Match: v Burton Albion - Nationwide Football Conference

Date: Tuesday, February 21st, 2006

Result: Burton 2 Cambridge United 0

THE JOURNEY

Departure Time: 2.50pm.

Arrival at Ground: Having taking all sorts of advice about the best route to choose, I finally plumped for leaving the M1 at junction 24 and following the A50 and A38 to Burton. And just for once it worked out perfectly, with the route taking me in to Burton right by the ground.

Having enjoyed a straightforward journey, I parked in the capacious car park at the ground at about 5pm.

AT THE GROUND

Club Officials/Stewards: First impressions are often accurate; a theory strengthened by the very friendly and helpful staff I met in reception and the car park. Talk about a complete contrast to our previous midweek away game at Hereford. While the club officials at Edgar Street underlined the derivation of the word 'officious', those at the Pirelli Stadium were, without exception, friendly, welcoming and a tremendous advertisement for their club.

Although I arrived at dusk, and set up in the press area in just about enough light to work, the groundsman soon appeared to tell me that he was putting the floodlights on. Now I know that they weren't being switched on for my benefit, but his appearance and explanation made it feel as though they might have been... I didn't like to tell him that being able to see what I'm doing doesn't actually make much difference to my handwriting!

The Ground: Built on the edge of town and set in a sea of tarmac, the outside of the Pirelli Stadium is perhaps not the most inspiring. As you walk round though, parts of the stadium boundary is chain-link fencing and, though these, you get glimpses of a more impressive construction inside.

The press access to the ground was through a smart reception area that leads, via a suite of executive rooms, to the main stand. Plushly fitted out, these areas were a little like a tasteful version of similar facilities at Darlington's Reynolds Arena - or whatever it's called this week.

Neat, tidy and with a 6,000 capacity that is clearly sufficient for the needs of most clubs at Conference (and League Two) level, the Pirelli was like a scaled up version of Chester's Deva Stadium (yes, I know that name has been changed too!). Ten rows of black and (almost) amber seats - the only area of seating - were in a stand that ran the length of one side of the pitch. The glass windows of the aforementioned executive and corporate areas filled the back of this stand.

The three remaining sides of the ground each had a stand of covered terracing slightly smaller in size than our Habbin Stand. Illuminated doorways, strategically positioned in the back wall of these stands, led to steps down to the facilities in the concourse below.

The stadium control room was in the style of a railway signal box and placed, on its supporting tower, between the Main Stand and the terrace behind the right hand goal - the one occupied by the travelling U's fans. This box didn't completely fill the gap though, and with each stand some distance from each other, there was more than enough room for the icy wind and wintry showers to bluster in through the spaces between and over the low roofs, making for a very cold evening.

This open aspect was one of only two real down points to the facilities. The other was the pitch, which could have done with a toupee in places and was so soggy that it cut up just by looking at it.

Being so early meant that there was plenty of time to scan the advertising boards around the ground. A couple of them stood out from the usual generic adverts for car dealers and solicitors; one was for Bovril - traditional football fare in a contemporary setting - while the other was for someone who claimed to be 'the king of motor caravans'. I wish I'd taken a note of his phone number so I could ring him up to complain when I get held up on the A1 behind a convoy of the things at the start and end of every season!

United Fans: Miserable and cold, they alternated between pledging undying support for the team and announcing just how bad they thought they were. Both were done loudly.

View from Away End: With no pillars, the view in all parts of the ground was excellent... some may say 'too good' given the performance.

Home Fans: Good support, although they seemed to think that 'Southern Softies' shouldn't be allowed to use any physical contact... perhaps they have different rules ooop north!

Programme: £2 for 48 A5 pages. Although there was sporadic use of colour and a lot of adverts, the articles were all worth a read - especially the one suggesting that the U's are likely to be battling for promotion next season!

THE NUMBERS GAME

Mileage: 233.2 miles

Total Distance for Season: 5,225.7 miles

Mark Johnson, with additional reporting by Gordon McMillan

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