1st class city, 3rd class football

YORK CITY 0-0 CHELTENHAM TOWN
Saturday 22nd September 2012
Football League 2
Bootham Crescent, York

Before the season began and the fixtures released this was one away fixture for Cheltenham Town that was the number one priority. Why you may ask do you want to visit York City FC for a Cheltenham game, when you could visit it any time? The answer is simply that, (regular readers will be able to answer this) I have a good friend who supports Cheltenham and this gives us an excuse to meet up. Also York are planning to leave their home on Bootham Crescent to a new venture adjacent to the Monks Cross Retail Park. Details of which can be found here: new stadium

Getting to York itself involved a 117 mile drive each way or getting the train. With the fuel costs as it is and the fact I would be going on my own the costs were very similar, but in the end I opted for the latter and booked the tickets six weeks ago. It cost £43 return going first class - with it being only £9 dearer this would be money well spent as I would be on the train for around 2 hours 20 minutes. Also  my journey each way would be direct which is very rare, as nearly all of the journeys to York from Leicester involve changing trains in either Derby and / or Sheffield.

York is a walled city and has a population of 202,400 inhabitants. It is one of England's most historic cities and has plenty of attractions that show off its heritage. It was founded by the Romans in 71AD under the name of Eboracum, and became the capital of the Roman province of Britannia Inferior, and of the Kingdoms of Northumbria and Jorvik. In the Middle Ages York became a major wool trading centre.

York Minster

York Tap

The city has excellent transport links whether it be via road or rail. The A64 links York to both the A1(M) and M1 motorways which are around 10 miles (16 km) away, while it has been a major railway centre since the first line arrived in 1839. The nearest airport, Leeds / Bradford is thirty one miles away.

To go into detail the city's tourist attractions here would take too much time, but instead I there are some links to five of them:

York Minster - the largest gothic cathedral in northern Europe.

York Castle Museum

York City Walls

Jorvik Viking Centre

National Railway Museum

Further information on the city can be found on the visit York website.

The club were first founded in 1908 as an amateur side and joined the Northern League (NL). Two seasons were spent in the NL, finishing in 11th and 12th place respectively, before they joined the Yorkshire Combination. In 1912 they turned professional and joined the Midland League (ML). Only three seasons were spent in the ML due to the start of the First World War and the club subsequently folded in 1917.

The club reformed in 1922 joining the Midland League in the process. A highest place finish of 6th place was achieved in their seven seasons before they were elected to the Football League (FL). Most of their time in the FL was spent in the lower divisions, though they did spend two years in division two in the mid-1970's. In 2004 the club were relegated to the Football Conference, the top tier of the non-league game. Their stay out of the FL lasted eight years as in 2012 they were promoted back to the FL via the play-offs.

The form book suggests this will be a close game with only two points seperating the two teams in the League 2 table. York are without a win in three and suffered a 3-1 reverse @ Burton Albion in midweek. Cheltenham come into the game on the back of a 2-1 victory at home to Oxford United on Tuesday night, but prior to this had picked up just one point from their three previous league games. Cheltenham are also unbeaten in their three league away games so far.

On this information my prediction is an away win by a score of 2-1. The bookies make York favourites to come out on top, and as at 10pm on Friday night bet365.com have it as follows:

York to win: 11/8; draw: 23/10; Cheltenham to win: 19/10.

Well if goes to show what I know about football!!!!

The ground is located in the northern part of the city and is surrounded by housing. It was opened in 1932 and currently has a capacity of 7,872, though a record attendance of 28,123 was recorded in 1938 for an FA Cup tie against Huddersfield Town. It is easy to see why they would like to relocated to a new stadium as their revenue streams are very much limited to match days only, and they would be also restricted as to any development of the current site.

the match day programme

Before I write about the day itself and the game a useless fact for you - this will be the eight time I have seen Cheltenham play away from the home. The first four (Notts County, Northampton, Nottingham Forest and Leicester) all resulted in defeats and not a goal to show for it. The fifth, at Burton Albion looked liked going the same way at half time as they were two down. An amazing turn around that saw the game end 5-6. Next up was a trip to Spurs for an FA Cup tie which was a 3-0 loss, and finally back in February I saw Cheltenham dismantle Dagenham & Redbridge 5-0

The day started early as, firstly with a five minute walk to catch the Arriva 51 service into Leicester at 7am. This would get me into the city in plenty of time to get to station for the 0750 East Midlands Trains service that would take me direct to York. In fact I would be catching the only direct train between Leicester and York and vise-versa today, as the train would be sitting at York station until the departure back at 1755.

Arrival in York was at the scheduled time of 1015 and Colin met me some fifteen minutes later. The first port of call was one of the two JD Weatherspoon outlets, The Punchbowl for some breakfast. We then had a walk round the city for a couple of hours taking in the sights before visiting the second of the afore mentioned chain of pubs, The Postern Gate for some liquid refreshment. York obviously gets a lot of tourists but it was even busier today as there was a food and drink festival on in the city. It was then a case of heading in the general direction of the ground, diverting here and there to have a look at more of the city. We arrived at the ground with around an hour to kick-off. The away fans are housed on an open terrace and part of the Popular Stand to the left. This is all seated and runs the whole length of the pitch. Opposite is the main stand which is the largest of the stands at the ground, but only runs for about 2/3 of the pitch length. Opposite the away terrace is the David Longhurst Stand which is fully covered , and like the other two covered stands has a number of supporting pillars restricting the sightlines somewhat.

We decided to eat at the ground which in my opinion was not a wise decision. I paid £3.30 for a hot dog and regretted it. It was one of those that you heat up in boiling water and was tastleless - for the price you should expect and get something more edible. My advice is to eat in one of the many food outlets in the city centre before arriving at the ground.

The game was not the best advert for professional football. Cheltenham resulted in a hoof it up to the big man up front approach and got very little success from it. When they did the ball down and pass it around they looked a decent side, but alas this was not often. York played the better football with Michael Coulson looking dangerous on the right hand side of midfield. Defences though were on top of clear cut chances were at a premium. York were the better side in the second half causing the visiting defence problems, but everything was dealt with. The closest Cheltenham came to making the breakthough was with around fifteen minutes left. Substitute Kaid Mohamed's shot hit the underside of the bar and bounced onto the line before being cleared. No need for the goalline technology debate on this one!!!

A hard fought point for both sides with the visitors no doubt being the more happier. If either side is to make a push for promotion come the end of the season they will have to play better than this.

A walk of around fifteen to twenty minutes back to the station followed. I had some time on my side, while Colin was catching a train to Harrogate to spend the evening with family before heading back to Cheltenham on the Sunday morning. With this time to kill I made my way to the York Tap - a real ale house that is inside the station. It has over thirty beers on offer and it was difficult to choose. In the end I went for the Bernard Dark at 5.1% and very nice it was too. Just a shame I did not have any more time to try some more of the beers on offer. A must visit for any beer lovers.

There were delays of around fifteen minutes caused by signalling problems in the Sheffield area, but this did not impede me in getting my bus back to Braunstone, and I was home just before 9pm.

A long but enjoyable day out in a fabulous city - just a shame that the football served did not match up.

Admission: £16

Programme: £3 - 52 pages A5 size. Very good effort - 4/5

Attendance: 3,477 (196 away)

A slideshow of twelve photos of the ground can be viewed below:

More photos of York itself can be viewed in another slideshow:

Birthday footy

DAGENHAM & REDBRIDGE 0-5 CHELTENHAM TOWN
Saturday 18th February 2012
Football League 2
The London Borough of Barking & Dagenham Stadium

Today is the 35th birthday of the editor / big chief of All Roads Lead Somewhere and this was spent in east London. It had been suggested around Christmas time about going out for the day with my wife (Angela), mum (Christine) and her partner Dave but the question was where? I came up with the idea of dropping Angela and my mum off at the Lakeside Shopping Centre in Thurrock, Essex and me and Dave could go and watch some football nearby. All agreed. Originally I did think about Tilbury FC but then I did wonder where Cheltenham would be playing that day. Well of all the away fixtures they could have it turned out they were playing a mere twenty minutes away @ Dagenham & Redbridge FC. This could not have been planned any better. Following a phone call to good friend Colin Buchanan who lives in Cheltenham to see if he fancied meeting us there and the trip was confirmed. 

The history of Dagenham & Redbridge (D&R) is an interesting one to say the least, with the club that we know today having its roots in four amateur non-league clubs from east London. The four are Ilford (formed in 1881), Leytonstone (1886), Walthamstow Avenue (1900) and Dagenham in 1949. Firstly Ilford and Leytonstone merged in 1979 to become Leytonstone / Ilford. They in turn then absorbed Walthamstow Avenue in 1988 and became Redbridge Forest a year later in 1989. In 1992 Redbridge Forest who were groundsharing at Dagenham at the time merged with their landlords to become D&R.

The clubs first season saw them finish in 3rd place in the Football Conference (now commonly known as the Blue Square Premier) with sixty seven points. This was followed by 6th and 15th place finishes before ending the 1995/96 season bottom of the table and relegation to the Isthmian League. Four season were spent in the Isthmian League with final placings of 4th, 4th, 3rd and then in 2000 were crowned champions and promotion back to the Conference. Promotion to the Football League came in the 2006/07 season but at one stage they were ten points behind favourites Oxford United. The Daggers took over at the summit of the table on December 31st 2006 and it was a position they never relinquished. They were crowned Conference champions on the 7th April 2007 following a 2-1 victory over Aldershot Town. Along with this was promotion to the Football League (FL).

The clubs first game in the FL saw the Daggers lose 1-0 @ Stockport County on August 11th 2007, with the first victory coming three weeks later against Lincoln City. At the seasons end the club finished in 20th place and avoided relegation back to the Conference. Things improved the following season as they just missed out on a place in the play-offs following a last day defeat against Shrewsbury Town. The 2009/10 campaign got even better as the club were promoted to the third tier of English football following a 3-2 victory over Rotherham United in the play-off final at Wembley Stadium. Just one season was spent in League 1 as the Daggers were relegated back to League 2 at the first time of asking. This season the Daggers have struggled and at the time of writing find themselves in the bottom two. They have recorded seven league victories this season, of which five have been at home and have amassed twenty four points. Meanwhile opponents Cheltenham Town are having their best season for a few years and sit at the other end of the table. Currently they sit in second place in the table with fifty six points, though only goal difference seperates the top three.  

Top and bottom three (upto & including Tuesday 14th February)

		Pl	W	D	L	Pts
1	Southend United	30	17	5	8	56
2	CHELTENHAM TOWN	30	17	5	8	56
3	Torquay United	30	16	8	6	56
22	Plymouth Argyle	30	5	9	11	24
23	DAGENHAM & REDBRIDGE	29	7	3	19	24
24	Northampton Town	29	6	6	11	24

Club Honours & Records:

Football Conference champions: 2006/07

Isthmian League champions: 1999/00

Isthmian League One-to-One Shield winners: 2000/01

Essex Senior Cup winners: 1998, 2001

Record victory: 8-1 v Woking 1993/94

Record defeat: 0-9 v Hereford United 2003/04

Record attendance: 5,949 v Ipswich Town (FA Cup 3rd Round) 05/01/2002

The ground

Victoria Road or The London Borough of Barking & Dagenham Stadium as it is currently known due to sponsorship purposes has a capacity of 6,078. It has been a football ground since 1917 when it was used by the Sterling Works side whose factory was situated along side it. It was not fully enclosed until 1955 when Briggs Sports moved out to Rush Green Road and Dagenham FC moved from the Arena.

The following piece on the ground is taken from footballgroundguide.com

"The stadium has been improved recently with the constuction of the new Traditional Builders Stand (aka Pondfield End) at one end of the ground, which replaced a small open terrace. This new all seated stand which was opened during the 2009/10 season, is a sizeable affair, housing 1,200 spectators. The stand is covered, raised above pitch level and has windshields to either side. Although only eleven rows high, it is free from supporting pillars and is quite steep, meaning that fans are kept close to the playing action. 

On one side is the relatively modern Main Stand, which was opened in 2001. Sponsored by Carling, this 800 capacity stand, is covered and all seated, with the team dugouts situated at the front of it. The stand comprises of six rows of seating and has a small executive area at the back of it. The stand, which is free of supporting pillars, is elevated above pitch level which means that supporters have to climb small sets of steps at the front of it, to gain access. The stand though, only runs for three quarters of the length of the pitch and at one end towards the Traditional Builders Stand, another separate stand exists. This stand which is called the Barking College Family Stand, is a small covered, seated stand. It is smaller in height that the Main Stand and contains around 200 seats, with some supporting pillars running along the front of it. Again it is raised above pitch level and is accessed via a small staircase.

The rest of the ground is terracing, with a small open terrace behind one goal and a covered terrace along one side. The home end, the Bury Road End (aka the Clock End), has a small basic electric scoreboard situated above it. This area also contains the club shop and Police control box. The North Terrace, which runs along one side of the pitch, is known affectionately by the Dagenham fans as 'The Sieve' as apparently at one time it was famed for its leaking roof. This old fashioned looking terrace, is partly covered to the rear and has a number of supporting pillars. It also has a television gantry perched upon its roof. Unusually the teams emerge from not from the main stand, but from a tunnel located in the new Marcus James Stand at one end of the ground. The stadium is completed with a set of four modern looking floodlights."

Having left Leicester at just after 10am the motorways one and twenty five were primarily clear and it was a trouble free journey. The first port of call was the Lakeside to drop off the two female of the species, and as we had enough time before having to make our way to the ground we had a snack and a coffee. It took around twenty minutes to get to the ground and was easy to find. Due to arriving about ninety minutes before kick off we managed to park for free on Victoria Road itself, some forty yards from the ground entrance. Having met Colin outside the club shop we then went to where the away supporters would be housed on the far side of the ground. The stand is the newest part of the ground and had an excellent view of proceedings as well as plenty of leg room. The tea bar, toilets and bar area are found underneath the stand itself. 


This was a game in which the stats and the scoreline do not match up. Cheltenham took their chances Dagenham didn't. Simple. After an even twenty minutes the visitors opening goal was finished in some style as Luke Somefield rifled in a first time shot from the edge of the area. Two minutes later and it became 0-2 when a corner was not cleared properly and Steve Elliott took advantage. The third and killer goal of the afternoon came a few minutes from the end of the half. Daggers keeper Chris Lewington was judged to have handled outside the penalty area and was given a straight red card. Dave Hogan came on from Medy Elito and his first touch of the ball saw him parry Luke Garbutt's free kick into the path of Kaid Mohammed, who duly made it 0-3.


The second half was a pretty much non even with damage limitation the game plan for the home side. Cheltenham added two futher goals which delighted their visiting supporters. Firstly on the hour mark James Spencer took advantage of  a mistake by Oluwafemi Ilesanmi and hit a powerful shot past Hogan. The final goal of the afternoon came with around twenty minutes remaining as a Mohammed cross took a wicked deflection off Michael Spillane  that ended in the back of the net via the woodwork.


This win puts Cheltenham's promotion push back on track while Daggers are in serious danger of a second successive relegation. This was summed up by chants / taunts of "you're going to Forest Green" from the visiting fans.  Following the game we made our way back to the Lakeside and had a meal at one of the restaurants there before the boring driving back up to Leicester, and arrived home at around 9.30pm.

Admission: £19
Attendance: 1,516 (158 away)

Programme: £3

Badge: £3.50
Coffee: £1.20

Websites / sources:


Dagenham & Redbridge FC - official - wikipedia


Some ground photos can be viewed in the slideshow below:

5,000 robins descend on North London

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 3–0 CHELTENHAM TOWN

Saturday 7^th January 2012

FA Cup 3^rd Round

White Hart Lane

Sometimes in football cup draws fall the way you like and prior to the draw for the 3^rd round of this seasons FA Cup I said to the wife that I hope Cheltenham get Chelsea, Manchester City or Spurs away. Well this prediction and wish came true and as regular readers of the blog know one of my closest friends is a season ticket holder @ Cheltenham. This made getting one of the 5,000 tickets that  Spurs released for the visitors section straight forward as season ticket holders were allowed to purchase two tickets each. An added bonus was that Spurs reduced the admission price to a respectable £20, with the cheapest adult tickets at White Hart Lane this season for league games costing £31 for the lowest category games. 

Useless fact alert: This will be the 26th FA Cup that I have seen, yet only the second in the competition proper. This came in the 2005/06 season when I saw Cheltenham host Newcastle United in the 4th round. The rest of the ties  were in the qualifying rounds.

My original plan was to drive down to north London and then get the tube and bus to the stadium, but for some unknown reason decided to check how much I could get to the capital and back on the train. I was quoted £31 return but the stipulation was that I had to get a specific train there and back – the train tickets were duly purchased and I was booked on the 1057 from Leicester which got me into St. Pancras International @ 1220. With Colin also arriving in London on the train via Paddington we arranged to meet @ St. Pancras itself at 12.30pm and make our way to White Hart Lane from there. Firstly there was a tube ride to Seven Sisters which is only three stops away on the Victoria Line and then a mile and a half walk to the ground itself. According to the excellent Transport for London website it should cost £5.20 return using an Oyster card. This was fortunate as I have £7.20 left on my card from my last visit to London at the end of July.


The area between the tube station and the stadium along Tottenham High Road is a cosmopolitan and multi-cultural mix. The High Road consists of plenty of small businesses which range from fast food takeaways to computer repair specialists, as well as two branches of the biggest supermarket chains. Also for anyone wanting a pre-match drink there are numerous pubs in the vicinity, though a lot of them near the stadium are for home fans only.

The club

As is the case when I went down to fellow North London rivals Arsenal I will just give a list of the club’s first team honours and records for Spurs. A full detailed history including reserve and youth team honours can be found on their official website @ http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/index.html.

The club were formed in 1882 as Hotspur FC before changing their name to the current title two years later. Their first league competition competed in was the Southern Alliance for the 1892/93 season, before joining the Southern League three years later in 1896. I have no idea if they played in any league competition between 1893 and 1896. While in the Southern League before they were elected to the Football League in 1908 they also competed in the United League, London League and Western League.

Football League champions (2) 1950/51; 1960/61

Football League Division 2 winners (2) 1919/20; 1949/50

FA Cup winners (8) 1900/01; 1920/21; 1960/61; 1961/62; 1966/67; 1980/81; 1981/82; 1990/91

Football League Cup winners (4) 1970/71; 1972/73; 1998/99; 2007/08

European Cup-winners Cup winners (1) 1962/63

UEFA Cup winners (2) 1971/72; 1983/84

FA Charity Shield winners (4 + 3 shared) 1920/21; 1951/52; 1961/62; 1962/63; 1967/68 (shared); 1981/82 (shared); 1991/92 (shared)

Western League champions (1) 1903/04

London League champions (1) 1902/03

Record victory: 13-2 v Crewe Alexandra (H) 03-02-1960 (FA Cup)

Record defeat: 0-8 v 1. FC Koln (A) 22-07-1995 (UEFA Intertoto Cup)

Most appearances: 854 – Steve Perryman

Top goalscorer: 266 – Jimmy Greaves

Record attendance: 75,038 v Sunderland (05-03-1938)

Highest transfer fee paid: £16.75m for Luke Modric (Dinamo Zagreb) – June 2008

Highest transfer fee received: £30.75m for Dimitar Berbatov (Manchester United) – September 2008

The Stadium

Stating the obvious here but Spurs play their home games @ White Hart Lane in north London and currently has a capacity of 36,310. When the club were first formed they played their home games on Tottenham Marshes before moving to Northumberland Park in 1898. The move only lasted a year before they converted a disused nursery owned by brewery chain Charringtons at the present site.  The first game on White Hart Lane saw Spurs beat Notts County 4-1 in front of approximately 5,000 spectators.


My impressions of the stadium were just ok. It did not give you the "wow factor" like their north London rivals Arsenal, though I do admit comparing the two is unfair. Also I felt it did not have an aura about it, like for example Anfield where you know you are somewhere special and the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. I am struggling to sum up anything else that could be constructive or descriptive to describe the place...maybe "an average medium sized football stadium". 


One thing that I was not impressed with was how narrow the concourse was. There was only one entrance and exit for the away fans, which I presume was due to the larger than normal away contingent. This meant that it felt like an awful long time to get out of the stadium and back on to Tottenham High Road. 


The food and drink inside and outside the ground consisted of the usual fare - pie, hot dog, burger, beer (Carlsberg only) etc etc. There were four meal deal options which varied in price between £5 and £7. We ate at one of the many food outlets outside the ground and paid £3 for a hot dog.

The game

This tie pits two teams doing well in their respective league campaigns although they sit three divisions apart. Spurs are third in the Premier League with only the Manchester clubs, United and City above them in the table. Their last game on Tuesday saw them beat West Bromwich Albion 1-0 with the goal coming from Jermaine Defoe.   Cheltenham are second in League 2, just one point behind leaders Crawley Town. They are unbeaten in nine games in all competitions, recording a 2-1 victory @ Port Vale in their last match on Monday. Their two FA Cup games so far have both been away from home and recorded victories @ Tranmere Rovers (1-0) and Luton Town (4-2).


What we had was in effect a Spurs 2nd XI that had a comfortable victory against their league two opponents. It should be said that the team that Spurs put out did consist of players that were / are full internationals. For example Jermaine Defoe, Aaron Lennon, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Niko Kranjcar.


To be honest I feel that the report on the BBC website is a fair reflection and without copying it word for word it can be viewed by clicking here: report

Admission: £20
Programme: £3.50
Badge: £3
Stadium postcard: £1
Attendance: 35,672


To sum up - well it is nice to visit the bigger stadiums in the country but I could not watch football in that environment every week. It is not because I did not enjoy the football on offer but because of the restrictions you have compared to watching the game at grass roots level. 


This was only my fourth ever game of football I have seen in London and the second time this season. As it happens I am back in London and meeting up with Colin in six weeks time (February 18th) for Cheltenham's visit to Dagenham & Redbridge for a League 2 encounter.   

Despite it taking longer than we (and most of the Cheltenham fans) would have liked getting out of the stadium I got back to St. Pancras without any problems for the 1825 train back to Leicester. Following a detour in Leicester to pick up some theatre tickets which are a 60th birthday present for my dad I arrived back home in Leicester at 8pm. 

Other Websites / sources:

Tottenham Hotspur – Wikipedia – Wikipedia (history)

White Hart Lane Stadium – Wikipedia


I did take some photos of the ground both externally and internally and these can be viewed below:

What the POOK!!!!!!!!

BURTON ALBION 5-6 CHELTENHAM TOWN

Saturday 13th March 2010

Football League 2

Pirelli Stadium

In 2009 Burton Albion followed their predecessor and became the fourth team from the town of Burton-upon-Trent to play in the Football League. The first team to do so was Burton Swifts who joined the second division in 1892, while just two years later Burton Wanderers joined them after being elected from the Midland League. Wanderers stay only lasted three years before re-joining the Midland League. The two teams then merged in 1901 to form Burton United though the stay in the Football League only lasted until 1907 when the club were no re-elected. Following this they joined the Birmingham League but at the end of the 1909/10 season folded. Before Albion’s formation in 1950 the last team to carry the town’s name to have any significance was Burton Town. Town who were previously known as Burton All Saints played in the Birmingham Combination, Birmingham League and Midland League until the outbreak of the Second World War but did not reform when the war ended. Like previously stated Albion were formed in 1950 and joined the Birmingham League. They remained in the league for eight years before joining the Southern League. Twenty-one seasons were spent in the Southern League before being transferred to the Northern Premier League (NPL) due to reorganisation following the formation of the Alliance Premier League (now Conference). The club spent just eight seasons in the NPL before switching back again to the Southern League in 1987, while another switch back to the NPL for a second time came in 2001. The 2001/02 season saw Albion crowned NPL champions and with it promotion to the top tier of non-league football in the Conference. Seven seasons were spent in the Conference before the club were promoted to the Football League as champions.

The town of Burton-upon-Trent (population in 2001 64,449) is located in Staffordshire and is the administrative centre for the East Staffordshire district. The town is most well known for the brewing industry with Coors being one of the five breweries in the town. Both the River Trent and Trent & Mersey Canal wind their way through the town.

The reason for the choice of game is that I have a very good friend who is a supporter of Burton’s visitors today Cheltenham Town and this fixture gives us a chance to meet up for the first time since mid-December when we took in the Cirencester Town – Thatcham Town match in the Southern League. (report can be found here: http://www.rambler77.net/2009/12/ciren.html). I never managed to get to Burton’s old ground of Eton Park so I am looking forward to this fixture. One word of warning to Cheltenham Town supporters is that I have seen them play four times in the midlands over the years at Notts County, Northampton Town, Nottingham Forest and Leicester City and they have lost all four games without scoring a goal. If this trend continues then I have a feeling that I will be barred from attending any further games watching Cheltenham away from home!!!!!!! At the start of play Burton have made a solid start in the debut season in the Football League, currently occupying 12th place with forty-nine points on the board, while Cheltenham who were relegated from League 1 last season are in a relegation fight. The Robins sit one place above the relegation zone but have a four point advantage over Grimsby Town having played a game less. If I were a betting man then I predict either a 2-0 or 3-1 victory for the hosts this afternoon.

The Pirelli Stadium has only been Burton’s home since 2005 and has a capacity of 6,912. The ground is covered on all four sides with one seated main stand and the other three terracing. Away supporters are housed in the terracing behind the goal on the Derby Road side and are allocated a section of seating in the main stand.

The game itself was one of the old football clichés, a game of two halves with the second forty five minutes one that I am struggling for words to describe. The game was only two minutes old when a mistake in the Cheltenham defence allowed Shaun Harrad to score with a low shot past visiting keeper Brown. A good move from the home side saw Steve Kabba come within inches of connecting with a Harrad cross to double their advantage. Further confusion in the visiting defence saw an attempted lob by Harrad well saved by Brown. Around the half hour mark Lee Ridley brought down Harrad in the penalty area who subsequently stepped up and made it 2-0. Half time could not come quick enough for Cheltenham who were playing with no confidence and it appeared they had no hope of getting anything out of the game. Whatever was said in the dressing room by manager Mark Yates seemed to work as on 53 minutes they pulled a goal back. Following an error in the Burton defence David Hutton crossed for Justin Richards to stab the ball home from a couple of yards out. Just three minutes later and it was all square when Medy Elito scored the goal of the game when he struck a superb first time shot from the edge of the penalty area into the top right hand corner of the net. Only five minutes had passed before Burton re-took the lead when Cheltenham skipper Michael Townsend diverted a Cleveland Taylor cross into his own net. The home side then had further chances to restore their two goal cushion before, on seventy two minutes Kabba did just that. The game then calmed down a bit before it reached the 84th minute when things just got silly. A free kick on the edge of the area was struck low past the home wall by Michael Pook to set up what we thought would be a tense finish. A minute later and Burton though were two goals to the good for a third time when Kabba got his second of the match after turning in a Harrad cross. Game over right? Wrong. Pook got his second on the 87th minute when his deflected shot looped over the home keeper Krysiak to make it 5-4. On the stroke of ninety minutes Justin Richards reached a long ball first to slot the ball past Krysiak to give Cheltenham an equaliser and send the visiting supporters into raptures and completely stun the Brewers fans. Deep into injury time and Pook completed his hat-trick with a twenty yard volley to give the visitors an astonishing victory that will no doubt go down in Cheltenham folklore and be talked about for years to come.

Trying to summarise the game is very difficult but the second forty minutes is something that will be with me for a very long time. What a way for me to end my jinx of watching Cheltenham away from home – the first time I’ve seen them score and they score six and the first time I’ve seen them won. In all the years I’ve been watching football this is the first 5-6 scoreline I have witnessed and only the third in which I have seen 11 goals scored. The last time this happened was at the end of September 2008 when Sileby Town won 8-3 at FC Dynamo in the Leicestershire Senior League.

Wow is my final world on the game.

Admission: £13

Programme: £2.50

Badge: £2.50

Attendance: 2,500

Websites:

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burton_upon_Trent
Burton Albion FC: www.burtonalbionfc.co.uk
Football Grounds Guide: http://www.footballgroundguide.com/burton_albion