1. Why you were
looking forward to going to the ground (or
not as the case may be):
I
was looking to travel to a few new grounds
this year, and having never visited Griffin
Park, or any of it's four pubs, I decided it
wouldn't be right if I didn't go to this
game. I had heard Brentford is a very decent
away day, so was very much looking forward
to it.
2. How easy was your journey/finding the
ground/car parking?
I got the train down, which was quite
difficult coming from Shrewsbury. I had to
take a train to Crewe, then to London
Euston, then I jumped onto the Northern line
to Waterloo, before finally getting on a
train to Brentford. Took me about three and
half hours in total hours in total, but I
was not the only fan taking this route.
Finding the ground from Brentford station is
not that straightforward as the ground is
set back in a housing estate and is nearly
impossible to see. But Brentford fans are
more than helpful, and gave be the quickest
and safest way to get to the away
turnstiles, and the walk once I was going in
the right direction was only around five
minutes.
3. What you did before the game
pub/chippy.... home fans friendly?
I went into The Griffin pub for a quick one
before the game. There were already a few
Shrewsbury fans already were, the atmosphere
was friendly as both sets of fans mixed
happily without incident.
4. What you thought on seeing the ground,
first impressions of away end then other
sides of the ground?
Griffin Park is a very unusual ground. With
the away end having a bottom terrace beneath
an upper tier of seating. Both the left and
right side of the ground have 2, different
sized seated stands. Opposite, behind the
other goal, is another terrace, where the
louder Brentford fans were stood.
5. Comment on the game itself, atmosphere,
stewards, pies, facilities etc..
The game itself was very lively, with
Shrewsbury being awarded a penalty late into
the second half, only for ref to change his
mind after a discussion with the linesman.
Brentford too had a goal disallowed because
it was offside. In the end, the game had a
disappointing result of 0-0, with both teams
battling it out until the very end.
The atmosphere inside the ground was
fantastic, the acoustics in the away end are
amazing, allowing even a small number of
fans to created tremendous noise. The home
terrace opposite us was also creating a fair
amount of noise, and there was some great
banter between the home and away fans. The
food in the ground was OK, £3.20 for a
cheeseburger which was pretty decent, I've
had alot worse at other grounds. The toilets
were OK too, cramped, but again, I have seen
alot worse at other grounds. The stewards
were out of sight the entire game which is
always a good thing.
6. Comment on getting away from the ground
after the game:
After the game there was a rush of people on
the road heading to the station, mostly
Brentford fans, with the majority of
Shrewsbury fans taking the club
coaches home. The Police presence at the
train station was larger than I've seen at
any of the other League One games I've been
to this season. Stupidly, I didn't check
which platform I was supposed to be on, and
I nearly missed my train, but some Brentford
lads shouted to the train guard to wait as I
ran across the bridge to change platform.
Thankfully I made it, and was able to get on
the last train from Euston to Wolverhampton
where I got picked up.
7. Summary of overall thoughts of the day
out:
Definitely a great away day, and was well
worth the effort to get there. It would have
been much better had it been on a Saturday,
but even for a Tuesday night it was
fantastic. Definitely hope to visit this
ground next season, and would recommend for
people to visit Griffin Park when their team
plays there!
