VENUE #58 QUEENS PARK Hampdon Park

SCOTTISH LEAGUE TWO

Queens Park... 4

Montrose... 1

Saturday 7th February
              2015

@ Hampden Park Stadium

             Glasgow

     The threat of bad weather made me cautious once more about the prospect of this game being played.  Well, it is a Scottish league two game but this is Queens Park, the oldest Scottish league team and they play at Scotland's national ground, Hampden.  The ground does have under soil heating if Queens are aloud to use it for they only draw around 500 people per home game and I wouldn't have thought that the revenue made would go anywhere near paying a massive heating bill let alone anything else it costs to stage a game at this level.

     I arrived at Mount Florida railway station about 13:45 as scheduled but it was a close thing for the train from Wolverhampton to Glasgow Central was delayed twelve minutes for a signal failure, (again), between Birmingham and Wolves which left me minutes to catch my connection.

     Scanning Google maps I found that there was a chip shop not far from Hampden and so I made that my first port of call only to find it closed and so I had to put plan B into action and bought two sausage rolls from Greggs which was across the road.  They gave me a free chocolate and fudge doughnut because they had made too many or maybe they thought through my appearance that I'd fallen on bad times and could do with a little extra.

   

The little Hampden pitch outside the Stadium

 I took some pictures of the exterior of the ground focusing on the little Hampden pitch used by Queens Park reserves and noticed a steward paying me a lot of attention and I knew that I was going to be investigated as I made my way toward to the grounds entrance.  Hampden only opens two turnstiles for Queens games, P and O, and as I approached the steward made his way toward me and said, "Can I look inside your bag sir", I agreed and opened my bag for him, it contained my laptop and android for use on the train to write to my blog and add pictures to Facebook etc.  I think he was determined to find something to confiscate but fell short on his desire as I was clear of illegal substances and past the test, he was a little over officious but also helpful in a reluctant kind of way.

The North stand

     Last season Queens had to leave their ground Hampden Park to play their home matches at the Excelsior Stadium natural home of Airdrieonians which is 16 miles away in North Larnarkshire.  The reason for this being that Hampden underwent redevelopment work for the 2014 commonwealth games and the entire process took around fifteen months.  It is safe to say that Queens didn't enjoy the time away from their coveted home venue as they finished bottom of league two twelve points adrift of next placed team Elgin City, were as this season similar to the one before last they are contenders for promotion to league one.

     The Spiders boss Gus MacPherson makes four changes to his team from the game last Saturday when they lost 2-1 to Albion Rovers at Cliftonhill, Shaun Rooney, Bryan Wharton, Ross Gallacher and John Carter make way for Gavin Mitchell, David McGregor, Kevin Fotheringham and Jordan Moore.  George Shields of Montrose makes only one change to the team that beat Annan 2-1 at Links park bringing in Adam Harwood for Jonathan Crawford.

   

The West stand

Queens had most of the play from the start but always seemed to fall short in the final third of the field.  It took 24 minutes to make the breakthrough when the ball was pinging around the Montrose penalty area until it found it's way to Darren Miller who side footed it into the back of the net.

     You could see the confidence escalate in the Glaswegian side and it wasn't long before it was 2-0 when some intricate play found Paul woods in the Montrose box who cut inside and rolled the ball past Stuart McKenzie in the Montrose goal.

     Come the second half and Queens went back to playing as they did early on in the first and not making much impression on the Montrose goal which inspired the Gable Endies who in the 76th minute came back into the game with a fluke goal when substitute Ross Campbell charged into a sliding tackle from Queens defender David McGregor who smashed the ball against the Montrose striker and it looped over William Muir in the Spiders goal to make it 2-1 and game on.

     This sparked life back into Queens and in the 82nd minute the referee awarded them a controversial penalty which was easily despatched by Jordan Moore who totally killed the game off three minutes from time with his second and Queens Park's fourth.

Teams coming out the tunnel

     Beautiful Stadium Hampden but with a crowd of 500 and 52 thousand empty seats it just doesn't do the place justice, although I supposed it is great for these amateur players to get to play on the National pitch.  The ground is fully enclosed and fully covered as befitting a national Stadium.  The club shop is a little stall to the right as you come through the turnstiles, very quaint.

     One annoying thing is that there is no official programme to be bought at the ground, you have to download it from the Queens Park official website and print it off yourself.  I hope that other clubs don't adopt this idea as it's going to cost a fortune in ink for my printer

     Both sets of fans get to use the same turnstiles and are only segregated by a section of seats that are cordoned off.

     One drunken Montrose fan made the afternoon a little more entertaining by singing and clapping his way through a medley of Links Park favourites, (When he wasn't nodding off to sleep), and he can claim to his fellow supporters, if or when he gets home and if he can remember, that he out sang the Queens Park supporters at Hampden Park.

                                                          Match Details

         

VENUE #57 THE NEW SAINTS The Venue at Park Hall

 WELSH PREMIER

The New Saints... 6
Port Talbot Town... 0

Saturday 31st January
            2015

@ The Venue, Park Hall
            Oswestry


     The weather didn't look very promising as I looked out of the window at half past three in the morning.  A thin layer of snow coated the street and the pavements and I feared that the game would be called off again.  I tried to visit the Venue at Park Hall two weeks earlier to see TNS take on Carmarthen Town but the game was postponed due to frost on the pitch despite the all weather playing surface, and the forecast for today was to be be much colder than my previous visit.
     I decided to take the risk although every thing seemed to suggest that it was a bad idea.  I checked on the Nation Rail website and found that there was a signal failure between Wellington and Shrewsbury and that a bus service between Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury could be in forced or at the very least there could be delays.  But gamble I did and it paid off for a change, there was a slight delay when the train had problems at Shrewsbury but I had plenty of time to kill and so really it did me a favour rather than upset any of my plans for the day.

   

Mascot Spot the Dog with TNS players in unusual home kit

 TNS are running away with the league as usual and buried any chances of Carmarthen reaching the top six at the cut-off point by beating them 3-0 last Wednesday night in the re-arranged fixture of the game I went to see originally.  Manager Craig Harrison makes two changes for today's game leaving out Sam Finley and Adrian Cieslewicz and replacing them with Philip Baker and Greg Draper.  The Steelmen left it until the last day to secure their top six spot with a 4-3 home win over Bala Town.  Bernard McNally also makes two changes, goalkeeper Steven Cann makes way for Connor McFenton and defender Corey Thomas is left out and replaced by Rhys Griffiths.
     You may find this a strange statement to make but I found the game to be disappointing for as the scoreline suggests it was a very one sided affair with Port Talbot just content with turning up.  It was as though they thought the result was a foregone conclusion and so lacked any spirit, passion or desire to contribute anything to the game.
     Greg Draper opened and closed the scoring for the Saints in the 7th and 90th minutes with Scott Quigley netting the first of the brace's before half time after 18 and 36 minutes.  The next goal didn't emerge until the 79th minute, TNS made it into a bit of an expedition match which did nothing to reduce the wind chill factor around Park Hall, I now know why they're dancing in the streets of TNS, "TO KEEP BLOODY WARM".  Connell Rawlinson restarted the scoring spree with Jamie Mullan adding to the total two minutes later with a well executed goal.

Pitch side view of the Venue function room 

     I'd really love to see TNS give up their total dominance of the Welsh premier league and play in their own country, say, at Conference Premier level and see how they would get on having to battle through matches every week, no more guaranteed wins and a lot less total demolition jobs as in the game today but then again, I'm surprised how they keep their heads above water as the crowd today was reported as being 201 but I think the total was much less than that, more like 70 to 80 paying customers with quite a few of them kids and OAP's paying concessional prices.
     Another disappointing aspect of the afternoon was the fact that the Saints didn't wear their traditional green and white hooped shirts, instead they wore their second strip top which was almost a clash with their opponents.  The reason may be because their kit man forgot to wash them after the Carmarthen game or maybe he did wash them and hung them outside to dry and they didn't thaw out in time for kick off and that could have been the reason the game was fifteen minutes late to start.

   

Sign at Gobowen railway station

The ground is basically situated in the middle of nowhere with the nearest railway station 1 and a half miles away in Gobowen.  The capacity is supposed to be 2,000 with 1,000 of that being seated.  You can walk around the whole perimeter of the pitch watching the game while standing at most places,which is why I think it resembles a works league ground.  There are seating areas at the Burma road end which is where the away support usually congregate behind the goal, if any, and is partially covered.
     There is a small seating area joining onto the Burma road stand on the Venue side of the ground, it is covered but not the best by any circumstances.  The venue side is where the toilets are in a very nice function room which is accessible by a flight of stairs leading up to the doors which are manned by stewards to stop non paying people from watching the game.  The room has a bar, snack counter and a large TV and plenty of tables to sit and chill away from the football if you so wish.  It has a creche which is a ball park area where the kids can enjoy themselves while the parents are off doing other things.
     The journey home went very quickly as I met a fellow ground hopper Martin at the game and he had to catch the same train as me as far as Birmingham.  We discussed the game and past experiences and it was great to chat with someone who has the same interests for a change.

                                                          Match Details

 

VENUE #56 MANCHESTER CITY The Etihad Stadium

BARCLAYS PREMIER

Manchester City... 3

Crystal Palace... 0

Saturday 20th December

              2014

@ The Etihad Stadium

         Manchester

     What an absolute idiot I must be, travelling to the Etihad the ground of Manchester City just five days before Christmas day.  I managed to get a seat this time around on the train although the carriages were crammed with people, a lot of them having to stand for long periods as you would expect for this time of year.  No problems with delays as I've had on many of my train journey's this season, both trains were on time and things went pretty smoothly for a change.

     I had a ticket for Ashburys which is a station nearer to the Etihad than Manchester Piccadilly but decided to walk from Piccadilly for it was only a twenty minute walk and the route was easier to follow and the area was more populated and less "back streets". 

     I had my route worked out on Google so as to find the Etihad easy from Piccadilly but when I left the station I couldn't recognise where I actually was, I hung around a bit and saw a man wearing a Crystal Palace scarf with a young girl, probably his daughter, so I followed them hoping that they knew where they were going.  After about five minutes in pursuit I started to realise where I was and began to make my own way in the quicker manner that I'm used to and made it to the Etihad in good time.

 

The North stand joining the West

 Last Saturday City took on Leicester at the King Power Stadium and won 1-0, Manuel Pellegrini has made a staggering six changes to the team from that game most of them forced by injuries, missing out are Bacary Sagna, Vincent Kompany, Gael Clichy, Fernando, Frank Lampard and Edin Djeko to be replaced by Pablo Zabaleta, Martin Demichelis, Aleksandar Kolarov, Fernandinho, Jesus Navas and James Milner.  Crystal Palace were at home last weekend earning a one all draw with Stoke City and boss Neil Warnock only makes the two changes, Wilfred Zaha starts from the bench replaced by Jason Puncheon and Marouane Chamakh ruled out with Fraizer Campbell brought in.

      The first half was a little disappointing with City without a recognised striker in the team failing to impress and hit the back of the net with Crystal Palace at times looking the better side and it was Palace mid-way through the first half who had the ball in the net only to be ruled offside by the linesman who was a little late raising his flag.

     But in the second half it was more like the City we know, with Pellegrinis's words ringing in their ears it only took them four minutes to take the lead, Fernandinho found Zabaleta charging down the right flank and he cut the ball back to David Silva who's shot struck a sliding Scott Dann and the ball looped over keeper julian Speroni into the corner of the net.

Players coming out the tunnel

     Twelve minutes later and Silva made it 2-0 and this time it was Kolarov on the opposite side of the pitch making his way to the by-line and cutting the ball back again to the City midfielder who struck the ball cleanly past Speroni for his and his team's second of the afternoon.

     It was all City after that and for all their dominance it was another twenty minutes before they finally put the game to bed with a third goal, Frank Lampard coming on as sub for Silva in the 69th minute won the ball in his own half and combined with Navas and Milner to the brink of the Palace penalty area where the ball was fed to Yaya Toure who drilled a powerful shot via the post into the Palace net.

     One more goal would have put them ahead of Chelsea in the table on goal difference for a couple of hours but it ended 3-0 and at the end of the day City remain three points adrift of the league leaders.

   

Countdown to kick off

The Etihad is a marvellous Stadium and I would say the best I've seen so far, built in 2002 for the commonwealth games City moved in August the following year moving away from Main road which had been their home for the previous 80 years.  It is a 48,000 capacity all seated stadium costing around 90 million pounds.  The ground has a bowl design and totally enclosed with the two stands running the length of the pitch being three tiered and the two stands behind the goal being two tiered.  I was sat in the East stand right up with the Gods in the third tier, across the pitch is the main stand, (Colin Bell), and the two at each end are the North and the South.  One corner of the South stand that leads on to the East is reserved for away supporters which seems a bit small so I supposed that a larger area would be designated for teams with a larger away following such as neighbours United.  

     Although the Palace fans numbers were on the small side they did out-sing the City fans especially in the first half when they looked the better team.

                                                        Match Details

          

VENUE #55 MACCLESFIELD TOWN Moss Rose

VANARAMA

CONFERENCE

Macclesfield Town... 2

Woking... 1

Saturday 6th December

             2014

@ Moss Rose Ground

        Macclesfield

     Travelling to football matches using the train as my main form of transport is becoming a real pain and I'm seriously considering a change.  I always check on Nation Rail Enquiries website before I set out on a journey to see if there are any problems that may cause delays to the trains that I plan to catch and on doing so today I find that my train from Wolverhampton to Macclesfield had the yellow triangle with the black exclamation mark warning sign saying that this train could be delayed due to a person being hit by a train in the Coventry area.  You may remember that I had a similar problem last time out when I was stuck in Peterborough on a train for more than a hour and a half which subsequently meant I missed almost half hour of the game. This time however the train was only half a hour late and made up ten minutes during the journey.  

     Although there seemed to be an awful lot of people alighting the train at Wolverhampton when I finally managed to get aboard I found the carriage that I'd selected still rammed with people.  There were no seats and people standing in the passageways and in between the carriages.  This could have been a knock on effect from delays and cancellations of trains due to the earlier incident in Coventry or it might have been the fact that it was three weeks to Christmas and the trains final destination was Manchester Piccadilly.  I stood by the door and luggage compartment for three parts of the journey managing to get a seat at Stoke-on-Trent for the last twenty minutes.

 

pictures on the wall outside the ground 

   Macclesfield Town going into today's game are currently fifth in the table with a chance of going second if today's results go for them and if they manage to topple Woking who currently hold that second spot.  Manager John Askey makes just the one change from the 3-1 defeat at the hands of the league leaders Barnet at the Hive Stadium last Saturday, Andy Hall comes in for Alex Grant who sits it out on the bench for this one.  Garry Hill boss of Woking makes two changes from Tuesday night's 2-0 home win over Altrincham, Jack Marriott and Scott Rendell retire to the bench while Joe McNerney and Dean Morgan start the game.

     This wasn't a "Silky" performance at all by the home side for it was Woking who started the brighter and in the first ten minutes of the game Macclesfield found it hard to get out of their own half but after 13 minutes and with their first attack of the game they took the lead when Danny Whitaker found himself in space with the ball just outside the Woking penalty area, he fired a low left footed drive which was only parried by the Cardinal's keeper Ross Worner and into the path of the Silkmen's striker Matthew Barnes-Homer who slotted the ball home from six yards for his third goal of the season.

Teams shaking hands before match

     Macclesfield had several more chances before the break to increase their lead and started to look stronger than their opponents but failed to take the initiative and put the game beyond Woking and ultimately paid the price for six minutes into the second half and Woking were level  Dean Morgan found himself in the Macclesfield box with the ball at his feet and he fired a shot which was blocked and came straight back to him but this time he hit the ball wide of the Macc's keeper Rhys Taylor and into the bottom corner of the net.

     The game went from one end to the other after the equaliser and both teams squandered good chances and it looked like a draw would be the final outcome until the last minute of the game when Barnes-Homer got free down the right and pulled the ball back and towards  Paul Turnbull via a mistimed clearance and he fired the ball through a crowd of players and inside the bottom near post to send the Macclesfield fans wild for their side hung on till the final whistle and extended their unbeaten home run.

   

The John Askey stand

 Macclesfield Town have been playing football at Moss Rose since 1891, it has a capacity of around 6,335 of which just over 2,500 are seated.  The Silk FM main stand is covered and stretches a third of the length of the pitch and straddles the half way line.  Across on the other side of the pitch is the Henshaw's stand and is where I watched the game, it is a fully covered, single tiered and a all seated stand which was built in 2001.  At one end behind the goal to the right as you're sitting in the Henshaw's stand is the Macclesfield Audi stand which is a mix between seating and terracing with the terracing being behind the seats, (strange), and is fully covered.  At the other end behind the goal is the John Askey's terrace which is uncovered and designated to away supporters as is a third of the Henshaw's stand. 

                                                           Match Details

         

VENUE #54 IPSWICH TOWN Portman Road

SKY BET CHAMPIONSHIP

Ipswich Town... 2

Huddersfield Town... 2

Saturday 25th October

             2014

@ Portman Road Stadium

             Ipswich

     I had a bad feeling about this journey, I just couldn't get to sleep all night with things churning over in my mind, nightmares about the four and a half hour trip to Portman Road and I found out why during the course of the train ride out there.  The sun was in the sky which was almost totally blue apart from the odd cloud which looked like a small sailing vessel in a vast ocean, although the temperature was quite cool in the morning as you would expect on the last Saturday of October when the clocks were due to go back a hour in the small hours of the morning signalling that winter was well and truly on it's way.

     The first two trains were OK, both arrived at the station when they should and made good time on the trek towards East Anglia.  I got off the second train that was heading for Stanford airport at Peterborough, there was a scheduled wait of around 35 minutes for the departure of the third train that would take me on to Ipswich and so I made my way to platform six to await it's arrival.  But as the time grew nearer for the train to arrive there was an announcement on the tan ahoy that the train would be held at Peterborough station until further notice as a young person had been hit by a train between March and Ely.  I was sat on that train in the station for 1 hour and 40 minutes before we were allowed to move on and complete the journey which meant I missed the first 25 minutes of the game including the first goal.

   

Sir Bobby Robson Stand

 Ipswich manager Mick McCarthy made three changes to the team that lost 3-1 to Cardiff City at the City Stadium on Tuesday night, Tyrone Mings, Kevin Bru and Jonny Williams are replaced by Tommy Smith, Teddy Bishop and Luke Hyam.  Chris Powell the Huddersfield boss also made three changes to his team that drew 1-1 at Brighton in the mid-week game, Jack Robinson, Sean Scannell and and Harry Bunn were placed on the subs bench while Lee Peltier, Paul Dixon and Nahki Wells were given the go ahead.

     As I mentioned earlier I missed the first goal by Tommy Smith for Ipswich but did manage to view via TV highlights and basically a corner from the left from Teddy bishop found the head of Smith at the near post who made no mistake.  He should have made it two on the half hour when Bishop once again found him with a free kick this time which Smith deflected onto the post which had Alex Smithies in the Huddersfield goal scrambling to gather the rebound. 

     Nine minutes after the half time interval it was 2-0 to Ipswich when yet again a left sided corner from Bishop floated over to the far post found Jonathan Parr who clipped the ball over the static Huddersfield defence to David McGoldrick who controlled it and made a low cross which found Christophe Berra unmarked and he fired home from close range.

     Although Ipswich had a two goal advantage they never really looked like being able to keep it, there was a nervousness about them probably brought about from past games were they have been in this position before of something similar only to let the opposition back into the game and throw away points and today was no exception for in the 70th minute a deep cross into the Ipswich area saw Grant Holt and Luke Chambers challenging for the ball and they both ended up on the floor and referee Richard Clark, who personally I thought had a poor game and his assistants, gave a very dodgy penalty.  Up stepped Nahki Wells who fired the ball to the right of the keeper who went the same way but was beaten by sheer power and brought Huddersfield within touching distance of at least a  point.

     And that touching distance was well and truly achieved twelve minutes later when another cross from the right found Nahki Wells unmarked at the near post to head home to make his and Huddersfield's tally two for the afternoon.

Sir Alf Ramsey stand top tier

     Portman Road is a 30,300 all seated Stadium and although it's been around since 1888 it does look fairly modern thanks to redevelopment work done in the early stages of the new millennium.  The East of England Co-op stand where I watched the game from is three tiered and fully covered.  Across the pitch is the Cobbold stand which is two Tiered and only partially covered.

     At the two ends of the pitch behind the goals are the Sir Alf Ramsey stand and the Sir Bobby Robson stand  which are two tiered and fully covered.  Both Robson and Ramsey were former managers of Ipswich and both went on to manage the England National side and as we all know, Sir Alf Ramsey was the manager when England won the world cup in 1966.

     

     What I will say about the people in Ipswich which I found out to my annoyance for while being late for the kick off and in a bit of a rush as to get to the ground so I wouldn't miss any more of the game, the majority seemed so laid back that it's a wonder they weren't horizontal.  They will not be rushed and are quite happy to delay you even further for they haven't, or so it seems, a care in the world.

                                                         Match Details

 

VENUE #53 FALKIRK The Falkirk Stadium

SCOTTISH CHAMPIONSHIP

Falkirk... 1
Queen of the South... 1

Saturday 13th September
              2014

@ The Falkirk Stadium
            Falkirk

     I've been greatly looking forward to this game, not just because it's my first trip to Scotland in the new season but I've recently acquired a Galaxy Tab 3 and have been wanting to try it out on a long train journey just to see what I can do with the contraption.  Yes, as my Son would say, "The technophobe has just joined the 21st century", and is willing to try out new gadgets to maybe make short time of all the computer work that builds up when I return home from one of these trips, if I could get it all done on the train home it would leave time for other things.
     First thing to do is upgrade my ticket to first class for it is only £15 each way on Virgin trains at the weekend and the wi-fi is free.  I did manage to play tracks on Spotify after a hour, couldn't stream any live football though or watch X-Factor on the way home for the wi-fi on Virgin trains is pretty poor at the moment but they are trying to improve things for the future.  As for making short work of all the computer stuff which you don't need the internet for but you do need Microsoft office which isn't installed on my Tab and so I'll have to upgrade and maybe I could do so in the future.
   
   

View from in front of the open end

 Another warm day as it has been all week, fairly cloudy but the sun has been able to break through here in Fife to make it a pleasant afternoon and here's hoping that the football can add to it.  Peter Houston the Falkirk boss made three changes to the team that lost 1-0 to Stranraer at Stair Park in the Petrofac Training cup last weekend, new signings Owain Tudur-Jones and David Smith come into the main eleven forcing Blair Alston and Alex Cooper onto the bench and Botti Bia Bi replaces Ryan Blair.
     With the departure of manager Jim McIntyre this week Queen of the South name James Fowler as caretaker player coach for this game and he makes two changes to the side that lost 4-2 at Ibrox two weeks ago bringing himself and Ian McShane into the team at the expense of Kevin Dzierzawski and Lewis Kidd.
     Not much happened in the first half apart from a chance that came about because of a poor decision by the linesman who was running the line by where I was watching the game, the ball was played over the top of the Falkirk defence to Iain Russell who was five yards offside but his shot was blocked by Jamie MacDonald the Falkirk keeper and came to Ian McShane who collided with Falkirk's Joe Shaughnessy to which the referee gave a controversial free kick but the striker took it himself and blazed the ball over the bar.  The crowd got on the linesman's back over the incident to which he seemed to put his flag up for everything in response, well, up until half time anyway when I think the ref must have gave him a talking to for he got his composure back in the second half.

Getting ready to kick off

     It was 0-0 at the break and it looked as though it was going to stay that way until the Bairns got into the game a bit more half way through the second spell but seemed to hit a brick wall with some physical challenges from the Doonhamers defence.
     A bad clearance from MacDonald, who had a poor game considering he won the August player of the Month award, fell to the feet of Derek Lyle who's 30 yard shot went just wide of the post.  The keeper atoned himself with a good save from a rasping drive from Daniel Carmichael in the 69th minute then seconds later Queens were one up when Carmichael squared the ball across the Falkirk six yard box for Gavin Reilly to smash the ball into the top right hand corner of the net.
     Falkirk equalised in the 83rd minute, Queens defender Mark Durnan handled the ball 25 yards from goal and a powerful Craig Sibbald free kick struck Chris Higgins and spun high and wide of Zander Clark the Queens keeper and into the net.

   

Falkirk mascot Fergus Fox

 Falkirk Stadium is a lovely ground even though it's only got three sides, three big stands and a fence stretching along one touchline opposite the main stand.  Opened in July 2004 after their old ground Brockville was demolished and replaced with a Morrisons superstore, (Sounds familiar).  It has a 9,200 all seated capacity comprising of the three stands as mentioned .  The Main stand is two tiered and fully covered it's got lots of leg room in between seats and is one of the best places I've watched a game from yet and the toilets look brand new, clean and immaculate.
     The two end stands are the North and the South stands, both are identical, single tiered and fully covered with the South stand for away support use.
     The club shop is outside the ground and in front of the main (West) stand and it's also where you get your match tickets from but they don't sell match programmes, you have to get them from little one man stalls dotted about in front of the main stand.

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