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Match Review
Match Number: 514
Date: Tuesday 26th February 2008
Kick-Off: 7:45pm
Match: Crewe Alexandra 0 Carlisle United
1
Competition: Coca-Cola Football League One
Stadium: Gresty Road
Attendance: 4,786 (747)
Stadium Stats
No. of visits to stadium: 1
Total no. of stadiums visited: 93
Programme and Ticket
Photos
Review
Travel to match
Method of Travel: Bus
Travelling time: 2hrs 45mins
Due to having to leave the game ten minutes early I decided against using the train as I had done a few weeks ago, so I booked onto the CUOSC buses which left Carlisle at 3:45pm. The weather was very poor especially in Cumbria, although it improved the further south we went. After hitting traffic just before we left the M6 at junction 17 and getting stuck behind a tractor on the way into Crewe we arrived at 6:30pm.
Pre-Match
As I had been in the programme shop at Gresty Road on the previous visit
I was more prepared this time and took a list of programme I needed for
my "one per season" collection, and therefore headed straight
there to pick up some bargains. At 30p a programme for general league
before last season it was well worth spending twenty minutes in there.
After this I met a friend who had driven down and we headed to the chippie
where he got his dinner.
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. The view of
the pitch was excellent, despite the small size of the stand and it was
quite easy to get a good atmosphere going.
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
I had bought some food from Tesco before setting off, so I didn't buy
any at the ground.
The Game
We won 1-0 thanks to a great goal by Scott Dobie who has recently returned
to the club. The match was a good game of football with both teams trying
to play it on the ground. At no point did we really look in danger of
losing the game, despite our keeper making a good few saves, but we should
have finished Crewe off much earlier than we did but poor finishing was
to blame.
Home Fans
The attendance was given as 4,786 as I would estimate there was 700 ish
away fans there. How they get to that figure I will never know, as you
will see from the photos below the stands were fairly empty. Other than
a few chants from the group of supporters behind the goal they didn't
really get behind their team at all.
Away Fans
747 fans made the trip which is probably half of what it would have been
a few weeks ago. Support for the team was reasonably good, but I've heard
a lot better.
Stewards / Police
The stewards and police were excellent.
The Ref
I thought the referee done ok to be honest.
The Journey Home
Travelling time: 2hr 50mins
As there was 7 buses it took until 9:55pm until we set off, and again the M6 had some traffic problems (due to the fact that it was down to 1 or 2 lanes most of the way home). The section around Knutsford was particularly bad. We finally arrived home at 12:45am.
Statistics
Travel: £10.00
Ticket: £0.00 (already paid from the original postponed match)
Programme: £2.50
Total: £12.50
Mileage: 286 miles
Travelling time: 5hrs 35mins
Stadium character: 6/10
Facilities: 6/10
View of pitch: 8/10
Atmosphere home fans: 1/10
Atmosphere away fans: 5/10
Match Rating: 8/10
Wish to go back to stadium: 6/10
Photos
Photos from the original postponed game >>
