league.

     This was a poor game played by two poor teams who are going to struggle if things don't improve one way or another for if they don't they're going to find it hard to hang on to their EFL status and could possibly find themselves returning to the National league ..... again.  

                            MATCH DETAILS

H

VENUE #92 BARNET Hive Stadium

HIVE STADIUM

             Home Of:  Barnet F.C.
 Ground Opened:  2013
Previous Ground:  Underhill Stadium
                                           1907-2013
          Other Uses:  London Broncos
                                Rugby League 
                                2014/15



Directions by train
     The nearest London Underground station is Canons Park which is on the Jubilee Line. It is around a ten minute walk away from the away end of the stadium (or 15 minutes to the home Main Stand seating). As you come out of the station turn left and at a convenient point crossover to the other side of the road. You will come to some metal railings where there is an entrance to some playing fields which you can walk through to the ground. This also brings you out at the North Terrace End of the stadium which is reserved for away fans.

Hive Stadium
     After spending 106 years at their Underhill ground, the Club moved in 2013, to a new purpose stadium at the Hive Complex. The complex which is also home to the Club's training facility, is situated in Edgware, which is just under six miles away from Underhill. 

The Hive Stadium itself is located within a sizeable park/playing fields area, with a London Underground line running behind one side of the ground on a raised embankment. If walking down through the park towards the stadium from the direction of Canons Park Station, then you can see the Arch over Wembley Stadium in the distance.
     I've marked this ground at a league 2 standard for although it has two sizeable stands, North and West, the east stand is but a block building with some seats stuck in front pitch side and the South stand is a small covered terrace as you would expect to see in the lowest division.
     The ground is new looking, clean and smart, the toilets in the West stand are small but very clean and at a good standard.  The only gripe I have with the West stand is that there is only one food bar at the back of the stand in the concourse.  The West stand is a large construction and holds a lot of people, one food bar manned by four people is not sufficient to satisfy a vast amount of people.  The staff worked very hard to serve as quick as possible but it took me over twenty minutes to get served, I think there should be at least one more food bar on the concourse to cater to demand.  

Ground Layout

 A   WEST (MAIN) STAND
      The Main Stand on the West side of the stadium, is like the North Stand, single tiered and covered. It does though have a larger all seated capacity of just under 2,700 fans.

 B   EAST STAND 
     On the opposite side is the East Stand. This is currently a rather plain looking affair, as essentially it is an office building that has had its roof extended outwards towards the pitch, and then had six rows of seats installed in front of it, leaving a large back wall exposed of the office building. Oddly the roof doesn't extend the whole length of the stand, meaning that some of these seats are uncovered. The Club do have plans to clad the back wall with club colours and hopefully this will help improve its look. This area has 750 seats, some of which (in the wing area) are not under cover. Both sides of the stadium have small electronic scoreboards mounted at the back.

 C   SOUTH STAND 
     At the South End of the ground is a small covered terrace which is only a few rows high and has a capacity of around 800..The Hive Stadium is completed with a set of odd looking floodlights.

 D   NORTH STAND
     The stadium has seen some investment recently with the building of a new stand at the North End of the ground. Replacing a small terrace, the stand was constructed in only four months during the Summer of 2016. The stand is covered, all seated and is of a good size, having a capacity of 1,890. Pleasingly it is of the same height as the Main Stand and has a very similar design. This end is given to away fans.

Today's Opposition  GRIMSBY TOWN  I have a little bit of a soft spot for this club as they were managed by one of my boyhood heroes Alan Buckley from 1988-94 and again for the last 3 years of the old millennium before returning for a third spell between 2006/08.  Buckley is hailed as Grimsby's most successful manager guiding the Mariners to three promotions and two Wembley appearances. 

     Predominantly a lower league side the Mariners were relegated to the Conference in 2010 becoming a non-league club for the first time in nearly 100 years finally returning to the EFL this season beating Forest Green Rovers 3-1 in the play-off final at wembley in May last year and ending a six year absence.




     Grimsby are currently 14th in the table directly above Barnet with a seven point advantage.  Although it is still mathematically possible for the Mariners to make the play-offs, at the time of writing, it is highly unlikely with so many teams above them with a better prospect and so it has to be said that neither team has anything to play for this afternoon as both teams are safe with no chance of promotion.

BARNET ... 3   GRIMSBY TOWN ... 1

     From a personal point of view today was all about hair with my Wife going to the hairdressers after dropping me off at the station and me taking a trip to BARNET to visit another ground from the 10 UK leagues on my list.  It's no use me visiting the hairdresser I've got to be able to grow some head hair first.

     The game got off to a tentative start and looked as though we were going to see two teams play out an end of season stroll in the park but then out of the blue in the 21st minute came a goal from the home side, a long ball from Michael Nelson found John Akinde in the box 14 yards out his looping header found Grimsby keeper James McKeown in no mans land and as a consequence also found the back of the net for his 26th goal of the season.

     One nil down but the Grimsby fans were still in party mood doing the conga in their Mexican outfits sported for their last away game of the season while on the pitch it was Barnet players doing the partying with a second goal coming just five minutes before the break and it was number 40 David Tutonda scoring in the 40th minute his one two with Curtis Weston saw the 21 year old ex Cardiff City defender strike a volley from the left side of the box into the back                                               of the Mariners net for his first of the season. 

     Two substitutions before half time let everyone know that Russell Slade meant business but 8 minutes after the break it was game, set and match to the Bees, Curtis Weston my Barnet man of the match struck a right foot shot from close range into the bottom left hand corner of the Grimsby net following a set piece to make the three points as good as in the bag.

     The Mariners did manage to respond with a consolation 16 minutes from time a corner from Danny Andrew was poorly dealt with by Bees keeper Josh Vickers fell to 2 Grimsby players at the far post who were unmarked one of them being Craig Disley who smashed the ball home from 2 yards.




     And so my final match of the season came to an end with the home side winning 3-1 in front of a good and well mannered crowd from both sides, the score didn't matter so much for this was the penultimate game of the season and time to party and there's no doubt that the party theme will be carried on next Saturday when Grimsby play host to Plymouth at Blundell park while Barnet visit Crewe's Gresty road with both teams knowing that they're safe and looking forward to next season in league 2. 

                          MATCH DETAILS

VENUE #91 STENHOUSEMUIR Ochilview Park

  OCHILVIEW PARK  

Home Of :  STENHOUSEMUIR F.C.

Ground Share:  East Stirlingshire

Ground Opened:  1890

Previous Grounds:  Tryst Park

                                  Goschen Park

Other Uses:  Greyhound Track 1926/27 

Directions From Train Station

     The nearest train station is Larbert which is about a mile away from Ochilview Park.  As you exit the station turn left and continue up the B905 on the left hand side of the road until you reach Tryst  road, turn left into Tryst road and take the first right into Gladstone road and the ground is straight in front of you.  The buildings in front of the ground have now been knocked down and so the ground is now visible as you approach Tryst road but there is a construction in process so how long for I can't be sure. 

Ochilview Park
     Stenhousemuir formed in the year 1884 when they broke away from a local team called Heather Rangers.  They moved into Ochilview six years later the ground's name came from the Ochil Hills which are visible from the ground  although there is a local saying that goes, "If you can see the Ochil hills it's going to rain, if you can't it's already raining".
     The park's record attendance was on 11th March 1950 against today's opponents East Fife in a Scottish cup quarter-final match which drew a crowd of 12,500 but sadly the Warriors lost the game 3-0 and the Fifers went on to the final against Rangers and also lost 3-0.
     One year later and Ochilview went into Scottish history by becoming the first ground in Scotland to have floodlights and Stenhousemuir played the first Scottish floodlit game on the 7th November 1951 in a friendly match against Hibernian.
     An amusing story, well it's funny as far as I'm concerned, in 1994 Stenhousemuir were considering moving to a new build ground and had agreed to sell Ochilview to a supermarket chain for 2 and a half million but the deal was flawed by planning regulations and fell through and so Ochilview should be known as the one that got away and thankfully so.  It was decided to upgrade the existing ground instead and means that I get to visit today. 

Ground Layout

  
A  MAIN STAND
On one side of Ochilview Park, is the relatively new looking Main Stand. This small all seated, covered stand, runs for about half the length of the pitch and straddles the half way line. It has a couple of floodlights perched on its roof. 




B NORTH STAND
Opposite to this stand the side of the ground is unused for spectators and just has the team dugouts and a row of small floodlights. 



C TRYST ROAD TERRACE
At the Tryst Road End of the ground is good sized terrace, that recently has had a roof put on it, giving much needed shelter for the standing fans. On one side of this terrace can be seen a Social Club which is owned by the Club. 





D EAST STAND
The opposite East End of the ground is again unused for spectators. During the Summer of 2007 a new synthetic playing surface was installed at the stadium. 





Today's Opponents  EAST FIFE  You've got to go back in time a bit for the best periods in the Fifers history, the mid to late thirties was a good time for them winning the Scottish cup in 1938 against Kilmarnock, drawing the first game 1-1 on April 23rd and winning the replay 4 days later 4-2.

     The Fifers recorded their biggest ever win in that same season, 1937/38 beating Edinburgh City 13-2 at the old Bayview and finishing 6th in the division two table of that era.  They won the Wemyss cup three years on the run 1935/ 36/ 37.
     Their most rewarding spell in their history was the period after the second world war known as the golden age when they were Scottish league cup winners in 1948, 50 and 54, runners up to Rangers in the Scottish cup in 1950 and winners of the old division two (second tier) in 1948.

     Fifers biggest defeat came on 5th October 1957 when they went down 9-0 to Hearts at Tynecastle also losing that season 9-1 to Aidrieonians away, 0-6 at home to Third Lanark and by the same score to Aidrieonians at the old Bayview.  No wonder then that East Fife were relegated out of division one that season finishing 17th out of 18 five points adrift of, you guessed it, Aidrieonians. 
     These days Fife are predominantly in the bottom two tiers of the Scottish league.  They had to relocate across town in 1998 to a stadium with the same name but with a capacity of just under 2,000.
     In the league (third tier) this season the Fifers are clinging onto a play-off spot in 4th place on goal difference from, of course "Aidrieonians". 

STENHOUSEMUIR ... 3   EAST FIFE ... 1

     What a glorious afternoon for a game of football and any idea I might of had about this game being a one way onslaught in favour of East Fife were blown out by the battling warriors.  They certainly lived up to their nickname although the football wasn't the best there was no lay back and die attitude about this side as they went about wearing their opposition down into a final submission.

     In a well contested first half where both sides had chances to take the lead it wasn't until the last but one minute when Willis Furtado with an assist from David Marsh found himself centre of the East Fife penalty area ans slotted the ball into Mark Hurst's left hand corner of the net.

     The second half continued in the same gritty tempo of the first but with Fife knocking loudly on the Warriors door and eleven minutes in they got their just rewards when following a corner Chris Kane assisted by Nicki Paterson struck a shot from the left hand side of goal beating Graham Bowman and into the keepers far side corner of the net.

     The Warriors showed real character and wasn't prepared to give up the fight and five minutes after the set back of the equaliser Justin Austin who came on for Scott Robinson at half time was adjudged to have fouled Willis Furtado in the penalty area and  the ref pointed to the spot.  Colin McMenamin stepped up to take it after a long wait as a East Fife player received treatment for an injury and he made no mistake tucking the ball into Hurst's bottom right hand corner of the goal.

     East Fife came again at Stenhousemuir looking to take at least a point back to Bayview but their attempts all came to nothing and were futile when the Warriors drew blood yet again with eleven minutes left of normal play and it was that man again Willis Furtado who found himself yet again centre of goal and unleashed a left footed shot that found the top right hand corner of Hurst and East Fife's net to finally kill off any hopes of retrieving anything from this game. 

                               MATCH DETAILS