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1. Why you were
looking forward to going to the ground (or not as the case may
be):
I was looking forward to this trip because firstly I
would see some Ipswich supporting friends that I hadn't seen for a
while and also I had never been to Bristol before, so I was
interested to see for myself what the town was like. Also I had heard
rumours that the ground would be vacated soon but I doubt this will
happen now that England unfortunately lost their world cup bid.
2.
How easy was your journey/finding the ground/car parking?
i got
picked up from Southampton. The route of M3, A34 and M4 went flying by
with all the banter that goes with these away days. We took the wrong
turning off the motorway and went further West of the city than needed,
however this gave us the opportunity of going across the magnificent
Clifton suspension bridge, so we passed an hour exploring this area. After
that at around 2pm we headed to the ground, from the bridge it was all
downhill and very easy, although not well signposted!! We parked for £5 in
a car park opposite the ground but on the right side of the dual
carriageway, hoping for a kind of swift getaway afterwards!
3. What
you did before the game pub/chippy.... home fans friendly?
Having
somehow messed up the journey to the ground we went straight into
the stadium after visiting the rather compact Bristol city megastore.
We had hoped to taste a Blackthorns cider but no alcohol was being sold,
the burgers were nice enough and yes the home fans were friendly also, no
trouble at all.
4. What you thought on seeing the ground, first
impressions of away end then other sides of the ground?
My original
thoughts were that it was quite a ramshackle place. I was very happy
to be in the away end, lots of history with it having been built in 1938!
But the Club have literally put in seats anywhere that they
can fit them. The terrace is very shallow and there are quite a few
pillars to stop you seeing the whole pitch, however I would take this
every time over a boring bowl stadium. The other sides of the ground were
more grand modern types.
5. Comment on the game itself, atmosphere,
stewards, pies, toilets etc..
The game itself was a mid-table clash
however it was full of proper football being played, counter attacking and
players getting really stuck in. Ipswich however had a player sent off for
a dangerous tackle. This didn't deter them however and 17 year old Carson
scored his third career goal in his fourth career appearance to seal the
points. There was a massive stop for poor Leadbitter who left the field on
a stretcher. Because of this there was 11 minutes added on. The
atmosphere was brilliant in the first half from both sets of
supporters however second half Bristol singers gave up and it was left
down to Ipswich to create a party. The stewards were fine and left
everyone alone so thumbs up to them. The burgers as above were great
however when I queued at half time they were sold out of everything
bar cheese and onion pies. The toilets were fine and your standard
fare.
6. Comment on getting away from the ground after the
game:
Lots of Bristol fans left well before the additional 11
minutes of added time, this created mayhem on the roads around, so it
was a slow exit through town and back onto the eastbound M4. Still we had
seen a win so it didn't bother us! The ground is quite away from city
centre and lack of public transport means everybody pretty much seemed to
have driven to the game.
7. Summary of overall thoughts of the day
out:
A fantastic day out! I often watch non-league football
instead of the Football League, however this was a great advertisement for
the Championship and this was my Football League ground number 27. I
recommend this place.
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