As I walked through Stanley Park, I looked behind me and caught a glimpse of Liverpool's Anfield stadium, as I walked a short distance further on I could just see a tip of Everton's Bullens Road Stand. As I got closer the ground seemed to loom overhead, appearing extremely large. I did not stop to walk around the ground, I made straight for the programme seller and then entered the stadium. On entering to the concourse I found the space very small, and uncomfortably claustrophobic, due to the large number of travelling supporters. I had to practically push my way through my fellow fans to make it to the entrance to the stand and to my seat at the back of the lower tier.

As I stepped out into the seated area, I saw the ground in all its glory, and boy does it have character, its old appearance gave it sense of warmth, and I could sense the buzz around the ground. I made my way up to my seat at around 2.30, only to find a nasty cheap-wooden seat before me, which had obviously been placed upon old terracing. I managed to sit down but found the leg room practically unbearable, the space being very tight. However, at around 2.45 the chanting began, the acoustics in the away end were fantastic, being covered by concrete, and only having a very narrow view of the pitch, the sound was caught in the away end. I do not imagine that the noise we were producing seemed half as large to the home fans.

However as the game got underway I found the small number of poles (three or so) that were blocking my view highly irritating, I had to lean to see the far penalty area, this really did show the cost of not having a cantivlever stand of which I had been used to at St.James'. At half time I went down for a pie unfortunately the congestion was such that waiting times were unbearable, the compact space also making it very warm. The game finished 2-2.

As I left the ground through the narrow streets, fans home and away were shaking each others hands being wished a safe journey home. It did though take me about an hour to get out of the car park in nearby Stanley Park.

All in all a very nice ground generating a fantastic atmosphere, shame about the lack of space for fans, but it is a trip I would recommend to any away fan.