Brentwood Town - The Arena

Match - Brentwood Town 0-0 Harlow Town
Competition - Isthmian League Division 1North
Admission - £8.50 - Includes Programme
Attendance - 63
Scarf - £7
Food - Bacon Roll 6/10
Ground No. 115
Ground Rating 7/10 - Extra mark for leather sofa

On Saturday I ticked off another Ryman Division 1N ground by visiting Brentwood Town to watch their match against Harlow Town. This leaves me with just 5 more grounds to visit to complete the league although as I am unlikely to complete them this season this is likely to increase next season.

Brentwood Town play at The Arena at Brentwood Leisure Centre and is simple to get to as the leisure centre is well signposted once you enter Brentwood although traffic in the Town Centre can be a nightmare.

The Arena is set at the back of the large Car Park meaning that parking is never an issue, with the leisure centre and a number of other sports pitches in front and to one side of the enclosed ground.

On arriving at the ground myself and my dad headed straight to the turnstiles which are situated at one end of the ground and like always made our way straight to the Tea Hut, which on entering is located in a porta cabin just to the left of the turnstiles where I purchased a Bacon Roll which was ok but nothing special and a warm can of Coke which is never nice.


A hungry father racing to the turnstiles

After eating we took a stroll around the ground, The Arena consists of two stands one at the turnstile end which has three steps of terracing located directly behind the goal and is quite large in size, although a terraced stand you do have the option to sit as there is a leather sofa and two armchairs located at the back of the stand, and due to the small attendances probably wouldn't have an obstructed view although I never tested that out.


The other stand is situated on the near touchline straddling the half way line and is an old wooden stand housing a small number of plastic flip seats. There is also a club member seating area within the stand with the home club members having padded seating.

This stand also houses the changing rooms and players entrance tunnel. At the top and back of the stand there is a bar area that has 2 TVs and a projector showing football, we stopped here for a pint before the game kicked off just catching the final whistle of Wigan's shock FA Cup win against Everton.

The other two sides of the ground consist of narrow hard standing areas, with the dugouts on the far touchline either side of the halfway line with a scaffolding structure behind which I presume is used when they film the games, there was nobody up there for today's game.

At 3pm the game kicked off with the pitch only just playable and the home side started the brighter trying to play passing football despite the conditions although never really creating any clear cut chances and their No.9 up front spending more time complaining at his team mates than trying to put the ball in the net which he continued for the whole 90mins.

Harlow came back into the game as the half progressed forcing Brentwoods keeper into one decent save, they then had their captain booked harshly and their left back booked correctly before the half came to a finish with the score at 0-0.

I was disappointed before the game to find no club shop at the ground as I collect a scarf from every ground I go to if possible but thought today I would be unable to add a Brentwood Town Scarf to my rapidly growing collection. Until at Half time over the tannoy I hear "We have a collection of merchandise for purchase including Mugs, Pin Badges, Scarves............" I never heard the end before making my way into the club Bar in the seated stand to find the man with the mic who gladly went and found a scarf for me to purchase for a reasonable £7.

The second half started much the same as the first half with neither team really taking control until about 10mins in Harlow's captain committed a rash challenge about 25 yards out from his own goal and after having been booked and warned once more in the first 45 was sent off leaving his side with 10 for the remainder of the game, although this should have been 9 as minutes before their left back had committed a reckless challenge on a Brentwood attacker but escaped with a final warning.

Brentwood though were unable to make the extra man count and apart from a couple of half chances, a goal closely ruled out for offside and great display at the back from the visitors player/coach Dan Brown couldn't find a winner, not helped by the constant moaning from their No.9

The game therefore ended goalless, that's now two 0-0's in a row for me. Better luck next time.

Queens Park Rangers - Loftus Road

Match - QPR 0-0 Norwich City
Competition - Premier League
Admission - £33 - Restricted View
Attendance - 17,543
Scarf - £10
Food - Pukka Pie Chicken Balti 7/10
Ground No. 114
Ground Rating 6/10

On Saturday I travelled to West London to the home of Queens Park Rangers to see the hoops game against the Canaries of Norwich City. This game was my first Premier League game of the season and saw me complete groundhops of all the London based clubs currently playing in the English Top Tier.

QPR currently sit rock bottom of the league despite the large sums of money that have been spent on the playing staff by owner Tony Fernandes who is also the man in charge of Caterham F1 team. Norwich however are occupying a mid table table having spent far less than the Hoops, relying on players generally bought from lower league sides mainly Leeds Utd. Although there seems are reasonably large gap between the teams as far as points and table position this was probably a game that Rangers manager Harry Redknapp had earmarked as one to win.

The Journey to Loftus Road was quite straight forward as me and my dad drove to West Ruislip underground station and caught a central line train straight to White City Station and from there had a short 5 min walk down South Africa Road to the ground.

After a short stop to buy a scarf for myself and a woolly hat for my dad we walked around to the opposite side of the ground to the Ellerslie road stand where we would be watching the game from. This side of the stadium is quite hidden away behind a row of terrace housing. We went through the turnstiles around an hour before kick-off into a small, cramp open air concourse where there were a number of food outlets and only one set of men's toilets.As is the norm when we go to football we headed straight for the food which was decent, but then you can't really go wrong with a Pukka Pie can you?

We then made our way to our seats around 40mins prior to Kick Off and were met with the worst possible seats in the ground, I had foolishly taken a risk on restricted view seats and although only being four rows back from the pitch and therefore at Loftus Road very close to the action we were only able to see one goal. Note for future Never buy restricted view tickets.


My view of far end

 

Loftus Road is one of if not the smallest ground in the top flight with a capacity of just over 18,000. The largest stand in the ground is the South Africa Road Stand that runs along the touchline opposite the stand that we were in. This is a two tiered stand that is split by a row of VIP suites. The dugouts are situated centrally at the front of the South Africa Road Stand. The Two ends are identical small two tiered stand with the far end housing away fans in the top tier and home fans in the lower tier. On top of the stand at the far end there is an electronic board which shows the game as it happens, this was helpful for us when play was happening behind the post. For this game we were seated in the Ellerslie Road stand this is a single tiered stand which as I have probably already mentioned has a number of bloody great big posts at the front of.

 QPR started the game with there new £12.5 Million pound signing from Anzhi Machalakalakalakalaka and ex Blackburn Rovers Centre back Chris Samba and also Spurs loanee Andros Townsend while Rangers other big money January buy Loic Remy was out injured, the Hoops started brightly with Adel Tarabbt having a couple of decent long range efforts but neither troubled Bunn in the visitors goal. Norwich quickly picked up and had a good chance of there own which Hoolahan managed to put over the bar from 5 yards out. The rest of the half passed by with nothing to worry either keeper and was generally a scrappy affair although Norwich did look the more composed team.

The second period was a lot more exciting with both teams creating a number of chances. Firstly QPR's Brazilian International goalkeeper pulled off a couple of great saves from Hoolahan and Bradley Johnson the first of which was a one handed reaction stop down low to his right from Hoolahans flicked effort from inside the 6 yard box.

The best chance of the game though came from the Penalty Spot, after the tireless Jamie Mackie was upended by the visitors keeper. Adel Tarabbt took the penalty which was well hit low to the keepers left but Bunn guessed correctly and made a very good save to keep the game goalless.

After the penalty miss Rangers piled on the pressure and were the only team that looked like scoring especially from set pieces around the box where Samba was the main target and also a couple of long range efforts the most memorable from Townsend who hit a sweet strike from 25 yards out that was flying in the top corner but for another great save from Bunn.

The game ended then goalless and QPR can feel a bit disappointed not to have won, they remain undefeated though in the new year but unfortunately draws are not enough to keep them up.

  In the end it wasn't the worst game I had ever been to but a 0-0 scoreline doesn't help my average goals per game which has now dropped towards 3.

Loftus Road in conclusion is a half decent stadium but I think QPR may have to think about moving if they are to stay in the Premier league as I cant see them being able to increase what they have here and they need to be able to have larger crowds if they continue to pay out £100,000 per week wages.

Thamesmead Town - Bayliss Avenue

Match - Thamesmead Town 3-2 Aveley
Competition - Isthmian League Division 1N
Admission - £8
Attendance - 51
Scarf - £10
Food - Bacon Burger £3.50 6/10
Ground No. 113
Ground Rating 5/10 (would increase when finished)

After having had my last planned hop to York City called off due the torrential rain on the 22nd Dec I decided to start my groundhopping off early in 2013 with a new years day trip to see Redbridge in the Isthmian League Division 1N. Unfortunately this game was also called off at around 10am so after a quick look online settled on the game at Thamesmead Town's Bayliss Avenue ground for their game against Aveley in the same league. Both Thamesmead and Aveley are fighting near the top of the league before this game Aveley sat 4th and Thamesmead 6th with Aveley having a couple of games in hand over the home side.

We arrived at the ground around an hour before Kick Off and with no spaces in the clubs car park parked down a small side road just outside the club gates and made our way to the turnstiles, only to find them closed. While we waited for the ground to open we went for a pint in the decent sized clubhouse which is also home to the snack bar and where I got hold of a club scarf which was a bit on the expensive side at £10.

The turnstiles were finally opened 30 min's before kick off. The whole place is undergoing some big changes. After speaking to a club official we found out that the works have been going on for around 4 years with 3 different building firms going bust during the project and the current builders having issues with getting an electricity supply to the new stand which will also house the club offices and presumably new changing rooms and clubhouse.

Almost finished new stand

The Turnstiles are situated at one end of the ground which has a very half finished feel to it which as mentioned above it is. At the turnstile end there is a small covered seated stand directly behind the goal which has around 100 flip seats painted in the club colours of Green and White.

The far touchline is currently closed while the new stand is finished off with the rest of the ground made up of a small hard standing footpath around the pitch with the far end being covered behind the goal and the near touchline being totally uncovered with the teams dugouts in front.

Far end with A2016 flyover right behind

The game started slowly but it was obvious from the those early stages that the teams were to play with differing styles. Thamesmead were playing very direct while Aveley were trying to get the ball down and make use of there decent looking wingers. Neither side created much early on but it was Aveley that were arguably having the better share of possession. It was Thamesmead that took the lead though half way through the first half. An attacking player was tripped in the box as he was about to shot with the resulting penalty being tucked away with ease by Meads left footed No.3 Ashley Probets sending the visiting keeper the wrong way.

It was 1-1 at the break when the lively Aveley No.9 Petrit Elbi finished off a lovely passing move that saw the ball worked from left to right and then crossed into a dangerous area where he volleyed the ball home from 8 yards out.

During half time there were murmurings that the referee was looking to abandon the game due to the fact that there were a number of floodlights pointing towards the centre of the pitch that weren't working. With the players returning to the pitch to start the 2nd half the ref spoke to both captains advising them that he would give it 10 min's and if they were not back on a he believed the light had got too bad he would call the game off. Luckily though with a clear sky and a makeshift floodlight set up by the Thamesmead officials the game was seen to it's conclusion.


Not a great picture of the makeshift floodlight

Aveley started the 2nd half brightly and should have taken the lead after 2 Min's when during a goal mouth scramble the ball fell to an attacker 2 yards from goal his shot though was blocked on the line with the Visitors bench screaming for a penalty believing the ball had been stopped by an arm it was eventually cleared for a corner.
The away side were again looking the most likely to score but as it was in the first half they fell behind again and again it was the left foot of Probets who curled a free kick up and over the wall into the top corner of the Aveley goal. Thamesmead then took control of the game and should have killed it off when there No.9 was released one on one with the keeper. He kept his calm to round the keeper but somehow blazed the ball high over the bar.This woke Aveley back up who then created a number of chances one of which cannoned off the bar and a couple of penalty shouts which lead to one of the away coaches telling his players to go down/dive. How can we get rid of diving when we have coaches like this around????? from one of these penalty shouts Aveley were awarded a corner the deep cross that came in was headed back into the 6 yard box and the ball was turned in by Junior Appiah to level the game. Proving to the coach that you don't need to cheat to score goals.

The rest of the game was quite even and as they entered the 3 Min's of signalled additional time looked as though it would end with the score at 2-2. Then in the 2nd min of time added on Thamesmead won a free kick around 25yards out on the left hand side. My MoM Thamesmeads Probets crossed the ball in which was only half cleared straight to a Green shirt the player drilled the ball back towards goal and with a slight deflection it ended up in the net to give the home side all three points.

There are videos of both Aveley goals on their website Here

A good game in which to start 2013 and I will definitely return to Bayliss Avenue once the ground is finally finished. Hopefully the finished ground will entice more people to come and watch their local team as the attendance of 51 wasn't great.