The trip down was a pretty long one due to the roadworks on the M6 and other hold ups on a few of the  the 10 motorways we went on. Yes ten! I couldn’t believe it until I counted. We set off at 2pm and got parked up on a street next to the ground at 7pm then headed for the nearest pub near to the away end to sample the local beer. As soon as we got in the pub you could tell the locals were friendly and very easy to talk to even though we were only in there for 30 mins or so which was nice to see.

What you thought on seeing the ground, first impressions of away end then other sides of the ground?

Having had a good look at the ground last year in the light of day I felt the stadium is a cross between professional and non league  which in the night time winter gloom seems to reinforce my first thoughts. The ground itself is a compact 3 sided stadium which if you didn’t put the away fans next to the home fans would not create much atmosphere but in doing what they have and having a drummer does create a very good atmosphere with relatively small numbers of away fans (213 as for us tonight). The one thing that lets the away end down is the walk through the park with very little lighting, this caused a few problems with a couple of ladies tripping especially on the steps.

Comment on the game itself, atmosphere, stewards, pies, toilets:

For the first 45 mins we played very well again and had much of the play but only creating a few chances to score which we didn’t manage to do, Aldershot changed their format in the second and started to close our forwards down more thus creating space and chances for themselves. The game really took hold when Chris Dagnall turned just inside the box on 75 mins and chipped the ball over the onrushing keeper to send the 213 hardy fans into raptures, before this the home side had come close to scoring but for our on loan keeper Tom Heaton to produce a superb low left have save.