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Match Review
Match Number: NA
Date: Saturday 16th February 2008
Kick-Off: 3:00pm
Match: Crewe Alexandra v Carlisle United MATCH
POSTPONED
Competition: Coca-Cola Football League One
Stadium: Gresty Road
Attendance: NA
Stadium Stats
No. of visits to stadium: 0 (Still!)
Total no. of stadiums visited: 91 (Still!)
Programme and Ticket
Photos
Review
Travel to match
Method of Travel: Train
Travelling time: 1hr 59mins
We left Carlisle at 9:14am for the short two hour trip, arriving on time into Crewe at 11:13am. There seemed to be a hundred or so CUFC fans waiting at the station for either this train or the one a few minutes after.
Pre-Match
Once into Crewe we headed straight to Nanthwich Road for The
Brunswick pub which was excellent. The staff were friendly, there
was TV's for the Bristol Rovers v Southampton cup tie and the bar
prices were good with a wide selection of drinks. Before the game I also
got some food from one of the chippies and had a wander round Gresty Road
and also popped into the programme shop.
Stadium
Gresty Road is a great little ground, and for a club the size of Crewe
is one which suites their needs. The large Air Products Stand it huge
compared the others and this is where the club shop and ticket office
is located. The other three stands are of similar size (around 10 rows
each) and are very basic.
Admission
We bought our tickets from Carlisle United a few weeks before the game-
it was £19.00 for adult into the Blue Bell BMW Stand. Looking at
various websites this would have offered a great view of the pitch, despite
the low height of the stand.
Programme
£2.50 for 68 pages which was excellent value for money. It is probably
the best I've read this season at our level alongside Bristol Rovers.
Food and Drink
We had some chips from the Goodwins fish and chip shop/restaurant on Nathwich
Road. The large portion for £1.75 was huge, and I ended up given
someone half of them.
The Game
The match was postponed at 2pm due to a frozen pitch, and although the
weather in Crewe was beautiful and warm, the overnight frost had done
the damage. It seems the referee had only turned up just before 2pm which
is why it was left so late. Although there was no doubt the pitch was
un-safe to play on the late call-off is simply not on for those fans that
had travelled from Cumbria and elsewhere. Although Carlisle United are
to take this up with the football league, we know this will make no different
what so-ever.
Home Fans
Although I had a walk around the ground at around 1:30pm there were very
few Crewe fans around, the only ones I spoke to were in the excellent
programme shop which is well worth a visit if you are a collector.
Away Fans
It's hard to tell when the game wasn't played but I would
estimate there would have been around 1,300 CUFC fan heading to the game.
Stewards / Police
The police in the station, on Nathwich Road and those who kept popping
into the pub were excellent. Un-like many others around the country they
were friendly, happy to give advice on the pubs and also regarding the
confusion regarding getting home on earlier trains.
The Ref
0/10 for turning up so late.
The Journey Home
Travelling time: 1hr 56mins
After the game was called off and finishing our drinks we headed back to the station to see if we could get an early train home, as our tickets were for the 5:41pm. Thankfully the British Transport Police were happy to let us on and there was a train leaving not long after at 2:40pm. The train took just under two hours to get to Carlisle, pulling in at 4:36pm. Some of the lads got off at Wigan to watch the football results come in, but with plenty of space in first class I decided to stay on and get home for the Manchester United v Arsenal match on TV.
Statistics
Travel: £16.60
Ticket: £19.00
Total: £35.60
Mileage: 286 miles
Travelling time: 3hrs 55mins
Stadium character: 6/10
Facilities: NA/10
View of pitch: Unknown/10
Atmosphere home fans: NA/10
Atmosphere away fans: NA/10
Match Rating: NA/10
Wish to go back to stadium: 10/10
Photos
