Match: v Morecambe - Nationwide Football Conference

Date: Saturday, February 17th 2007

Result: Morecambe 2 Cambridge United 2

THE JOURNEY

Departure Time: A yawn-inducing 8am.

Arrival at Ground: The early morning mist soon cleared to leave a lovely spring day which encouraged an easy journey, albeit rather a lengthy one.

A much-needed coffee stop at Norton Caines services produced the usual quota of red shirts making their way to the northwest from Surrey, but there was also the rarer sight of a team heading in the opposite direction with Manchester Rugby Club on the way to Cambridge.

After negotiating our way round Lancaster's one-way system, we arrived at Christie Park at about 12.30pm.

AT THE GROUND

The Ground: Anyone who has visited Chester City would find many elements of Morecambe's ground a little familiar, with Christie Park not unlike a grown-up version of the Deva Stadium, particularly the style of the terracing behind either goal. A modern, if somewhat basic ground - at least on three sides - it's set on a bend on the main road, so it looks as though its been dropped onto the landscape at an angle.

Running almost the length of one side of the pitch, entrance to the main stand is mainly via steps at either end. A large expanse of seats, this stand has a narrow section of terracing at its foot, behind a chest-high wall.

The lofty seats in this stand provide not only an excellent view of the pitch, but also a view of the rolling hills beyond the town. Pulling the view back towards Christie Park, side streets lined with 30s-style semis are between the hills and the busy road that flicks a sinewy curve outside the ground. Closer still is a car wash tucked into a generous triangle of land between the road and the low back wall of the appropriately named Car Wash terrace - a narrow, open area. In the centre of the advertising boards along the front of this terrace is an old-fashioned scoreboard, which was just that: a board on which numerals were hung to show the score. After every goal, a ball boy appears to place a new number next to the appropriate team - although the speed of this depends on the team to have scored. The next numeral is propped up next to the scoreboard ready for when it is needed so, at one stage, the score appeared to read 'Morecambe 0 Visitors ½'.

A large, covered bank of terracing is to the left of the main stand. From a distance, the steps of this terrace looked new and clean enough to eat your dinner off. A closer inspection revealed only one of these impressions to be accurate.

The remaining end of the ground is similar, although the top half of terracing has been cut off to provide a platform on which a portakabin match day control room sits.

United Fans: Morecambe only segregate the ground when the visiting team is in its first season in the Conference after relegation from the League or if more than 1,000 visiting fans are expected. As this match fell into neither category, United fans were able to enjoy the rare treat of changing ends at half time. Most of the home fans did likewise but there was some decent banter with those Morecambe fans that watched both halves from the larger of the two end terraces.

View from Away End: As there was the opportunity to choose any of the four sides from which to watch the match, there was no real excuse for not getting a decent view.

Home Fans: Sporadically noisy, although there was an air of discontent in the ground, despite the team being in sixth place. This seemed to have much to do with the almost tangible undercurrent of dislike for the management team in some sections of the ground.

Stewards: Friendly and chatty, they were sensibly restrained when the goals were scored.

Programme: £2.50 for 48 pages with a good use of pictures and plenty of interesting articles. This being Morecambe, there was even a song sheet included with the words of 'Bring Me Sunshine', a song that was played immediately after the final whistle.

Food/Drink: Pie and peas, with optional chips and obligatory gravy was the order of the day.

State of Toilets: An open air 20' wall and half pipe was about as sophisticated as it got on our previous visits, but this time the facilities had been upgraded with the addition of a caravan which served as both the gents and the ladies.

Half Time Entertainment: There was some enthusiastic banter going backwards and forwards between the P.A. announcer in the stand and the M.C. in charge of the half time draw on the pitch. The draw lead to an 'open the box' competition - explained in full in the programme - which the club had considered getting sponsored by a local funeral director!

AFTERWARDS

The Journey Home: Although the journey was straightforward enough, it was not helped by the take it or leave it approach at Stafford services where little was open and the menu served only as a guide to what was not available.

Mileage: 431 miles

Total Distance for Season: 3,905 miles

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

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