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Match Review
Match Number: 557
Date: Saturday 29th November 2008
Kick-Off: 3:00pm
Match: St Mirren 0 Dundee United 2
Competition: Scottish League Two
Stadium: Love Street
Attendance: 4,013 (450 ish)
Stadium Stats
No. of visits to stadium: 1
Total no. of stadiums visited: 103
Programme and Ticket
Photos
Review
Travel to match
Method of Travel: Car
Travelling time: 1hr 50mins
My journey to Love Street was broken up with ground tours of Celtic Park and Hampden Park. However, I left home in Carlisle at 7:15am and arrived at Celtic at 8:45am- it was a cold frosty morning but the roads were quiet and not wanting to get their too early I didn't rush up. The trip from Celtic to St Mirren would have only taken another 20 minutes or so.
Pre-Match
I headed to Greenhill Road,
the site of St Mirren's new stadium to have a quick look round (a
very boring ground!!!!!) before driving to Murray Street just by the Love
Street stadium. Parking was free, easy to find and being only a few minutes
walk from the stadium and also only round the corner from the A726 which
went to the M8 it was perfect. I had my lunch and then wandered round
the ground.
Stadium
I really like Love Street and it's a great shame they have to move to
another soulless and non-characteristic ground. Each stand is different,
a mix of old and new, the floodlights are great and the place has a historic
feel to it.
Admission
I bought my tickets over the internet as you could pick your seats, so paid £20.00 plus a £1.00 administration fee. I picked my ticket up at an entrance in the main stand although once entering the stadium a steward said that I could sit anywhere that wasn't marked as "reserved". My view was good, other than one of the goalposts being blocked but I was happy enough with where I got. Legroom was excellent as I was only the front row of the block behind the executive seats so and if it had been a big game I imagine the atmosphere could be excellent.
Programme
£2.50 for 52 pages which was reasonable. It was good to see that the club are planning on producing a special programme to mark their last fixture at Love Street in a few weeks time.
Food and Drink
I bought a Scotch Pie in the ground priced at £1.60 which was ok.
The Game
Dundee United won 2-0 and probably should have won by a few more. They
started the game really well but didn't take their chances, but St Mirren
were poor through out. Having said that they did waste three really good
chances to get themselves back into the game but this wouldn't have been
a fair result overall. I was very impressed by United's midfielder Willo
Flood who was excellent through out.
Home Fans
The home fans seemed a friendly bunch but didn't really get behind their team.
Away Fans
I was a little surprised by how few fans had travelled from Dundee (450 ish I would say) as it only looks to be a two hour journey but I suppose this is one of the longer trips for them. They didn't really sing much during the game.
Stewards / Police
Other than outside the away end before the match I didn't really notice
any police, and the steward I spoke to was helpful and they seemed to
keep them self to them self.
The Ref
It's not often I say it but I thought the referee was excellent and I can actually only remember one decision that I wouldn't have agreed with. The home fans may think different but as a neutral I was impressed and it was good to see him letting the game flow.
The Journey Home
Travelling time: 1hr 55mins
I was on my way by 4:55pm and straight onto the M8 before hitting traffic nearer to the city centre which delayed me for about 15 minutes, and once on the M74 it was fog lights on and slower traffic again. I stopped at Annandale Service for five minutes at 6:10pm before being back in the house at 6:55pm after a good day out.
Statistics
Travel: £18.00
Ticket: £12.00
Programme: £2.50
Total: £32.50
Mileage: 220
Travelling time: 3hr 45mins
Stadium character: 8/10
Facilities: 4/10
View of pitch: 7/10
Atmosphere home fans: 3/10
Atmosphere away fans: 3/10
Match Rating: 7/10
Wish to go back to stadium: 9/10
