Match: v Salisbury City - Blue Square Premier
Date: Saturday, April 10th, 2010
Result: Salisbury 2 Cambridge United 1
The Journey
Departure Time: 9.45am
Arrival at Ground: The lovely sunny weather brought the traffic out but, other than a hold up near Heathrow caused by people rubber-necking the aftermath of an accident, the journey was straightforward enough.
The traffic jam on the M25 allowed time for a bit of plane spotting by some in the car and the aerial entertainment continued once we'd arrived at the ground just before 1pm, with light aircraft, microlights and helicopters taking it in turns to buzz the ground.
At The Ground
The Ground: It has only been a couple of months since our last visit to Salisbury so the only changes were that that the weather was warmer and, as it was an afternoon rather than an evening match, it was considerably lighter.
From the outside, the edge-of-town Raymond McEnhill Stadium looks like a collection of brick and metal boxes stacked into the configuration of a football ground rather than a retail park. Inside, however, surrounding a threadbare pitch onto which sprinklers cast rainbows of spray, the ground has a character and charm all of its own.
The Main Stand runs part of the length of one side of the pitch. A long gallery juts out from the upper tier of this stand, affording the press and sponsors a birds' eye view of the action. A small owl has been placed close to the press area in an attempt to deter birds leaving their calling cards in inconvenient places. Judging by the amount of bird dropping that are rapidly submerging the owl in a white cloak, the plan isn't working. Beneath the balcony, four rows of black seats are separated into a series of interconnecting bays, giving this part of the ground the impression of a bus station. Terracing stands to either side of these seats; uncovered to the right and covered to the left.
Covered terrace also runs behind the goal to the left of the main stand. While a breezeblock wall forms the back of this terrace, the rear boundary of the uncovered terrace behind the opposite goal is made up of what looks rather like a garden fence.
Uncovered terrace also runs along the remaining side of the ground. A large scoreboard, surrounded by an even larger advertisement, is right in the middle of this side of the ground and has a small section of covered seats to either side. Beyond the wooden back fence, you can see open countryside the main feature of which is a series of chalk hillocks that suggest the work of large moles.
United Fans: Spread thinly along the length of the open terrace behind one goal and along part of the side as well, U's fans enjoyed basking in the sun but found it tricky to generate much in the way of noise.
View from Away End: With plenty of room in which to spread out, U's fans found little trouble seeking out a decent vantage point.
Home Fans: Those under the roof of the covered terrace found their voices once their side had levelled the scores.
Police/Stewards: The stewards' main job seemed to be to ensure people didn't stand in the yellow hatched areas at the back of the away terrace - a task they carried out with gusto and enthusiasm.
Programme: £2.50 for 36 pages. There were lots of stats and a reasonable amount to read too.
Food/Drink: The catering points ran out of cold drinks at half time so gave away free cups of water.
State of Toilets: Those for the away supporters were described as 'appalling'. Two very basic portaloos seemed to be all that was available. The facilities closest to the press area were much more salubrious. Here, signs over the sinks warned of very hot water. Unfortunately, the tops of all the taps were missing so you couldn't tell which was hot and which was cold, leading to a game of Russian Roulette every time you washed your hands.
Mileage: 270.8 miles
Total Distance for Season: 5,569.7 miles
Mark Johnson, with additional reporting by David Gray, Paul Johnson, Ryan Johnson and Gordon McMillan.
