Match: v Cheltenham Town - Coca-Cola League Two

Date: Saturday, October 23rd, 2004

Result: Cheltenham 2 Cambridge United 1

THE JOURNEY

Departure Time: 9.30am

Arrival at Ground: Despite the dire warnings on Teletext about the state of the roads, traffic wasn't actually too bad until after our rather leisurely stop at Hopwood Park services on the M42.

One of the new style of pretentious rest areas which aren't quite sure whether they are motorway services or upmarket coffee bars, Hopwood Park was apparently manned by trainees so by the time you actually got served, any food you may have bought in the coffee queue was past its sell-by date by the time you were ready to eat it. With comfy leather sofas in which to sink while you finally got round to drinking your coffee, I half expected the cast of 'Friends' to turn up at any minute.

After negotiating the traffic that by now had built up on the M5, we wound round the leafier part of Cheltenham, in which the ground is located, and parked at about 12.45pm.

This gave us plenty of time to sit in the car watching the rain beating relentlessly down. As it did so, I couldn't help remembering one particularly wet family holiday in Cornwall many years ago.

AT THE GROUND

The Ground: From the outside, Whaddon Road gives away its Southern League heritage as it looks a little like an up-scaled Milton Road, although lined by far more trees. It's a different story inside though, as changes have clearly been made to bring it up to Football League standard - well, at least on three sides.

The newest section was the low stand that ran along one side of the ground. Like a stretched version of our South Stand - but lowered so that the front row of seats were at pitch level - this area was spilt into three sections for our visit. While home fans were allocated the lion's share of seats and U's fans were allocated a block at one end, a section between the two was given over to a dozen Wrexham fans who had turned up after their game at Torquay had been postponed. Like our South Stand, access to the seats was via the front, but only the very end blocks had advertising hoardings between them and the pitch.

Interested Observers From North Wales

Facing this was an older, main stand, which was still modern enough to be perfectly serviceable. This stand was elevated and there an un-banked paddock area below it where home fans stood trying to get a decent view while struggling to stop their umbrellas from blowing inside out. Surprisingly, given the atrocious weather, there was no sign of boat building activity or queues forming two-by-two, but what you could see from this side of the ground were rolling hills caressed by the low rain clouds over the back of the stand opposite.

Behind the goal to the left of this stand, the home terrace was covered and looked not unlike the 'Tin Shed' at Darlington's old Feethams ground. Facing this, the away terrace was split into two distinct sections by its entrance. One half was uncovered and populated by only a few (fool) hardy souls, while the other half was roofed in the style of the disabled enclosure at the Newmarket Road end of the Abbey.

United Fans: Gave the lads excellent support at the start, but got increasingly quiet as the match wore on.

United Fans At The Match

Home Fans: Absolutely silent until they equalised and then, other than sporadic grumbling, little was heard from them until Cheltenham's second goal went in.

Programme: £2.50 for 64 pages, the introduction page from the editor was, bizarrely, a book review. The football bits started on page five and there was plenty to interest both sets of supporters as well as some general stuff for the neutrals - including an interesting article by Cheltenham secretary Paul Godfrey who wrote about his experiences watching England's recent World Cup qualifier in Azerbaijan.

All in all, a good programme - although I did wonder why the players pictured on the front and centre pages were running about on a sheet of graph paper.

Food/Drink: The burgers, at £2, were so good that some people had two, while tea and coffee - both £1 (although not in the same cup of course) - were excellent.

AFTERWARDS

The Journey Home: The late goal made for a very subdued journey home, a mood that was summed up by the wet and windy conditions that continued for much of the return trip.

Mileage: 298.9 miles

Total Distance for Season: 2,395.9 miles

Mark Johnson, with additional reporting by Gordon McMillan