Match: v Crawley Town - Nationwide Football Conference

Date: Saturday, March 17th, 2007

Result: Crawley 1 Cambridge United 1

THE JOURNEY

Departure Time: 10.40am

Arrival at Ground: With all the motorways behaving themselves, a straightforward journey was notable only for the Eurovision Lorry Contest as we passed an array of pantechnicons, registered to virtually every country in Europe - including a few that seemed to have declared independence during the journey, which would explain why not all the registration letters were identifiable.

Having not needed to use up any of the contingency time built into the journey, we parked in the car park at the ground shortly after 12.15pm.

AT THE GROUND

The Ground: Set on the edge of town, the ground is one of the easiest to find due to its proximity to the motorway, the helpful road signs and an oversized red and white 'football' on the roundabout by the ground.

The large car park outside the ground was patrolled by embryonic chavs wearing baseball hats at an assortment of ridiculous angles, some with an apparent inability to spot, and thus avoid falling into, the local shrubbery.

Despite this colourful 'wildlife' the view you get from the car park is of the ground's best side. A symphony of breezeblock, the Broadfield Stadium is about ten years old now and has a glass-fronted reception area in the centre of the car park side of the ground, the doors of which were very reluctantly opened at about 1.15pm. The away turnstiles to the left of reception carried the message that 'no offensive weapons' were allowed inside the ground. However, it was not clear whether inoffensive weapons were permitted.

This reasonably impressive façade was reflected in the Main Stand. The only area of seating; the first row of seats were raised about six feet above the level of the pitch and its steep rake and wide seats made for comfortable viewing. This stand proved to be the exception as the rest of the ground had 'we're in the non-league' written all over it.

Low, covered terracing was behind either goal while the remaining side of the pitch had an uncovered terrace running alongside it with a breezeblock back wall, built slightly lower than the white doors that were spaced along its length. A wire mesh fence stood tall behind this wall, strategically placed to protect the busy dual carriageway behind it, from agricultural clearances. A small scoreboard had been built midway along this side terrace and although it displayed an accurate score, I'm sure the clock showing the match time slowed down in the second half!

Before the match a sporadic tannoy interspersed booming announcements with eerie silences while the Crawley mascot - a red devil, bizarrely called 'Reggie' - had us searching for the aspergillum to ward it off with holy water as it leaped the barrier into the stands.

United Fans: Got behind the team increasingly well as the match progressed and they realised that this wasn't going to be a repeat of the previous two games. Most gave Paul Crichton an appreciative hand as he stood in front of them at the start of the second half, although one in the main stand area felt the need to confront Jimmy Quinn after the match, giving him a piece of his mind that he may not have actually been able to spare.

View from Away End: Fine from the front of the terrace, as the walkway in front was kept clear.

Home Fans: For a while it seemed as though there would be more Crawley flags than fans on the covered terrace opposite the away end. But although there were a lot flags, the imbalance was corrected as kick-off approached. Some Crawley fans in the main stand didn't like Danny Brown - or many of their own players actually, now I come to think about it - although they did go daft when they snatched that late equaliser.

Police/Stewards: There were a few police in the ground but neither they nor the stewards had much to do except speak to one or two of the local undesirables.

Programme: £2.50 for 52 pages. Although a significant number were in black and white, the overall design and 'feel' of the programme was excellent.

Food/Drink: Tea came in a large cup and was extremely hot while burger and chips (£3.20) were palatable without troubling the top of the food table. However the clubhouse, which was open to away supporters before the match, seemed to be selling very watered-down orange juice.

State of Toilets: After the nightmares of Stafford and Altrincham, the facilities at Broadfield Stadium came as a refreshing change. Among the best this season, they were spacious and clean with hot water, soap and hand dryers.

AFTERWARDS

The Journey Home: The journey home was notable only for a little excitement at the toll booths on the Dartford Crossing where, perhaps mindful that the start of the Formula 1 season was the following day, a worrying number of drivers seemed to treat leaving the booths like the dash for the first corner of a race. With cars cutting across lanes from all directions, and no one prepared to give any ground, it was a minor miracle that the Safety Car wasn't deployed.

Mileage: 188 miles

Total Distance for Season: 4,729.9 miles

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

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