Match: v Crawley Town - Nationwide Football Conference

Date: Saturday, March 25th, 2006

Result: Crawley 1 Cambridge United 0

THE JOURNEY

Departure Time: 10.30am

Arrival at Ground: As is often the case, traffic was horrible on the M25. Fortunately though, the two-junction queue of stationary traffic was on the opposite carriageway so our journey was uninterrupted - even when we passed the Histon team coach on its way to Bognor Regis.

Being just off the M23, Broadfield Stadium is one of the easiest to find. Mind you, the big brown road signs helped a little, as did the oversized red and white football on the roundabout next to the stadium!

We parked in the free car park at the ground just before 12.30pm. Not for the first time this season, this was before the person who issues our press passes arrived. Happily, a very helpful young lady in reception was prepared to lead us through the maze of corridors and stairways to the press area. This was a refreshing contrast to the reaction we've received in similar situations at other clubs (the main culprit will remain nameless but, for the purposes of this conversation, we'll call them 'Hereford') where you are made to stand and wait until the required person turns up, sorts themselves out, chats to all and sundry (except us), makes a cup of tea etc, etc.

The office staff was, I understand, equally helpful when averting a ticket crisis with one of the United players' families.

AT THE GROUND

The Ground: Less than ten years old, the ground is modern in design and, from the outside at least, relies heavily on a combination of breezeblock and corrugated iron, the latter covered with paint that had been spread just a little too thinly.

The main stand, which ran almost the length of the pitch, was front-loading and the stairs to the first row of red seats took you up a good six feet above pitch level. Ample for Crawley's needs, this was the only area of seating and was tidy, comfortable and provided a good view.

After a space at either end of this stand, covered stands of terracing mirrored each other as they curved round behind each goal to just about level with the corner flags on the other side of the pitch. United fans were allocated the terrace to the left of the main stand.

The remaining side of the pitch left you in doubt that this was a Conference rather than Football League ground. Narrow, uncovered terrace ran the length of this side of the ground, and a high mesh fence that stopped stray clearances wandering onto the dual carriageway behind enhanced its breezeblock back wall. That road was slightly higher than the ground and, from some seats in the main stand, it looked as though the traffic was driving along the top of that back wall.

Although the stadium itself was good, it was let down by a pitch that quickly surrendered to the heavy rain and became a quagmire. It was so wet along the touchline in front of the main stand that when the substitutes returned after warming up, they didn't know whether to look for dugouts or a harbour.

United Fans: Sang for virtually the whole game, except for about 15 minutes after the goal. Ample pre-match oiling of the vocal cords had helped one or two sustain this I suspect.

View from Away End: A modern ground, with no pillars in the way, ensured a good view from virtually everywhere in the ground. Whether this was a good or a bad thing under the circumstances was open to debate!

Home Fans: Red cards were handed out before the game. However, it would appear that many Crawley fans were as bemused about the reason behind them as I was, so any planned protest never really took off.

Police/Stewards: There was a surprisingly heavy police presence with a Police CCTV unit van together with police and stewards from United. This was probably due to trouble at a recent Crawley match but, on this occasion, there were no problems for them to deal with, which may have been due to the heavy rain and the fact that Crawley won.

Programme: At £2 for 48 full-colour pages, the wonderfully named 'Devil's Advocate' contained a number of good articles (not counting Reggie Reds page ? on the basis that anything that starts 'Howdy-doo-dee' should be discounted as quickly as possible!). However, it also contained 25 pages of adverts (which explained the price) and more non-League tables than you could shake a devil's trident at.

Food/Drink: Redz bar and restaurant outside the ground went down well with some of our travelling party. They enjoyed a sit down meal followed by a game of pool that, due to an inability to pot the balls, looked, at one stage, like not being finished before kick off!

There was a good range of food available inside the ground too; all served efficiently by staff in replica shirts.

State of Toilets: The away toilets were billed as the 'best in the Conference' and it was hard to disagree, with hot and cold water, proper soap and hand dryers.

Miscellanea: Although the players ran out to the theme from the A-Team, there was no sign of conveniently placed scrap being welded together into a makeshift armoured vehicle ready to burst out of a nearby shed. Shame, it might have surpassed the lack of traffic on the M25 as the highlight of the day. As it was, that clear run had to compete with the Crawley mascot - a red devil, replete with horns, pointy tail and trident. Suggestions from some quarters that it was actually a United director seemed a little unfair.

THE NUMBERS GAME

Mileage: 188.0 miles

Total Distance for Season: 5,788.7 miles

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

[Match report] [Fixture List] [League Table]

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