Match: v Mansfield Town - Blue Square Premier

Date: Saturday, September 20th, 2008

Result: Mansfield 1 Cambridge United 1

The Journey

Departure Time: 10.30am

Arrival at Ground: Road works on the A1 brought long tailbacks at Stamford, so the journey wasn't as pleasant as it might have been. The final section was along roads that twisted and turned like a twisty-turny thing as they took us into Mansfield. We reached the ground at about 1.15pm.

At The Ground

The Ground: Although we are happy enough to visit some of the more 'quaint' grounds in the Blue Square Premier, it was nice to visit a 'proper' football stadium again - albeit one with only three serviceable sides.

On our last visit, a small, old-fashioned wooden stand was in such a poor state of repair that they would only allow the press to use it! This season though it was considered too derelict even for us, so the only person entering that part of the ground - presumably at his own risk - was a ball boy, who had to wear a hard hat on his retrieval missions.

With the old haunt out of bounds, the press was despatched to the upper tier of the stand that runs along the opposite side of the pitch. A massive, steeply raked stand with a booming tannoy system, an area just below the press section is allocated to directors and disabled supporters. To accommodate both groups who, on our visit turned out to be mutually exclusive, the area consisted of a wide platform for wheelchairs and a couple of rows of seats. However, as these seats were for the directors, they were in front of the wheelchair platform - a configuration that, on the face of it, might make viewing something of a challenge for anyone actually in a wheelchair. A wide concourse runs inside the stand, where the refreshment and toilet facilities are located. The view from this stand is quite spectacular; both of the pitch and the town that runs in terraces up the surrounding hills.

There are further all-seated stands at either end of the ground, each with a savannah of space between the stands along either side. The one to the left of the main stand is allocated to away supporters and is filled with blue seats. The word 'Stags' is picked out in yellow amongst those seats, although the position of the yellow-painted steps of an aisle turns the first S into a Dollar sign.

Another all-seated stand is behind the opposite goal. Almost a mirror image of the away end, this stand is filled with yellow seats and blue letters. Unusually, the tunnel from which the players emerge is at one corner of this stand. Despite the excellent facilities, not every need is catered for inside the ground. A chapel is visible over the corner between this stand and the closed-off area, but it doesn't look to be accessible from inside the stadium, so those who find themselves in need of spiritual assistance during a match have to seek out the club chaplain.

The space between the various stands is home to the floodlights. These sit atop tall, spindly poles that have a worrying wide band of what looks like rust about halfway up on each of them.

Tannoy: Field Mill is one of those grounds where the tannoy should have a silent 't'. 'Booming' doesn't begin to describe it. I don't know what it was like elsewhere in the ground, but in the press box - even wearing headphones - it was so loud you could barely hear yourself think. It all started with announcement that the turnstiles were being opened - an announcement that commenced with the words, "Now hear this, now hear this". At that volume, you had no choice but to hear it. And as for the tune played when they scored... thank goodness they only scored once - my ears are still ringing.

View from Away End: With no pillars in the way, the view was excellent.

United Fans: In a modern stand that provided good acoustics, U's fans certainly made themselves heard... well, other than the one who was ejected immediately on entering the ground, for being drunk - but not before accepting his admission money first. Another left earlier than he planned for 'larging it' after Mansfield's goal.

Police/Stewards: Stewards tried repeatedly and unsuccessful to get U's fans to sit down. They started hauling people out early in the second half, which turned the atmosphere a bit nasty for a while and had no effect in getting United fans to avail themselves of the seats provided. One steward in particular was so confrontational that he had to be moved.

Home Fans: Mansfield fans were loud - eventually. Until their side scored, they spent long periods of the game getting on their players' backs and abusing the referee. Some, in the main stand, were so vehement in shouting that I half expected the steep rake of the stand to make them overbalance and tumble to the pitch like pheasants during shooting season. Some waited outside the away turnstiles after the game. They were quickly dispersed by the police, who scuttled out of the ground in double-quick time in a style last seen in a Keystone Cops film.

Programme: 64 pages, the outer cover of which was a glossy laminate. The front cover was notable for a photograph of a player, in casual gear, sitting on the side of a road, no fewer than five different categories of match sponsor for the game and no mention of the price. With loads to read, plenty of photos - including a fold-out centre page and a very unflattering picture of the local MP - Mansfield's programme will certainly turn out to be one of the best in the Conference this year.

Food/Drink: Pricey. Tea, at £1.60, costs about three times what some Conference grounds are charging this season and you'd think they'd be able to make sure it was hot for that that price. £2.90 for a hot dog or a lukewarm burger and £1 for a bar of chocolate. Home fans also had access to beer, whiskey and vodka from the tea bars inside the ground. Not surprisingly, these options weren't available to travelling supporters.

State of Toilets: Plentiful enough, if not spotlessly clean. The warm, sunny day had sent those in the away end into holiday mood judging by the amount of sand that had, for reasons that weren't entirely obvious, been spread under the sinks.

Afterwards

The Journey Home: Luck was on our side on the way back. Having stopped for a bite to eat, we saw cones being readied to close the A1 and we avoided having to use a convoluted detour that would have put a dampener on the day by about 45 minutes.

Mileage: 226.4 miles

Total Distance for Season: 1,296.1 miles

Mark Johnson, with additional reporting by David Gray, Paul Johnson, Ryan Johnson and Gordon McMillan

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