Match: v Oxford United - Nationwide Football Conference

Date: Saturday, February 3rd, 2007

Result: Oxford 1 Cambridge United

THE JOURNEY

Departure Time: 10.30am

Arrival at Ground: It always used to be the case that if you wanted to travel to Oxford, the best place from which not to set out was Cambridge. However, motorway building over the last 20 years or so has changed all that so despite the best efforts of the M25 to live up to it's epithet of 'London's Car Park', the M40 ensured the journey was easy enough. After a brief call of nature at a service station packed with England rugby fans en route to Twickenham, we parked at the ground at about 12.45pm.

AT THE GROUND

The Ground: More five-star hotel than football ground from the outside, the Kassam Stadium is, by some distance, the best in the Conference. Admittedly, the lack of a stand on one side does give it a slight 'it'll be nice when it's finished' look, but it would be a little churlish to let that detract from the overall impression or a ground that has probably inspired several of the Conference's lesser lights to greater efforts on their visit.

Large, single-tiered stands run along one side of the pitch and behind one goal, while a two-tiered stand, separated by a middle section of glass-fronted executive areas, runs along the other side. Each of these stands is filled with blue seats and is topped by a steel construction that is in the style of the Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge... or at least how a scale model of the Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge would look if it had been built by someone who knew all the component parts, but not how they fitted together. Strangely, none of these stands appeared to be on speaking terms with each other as they were set so far apart that they could each have a different post code.

The remaining boundary of the ground was essentially a wooden garden fence, over which there was an excellent view a car park and the multiplex cinema that shared the parking facilities.

In addition to this scenic car park, there were even more starkly contrasting views from the press area high in top of the main stand. To one side of the stand opposite you could almost make out some of Oxford's famous dreaming spires among a flock of construction cranes, while to the other side you could see the tower blocks of the equally famous Blackbird Leys estate - at which point it was comforting to note that the car parks that surround the ground were stewarded throughout the match.

Despite the marble-floored reception area, imposing stands and historic views, the most impressive thing about a visit to the Kassam Stadium is the way they treat the Press. Admittedly a new stadium does allow the facilities to be as good as you might hope, but that's only part of the story. From the friendly and efficient way with which the press tickets were issued through to the warm welcome from Communications Manager Chris Williams, assistant Programme Editor Ambrose Landon and the chaps from BBC Radio Oxford, the Kassam Stadium was a pleasure at which to work. There are several clubs in the Conference - and the League - who could do worse that pay them a visit to learn some basic lessons in PR.

United Fans: Good support, particularly after we scored. There was plenty of 'banter' with a ball boy who seemed more interested in sending text messages than collecting the ball - apart from one occasion when he hurled it at Jon Brady.

View from Away End: U's fans were allocated a large area at the end of the stand opposite the main stand. With no pillars anywhere in the ground to get in the way, the only real difficulty with the view was the strong sunshine that streamed directly into United fans' eyes.

Home Fans: Although loud at times - particularly when fans on all three sides of the ground joined in - they were quick to turn on their team when things weren't going their way, while the throat-slitting gestures towards United fans when Oxford equalised were distinctly unsporting. I would exclude one Oxford fan from these negative comments though. Timmy Mallett sat close to the press area in the main stand and was very vocal as he enthusiastically (could he do anything other than enthusiastically?) supported his team throughout.

Police/Stewards: With no police in the ground, the stewards generally left U's fans to their own devices, having a gentle word with one or two.

Programme: £2.50 for 68 glossy pages. Although there were plenty of adverts, their spacing throughout the programme suggested that the club had decided against compromising the quality of their programme with economies due to their reduced status. The articles were well-written and included a number that can only be described as 'quirky', such as 'Top Ten Strange Injuries' and a 'Bluffers Guide' to Cambridge which listed "famous fibber* Jeffrey Archer and hairy funny* man Rory McGrath (* allegedly)", among our famous residents.

Food/Drink: Outside the ground, bacon rolls were £2.50 and contained more bacon than your average pig. Inside, were they were apparently unable to serve black coffee, £1.70 for a bottle of Fanta was on the precipitous side of steep.

State of Toilets: One hand dryer between everyone on one side of the ground did seem a little stingy but, otherwise, the facilities were adequate enough.

AFTERWARDS

The Journey Home: A decent journey back, with another point safely secured in the boot of the car ? must remember to drop it into the club some time this week!

Mileage: 195.5 miles

Total Distance for Season: 3,474.0 miles

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

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