Match: v Kidderminster Harriers - Nationwide Football Conference

Date: Monday, January 1st 2007

Result: Kidderminster 1 Cambridge United 0

The Journey

Departure Time: A not too uncivilised for the bleary-eyed 10.30am.

Arrival at Ground: Perhaps not surprisingly given the date of the match, the journey was fairly easy going on the way with a welcome lack of traffic. One might almost say - as indeed (Sir) Bono did many years ago - 'all is quiet on New Year's Day.'

A brief stop at Corley Services coincided with the arrival of the team coach to collect the other half of the squad. Those already on board took the opportunity to avail themselves of the facilities, sauntering across the car park like a scene from Reservoir Dogs... well they did have Mr Brown (Danny of that ilk) amongst their number!

We parked close to the ground at about 12.45pm.

At The Ground

The Ground: One of the better grounds in the Conference, Aggborough is comprised of two sets of almost matching stands.

Covered terracing is at either end of the ground. Of a similar height to the terracing at the Abbey, the only difference between the two areas is that the one to the right of the main stand - allocated to visiting supporters - has a brightly illuminated scoreboard on top and a chunky mobile phone mast behind. With a black background and squared off green and red characters, the scoreboard looked a little like the face of an early digital watch.

To the right of the away terrace, a long, seated stand stretched the length of the pitch with white seats among an otherwise sea of red plastic spelling out the word 'Harriers'. Steam trains puffed along a railway cutting behind this stand and clouds of white smoke billowed above it at regular intervals.

Opposite, the main stand contained fewer rows of seats, but made up for it by having the picture windows of boardroom and executive areas peeping out at the back.

Each of these four stands stood in splendid isolation with a stocky floodlight pole in each otherwise empty corner and were fronted by the usual advertising boards with far from the usual messages, such as the questionable spectator sport of 'Rat on a Rat' and the frankly baffling 'Hard Anodising Ltd'.

Before the turnstiles opened, huge speakers were wheeled out to face the pitch. Each the size of a small family saloon car, these augmented their cousins chained to the back of the main stand like victims of the Spanish Inquisition - which is not something you expect at a football match! Perhaps in due deference to the night before, these speakers were thoughtfully subdued, keeping to a reasonable volume... at least they were until four minutes before kick-off, when they were turned up to a volume that rattled tooth fillings for miles around.

United Fans: Giving positive support, they got louder as the match wore on and, perhaps, hangovers wore off.

View from Away End: With no pillars at the front of the terrace, and the option of seats for those who wanted them, anyone with a poor view probably only had themselves to blame.

Home Fans: Not sure any actually turned up until they had a goal to celebrate. They soon quietened down again until United were pushing hard for an equaliser towards the end when you could almost hear the sound of Kidderminster nails being bitten... so that's one resolution broken already then!

Police/Stewards: The stewards were unfailingly helpful and friendly and, other than Kidderminster striker James Constable, there were no police in evidence. Actually, we could have done with some police protection in the press area before the match when we were accosted by an enthusiastic draw ticket seller who announced himself with a Dirty Harry style 'do you feel lucky' and didn't know the meaning of the word 'no'.

Programme: The Kidderminster programme is always one of the best in the division - irrespective of which division that may be - and this was no exception. £2.50 for 52 well-designed pages containing good use of photos, a number of excellent articles and the surprising news that the management team's snacks are sponsored - suggesting perhaps that they eat an inordinate number of them!

Food/Drink: The Aggborough pies looked on form while you could get the biggest burger of the season for £2.50.

State of Toilets: The facilities for away were predictably the least impressive aspect of the ground with a disintegrating floor and a soap dispenser that would not have looked out of place at a chemical plant.

Afterwards

The Journey Home: The trip back turned out to be less straightforward than the journey to the game; not because the traffic had got too much heavier, but because of the closure of the junction we needed to leave the M5 and the invisible signs that had been used to indicate the diversion.

Mileage: 263.5 miles

Total Distance for Season: 3,138.9 miles

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

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