Match: v Mansfield Town - Coca-Cola League Two

Date: Tuesday, January 11th, 2005

Result: Mansfield 0 Cambridge United 0

THE JOURNEY

Departure Time: 3.10pm

Arrival at Ground: After the icy conditions that had caused the original Boxing Day fixture to be postponed we did at least manage to get all the way to Mansfield this time - although there were some concerns on the way up as the strong winds lashed impenetrable rain against the windscreen at times.

No sign of the match being under threat on this occasion though when we parked in the wind-swept car park at the ground shortly after 5.20pm and experienced the first of several confused stewards.

This particular steward directed me to park near a set of 'step ladders'. These proved to be either invisible or he actually meant some metal railings by a staircase. In either case I'm sure the walk did him good as he wandered over to tell me that where I'd parked wasn't where he really meant. It also gave him the chance to call me 'me duck' for the umpteenth time - a phrase that is local to the area and not used because he was 'quackers', although that possibility couldn't be ruled out either.

Even allowing for the re-parking, there was still time for a coffee at one of the numerous five-star restaurants & err, takeaways that interspersed the fitness clubs close to the ground.

AT THE GROUND

The Ground: Impressive on three sides, like many grounds we have visited in recent weeks, Field Mill has one stand that dwarfs the rest of the ground. Two-tiered and imposing, it did nothing to protect the stand along the side that bore the full brunt of the chilling wind that blew straight into it.

In addition to housing the press, this small, partly condemned stand also served as Mansfield boss Carlton Palmer's technical area from which he bellowed his instructions throughout almost the entire 90 minutes. As he was standing less than 10 yards from me, his near non-stop shouting made it a little tricky to concentrate on commentary, although he was entertaining and he did give me some respite occasionally when suddenly appearing in the dug out. This he did without appearing to cover the ground in between, almost as if he had a teleport device.

The stands behind either goal were almost identical, apart from one being mainly yellow seats with blue letters picked out and the other in reverse. In keeping with this, United fans were allocated the opposite end to the one in which they had found themselves last season.

Again, each stand stood in splendid isolation, allowing plenty of space in which the strong wind could make life uncomfortable. But that was nothing compared to the discomfort felt by the visiting fans as the gut-wrenchingly awful club song was played over the tannoy just before the teams came out.

United Fans: A decent turnout gave the lads excellent support and also found time for a spot of steward baiting.

Home Fans: It was well into the second half before we heard the first chants of 'come on you Stags'. For most of the match though they watched on in almost silence.

Stewards: The tone that had been set in the car park continued once we had collected press passes indicting entry via turnstiles 7/8. Of course the steward on these gates directed us elsewhere - to a gate in the corner of the ground where a helpful steward let us in. However, just as we reached the press box on the other side of the ground, another steward appeared and demanded to know how we had got in. He finally admitted that 'it wasn't our fault', which was good of him!

Programme: At £2.50 for 64 pages - plus a four-page insert - this was a programme with plenty to interest both home and away fans. The original date of the fixture was suggested by the snowflake effect in the background of a number of pages, the rather dodgy photos from the staff Christmas party, and a page dedicated to turkey recipes, but the match had been rearranged quickly enough for this not to matter too much.

Food/Drink: Although the steak and kidney pies were gorgeous, the hot chocolate was neither hot nor tasted of chocolate while the coffee was cold.

THE NUMBERS GAME

Mileage: 210.9 miles

Total Distance for Season: 4,433.1 miles

Mark Johnson, with additional reporting by Gordon McMillan and Andrea Thrussell