Match: v St. Albans City - Nationwide Football Conference

Date: Tuesday, August 15th, 2006

Result: St. Albans 0 Cambridge United 0

The Journey

Departure Time: 4.30pm

Arrival at Ground: With parking reportedly at a premium anywhere near the ground, it seemed like an even better idea than usual to try to get there early; and the plan worked.

Although some of the travelling party thought the ground was easy to find, I was a little more sceptical as we wended our way through the increasingly leafy suburbs of St. Albans without apparently getting anywhere near an area that you might associate with a football ground.

Our directions were true though and, after finding a more likely looking area, the ground turned out to be part of a sports complex set in wooded parkland; think Wandlebury with added football ground, cricket and hockey pitches. As a result, parking was indeed less than straightforward although, by 5.15pm, we managed to locate one of the few remaining spaces in the park that wasn't designed as a disabled bay. Not that the designations seemed to worry some of the home players - either that or they had convinced themselves that they weren't fully fit.

At The Ground

The Ground: Our early arrival gave us time to wander around Clarence Park and see the ground from all sides. With a painted green steel wall, it actually managed to blend into its surroundings as sympathetically as a football ground can in a park. The rustic conditions of various outbuildings associated with the club helped achieve this. For example, the away turnstiles looked uncannily like a lytch gate from a traditional country church, the club shop was in the style of a garden shed while access to the clubhouse was via a uncertain set of wooden steps which gave it the air of a signal box - although the likeness may have been no coincidence, given the railway line hidden away in a cutting nearby. Surprisingly, the trains that ran along it were not powered by steam.

The bucolic scene was certainly not what you'd expect around a football ground; a view apparently shared by many among the travelling support. As we waited for the ground to open, and for a gateman and steward to work out who was going to be more thorough in ignoring our enquiries about press passes, a steady stream of confused U's fans passed by checking that they had come to the right place.

Once inside, without wishing to be too disparaging, the ground was an obvious reminder of our Conference status. In turn quaint and ramshackle but never without character, it was lined by trees on four sides. Three of the sides were terraced with only one small area along one side covered by a minute tin roof. Unusually, advertising boards did not front the terracing to one side of the goal at either end.

In the style of an Edwardian railway station, the wooden main stand ran most of the length of the remaining side of the ground while beside it the boardroom suggested the luxury of the First Class Waiting Room.

Four groups of floodlights were on either side of the ground and while the lights provided a reasonable amount of light, the pylons on which they were perched looked to have all the permanence of those used by the Police to illuminate a crime scene.

United Fans: Loud for much of the time, U's fans enjoyed loads of banter with St. Albans keeper Paul Bastock.

View from Away End: With nothing to get in the way, the view was excellent although the lack of roof meant that this was probably the perfect time to visit.

Home Fans: As befits a newly promoted team who were, at the time, top of their new league, the Saints fans were enjoying themselves and were, consequently, loud at times.

Police/Stewards: There seemed to be a large and very visible contingent of Police and stewards in the ground, although they didn't seem to have much to do.

Programme: At £2.50 for 40 pages, some of which were black and white, this was a well-designed programme with plenty of read. There was one dodgy article - page 18, I think - while the profile of Paul Bastock was modestly sub-headed 'the best keeper in non-league football'.

Food/Drink: Among the usual football ground fare, burgers, at £2.50, were hottish although onions seemed to be compulsory - irrespective of how many times you said you didn't want them. Tea was warm enough and 80p.

State of Toilets: Much as you might expect to find in a park, although with fewer dodgy characters hanging around outside.

Afterwards

The Journey Home: The national cone collection was out in force on the A1, so the journey back took a few unplanned twists and turns, but not enough to prove too much of an inconvenience.

Mileage: 82.1 miles

Total Distance for Season: 82.1 miles

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

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