Match: v Oxford United - Coca-Cola League Two

Date: Saturday, December 11th, 2004

Result: Oxford 2 Cambridge United 1

THE JOURNEY

Departure Time: 10.30am

Arrival at Ground: Remarkably, both Baldock and the M25 were well behaved, and there was barely a hold up anywhere as we parked in one of the large car parks at the ground just before 12.30pm.

AT THE GROUND

The Ground: The impressive façade and main reception area give the impression of a club that either expects to be moving out of it's current division before too long, or hasn't quite realised which League it's actually in at the moment. It's a slightly different story inside the ground however, as it soon becomes apparent that the Kassam Stadium is only three quarters of the ground it aspires to be.

From the impressive entrance, you reach the Main Stand, which is the only two-tired part of the ground. The lofty press area at the back of this stand provided an excellent view over the rolling Oxfordshire countryside to the left and the tower blocks of the infamous Blackbird Leys estate to the right, all of which came increasingly into focus as the wintry sun put in a brief appearance to burn off the mist.

There was an equally contrasting view looking around the stadium too. The stand opposite, a third of which was give to the travelling U's fans, and the stand behind the goal to the right of the Main Stand were both large but single-tiered and stood in splendid isolation to the other stands. In fact there was such a gap between each of the three stands that it looked as though emergency quarantine laws had passed to stop contagious diseases being transmitted between the three areas.

The stand behind the other goal was unique in one major respect; it was invisible! Over the garden fence at the rear of this area, there was a good view of a large car park. Vehicles in this area faced two hazards: a number were struck by misdirected shots that had flown over the fence, and there was a further risk from a group of locals who spent some of the match trying car doors. These locals may not have managed to acquire any vehicles on this occasion, but they did end up with at least one match ball.

United Fans: Excellent support at times, although they became increasingly muted as defeat became inevitable until Easter's goal woke them up again.

View from Away End: A good view of the pitch and of the action that was taking place in the car park behind the goal to their right.

Home Fans: Increasingly decent support as the match wore on, until they were stunned into nervous silence by our goal.

Police/Stewards: With no police in evidence, the busiest stewards seemed to be the two who were being led a merry dance in the car park during the match.

Programme: £2.50 for 52 pages, which included all the usual bits and pieces, the front cover was glossy and impressive, although the design seemed a little 'bitty'. Full marks to the programme editor for having the 'From the Manager' column 'written' by the new boss, although the news of Cameron Diaz' - err, sorry, Ramon Diaz' appointment hadn't filtered through to Ron Atkinson who wished Darren Patterson every success as manager in an interview. Paul Wanless was also not entirely accurate when he wrote about how privileged he felt 'to be captaining the side today'.

Food/Drink: £1.20 got you a good-sized cup of very palatable tea, while the 'rollover' hot dogs were given ten out of ten by our expert taster.

Mileage: 190.2 miles

Total Distance for Season: 3,478.8 miles

Mark Johnson, with additional reporting by Paul Johnson, Ryan Johnson and Gordon McMillan