Match: v Grimsby Town - Coca-Cola League Two

Date: Monday, January 3rd, 2005

Result: Grimsby 3 Cambridge United 0

THE JOURNEY

Departure Time: 9.30am

Arrival at Ground: It's been a while since I last visited Blundell Park, so I'd forgotten just how far off the usual beaten track it is. Once past Lincoln, a single carriageway winds a circuitous route through the Lincolnshire Wolds before you finally reach the town of 'Great Grimsby'.

As we drove on into Cleethorpes, where the ground is situated, there was a noticeable lack of young people to be seen - almost as though the town had just been visited by the Pied Piper. The reason for this became clear when, after parking by the ground just after 12.15pm, some of our party ventured onto the sea front and found it to be full of groups of unsavoury-looking lads riding scrambling bikes around concerned-looking dog walkers.

AT THE GROUND

The Ground: Sandwiched between the river and a drive-thru McDonalds, Blundell Park is hemmed in by a maze of terraced side streets, populated by characters as 'colourful' as those on the sea front.

A traditional ground in many respects, despite being all seated, a loose collection of stands surround the pitch. One giant stand, with executive boxes separating a smaller lower tier from its towering upper section, dominates everything in the same way that a similar construction dominates Lincoln's Sincil Bank. And rather like that stand back down the A46, it only took up the central section of one side of the pitch.

An old, wooden framed stand, with myriad pillars, ran along the other side. This area contained the press box. The left end of this stand curled into the away section - a stand that ran only to about level with the edge of the penalty area - while a similarly single-tiered stand took up most of the other end. The seats in this stand were arranged into black and white stripes, while the others in the ground were red.

The areas between the stands formed the steel skeleton of areas under construction, although they looked as though they'd been like that for some time. These skeletons created gaps between the stand that allowed an icy wind to have full effect.

United Fans: Arguments between those fans who want to get behind the team and those who want to call for the Chairman's head continue to rage as a disappointing season drags on.

View from Away End: As the away seats were bolted onto the old terrace, the view was poor, even if you didn't have a pillar in the way.

Home Fans: The thing about being bottom of the League is that the opposing fans expect their side to win easily, and moan if it doesn't happen. There was very little actual support for their side from the home fans, while Stuart Bimson came in for some stick as a former Lincoln player.

Police/Stewards: Those we came across we friendly enough - although we did have some difficulty with the steward on the car park in which I'd been allocated a space. Like an inverse version of the shopkeeper in Mr Benn, he kept disappearing as if by magic.

Programme: At £2.50 for 48 pages, this was one of the few programmes so far this season without a glossy cover. Simple in design, with plenty of white edging to each page there wasn't too much to interest visiting fans. Surprisingly, print deadlines meant that the League table printed was last updated on December 20th.

Food/Drink: While tea developed a taste towards the bottom of the large plastic cup, unfortunately it wasn't the taste of anything that had been anywhere near the plant 'Camellia sinensis'. Hot dogs were also disappointing as they failed to live up to the first part of their name.

State of Toilets: Traditional in the very worst sense of the word, the facilities were dark and dank.

AFTERWARDS

The Journey Home: Traffic around the ground had died down by the time I was ready to leave, so the only problem getting out of town was trying to obliterate the memory of the 'Can Can' booming out over the tannoy after each goal!

Mileage: 285.5 miles

Total Distance for Season: 3,900.1 miles

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