Match: v AFC Telford United - Blue Square Bet Premier

Date: Saturday, January 21st, 2012

Result: Telford 1 Cambridge United 2

The Journey

Departure Time: 9.30am

Arrival at Ground: Road works on the A14 dictated a bit of a detour, but I'd left more than enough time to allow for this, so the journey was hassle-free … which is more than can be said for the journey of one particular Conference team. As I was heading along the fairly narrow curve of the slip road from the A14 onto the M6, I was rather surprised to be presented with the sight of a track-suited chap of a certain age wheeling a box of football kit along a rather narrow piece of hard shoulder. Perhaps rather less surprising, given how their off-field trials and tribulations have affected on-field matters, that kit belonged to Kettering Town and seemed to have fallen out of the team bus that was parked almost a mile further up the road.

With no such incident to delay me, I arrived at the ground at about 12.30pm and parked in a large car park where banners, emblazoned with the Telford club crest, festooned the lamp posts.

At The Ground

The Ground: The entrance I needed was, I was informed, on the other side of the ground but a very helpful steward insisted on showing me the way and staying to ensure I had no problem getting in.

That entrance leads to one end of a stand that runs the length of one side of the pitch. Containing about 15 rows of blue seats, with 'Telford Utd' picked out in white and red, this stand is filled from the front and leads to a blue mesh fence that separates the last two rows; rows that are for the use of those enjoying the various entertaining suites whose glass windows and doors form the rear wall of this stand. A concourse beneath this stand houses all the usual facilities you might expect, including a bar. Here the breezeblock construction of the stand underlines the relative newness of the stadium, as does the neat and tidy nature of said facilities.

Angled towards the pitch at either end of the stand, the lower storey of a two-storey building is painted blue, while the upper storey has white paint around the glass windows of what looked to be the match day control room and the tannoy operators' room.

A mid-sized terrace, covered by a gently curving roof stands behind either goal. Access to these terraces is via a series of blue doors cut into their breezeblock back walls; doors that lead to turnstiles, catering and other necessary facilities.

Opposite the main stand, the remaining side of the ground is filled by an uncovered terrace, again backed by the ubiquitous breezeblock rear wall; a wall that, in the centre is interrupted by the flat-roofed, two-storey 'Telford Learning Centre'. Doors of this building lead directly onto the open terrace. To the right of the Learning Centre, the green and red hands of an analogue clock swept away time before the match before giving way to the usual information you'd expect on a scoreboard.

United Fans: Excellent support for the team throughout the match.

View from Away End: Allocated the covered terrace to the right of the main stand and a small block of seats at the end of that stand, U's fans had plenty of room in which to find a decent vantage point and no pillars to get in the way.

Home Fans: Their support for the team was drowned out by the collective venting of spleens at the match officials.

State of Toilets: Capacious, clean facilities were plenty big enough to avoid much in the way of half time queuing.

Programme: £2.50 for 64 pages, 'Bucks' proudly carries the epithet 'Blue Square Bet North Programme of the Year 2010/11 … and you can see why. A labour of love for its editor, the well-designed programme is packed to the gunwales with excellent articles and photos.

Mascot: Telford's mascot, 'Bobby Buck', is a strange looking creature. Now, I know what it's meant to be, but it looked more like a fox with some antelope horns stuck on its head; like Basil Brush at a fancy dress party.