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Match Review
Match Number: 589
Date: Wednesday 26th August 2009
Kick-Off: 7:45pm
Match: Bristol City 0 Carlisle United 2
Competition: Carling Cup Second Round
Stadium: Ashton Gate
Attendance: 6,359 (190)
Stadium Stats
No. of visits to stadium: 1
Total no. of stadiums visited: 108
Programme and Ticket
Photos
Review
Travel to match
Method of Travel: Bus
Travelling time: 6hrs 10mins
Just over a half-full bus left Brunton Park at 11.30am and picked-up supporters at Penrith and Shap before hitting a 20 minute delay near Kendal due to a van overturning. We pulled into Stafford Services at 2.45pm for 20 minutes before hitting congestion from Hilton Services until the M5 which slowed us down for around an hour. Despite the heavy traffic and hold-up's we were at Ashton Gate at 6:00pm. We went via the M6, M5 then
Pre-Match
After a walk around the stadium taking photos I headed like many into KFC for some dinner and then into some of the shops next door (PC World etc).
Stadium
I really like Ashton Gate - it looks fantastic when you first see it coming
into Bristol and it has a lot of character. Each stand is different, it
is of a decent size and can create a good atmosphere.
Admission
It was a bargain £10 to sit anywhere in the ground so as the away
end looked fairly poor in terms of view I decided to sit in the Dolman
Stand home end. The view was excellent although the leg room was limited.
Programme
A slimmer than normal £2.00 32 page programme was sold. This was
ok and gives the impression the normal full size league programmes will
be a decent read. The locals must like it as it sold out at least fifteen
minutes before kick-off according to the PA.
Food and Drink
As I had taken food on the bus and had a KFC before hand I didn't try any food at the ground.
The Game
We fully deserved our two goal victory as City were very poor. They didn't
play their first eleven but still should have had enough to beat us however
we took the chances we created.
Home Fans
The home fans in the Dolman Stand were getting very frustrated with their
players and rightly so. In the first half one fan next to me was obviously
drunk and was actually drinking cans of lager during the game despite
his young son being with him. On the plus side though a few others around
me were good company and were amazed I'd travelled all the way down for
the game. They wished us well in for the next round as we shook hands
as I was leaving.
A further negative though was that after the game around 30 City fans surrounded our bus and attacked two of our supporters. There was no police by the coach or stewards but this is the norm according to one City fan that gave a statement to the police. We were then escorted out back to the motorway.
Away Fans
The 190 (plus me!) certainly enjoyed themselves - and made some good noise
at times.
Stewards / Police
The game wasn't policed and the stewards inside the ground were ok but
the fact that there was none near the away coach doesn't seem right.
The Ref
The referee was ok.
The Journey Home
Travelling time: 4hrs 50mins
Once the police had sorted the local kids out we were escorted away from the ground at 10:00pm only stopping at Stafford Services again at 12.05am for 25 minutes. The journey went a lot quicker than the one down and we were back in Carlisle at 3.15am.
Statistics
Travel: £26.00
Ticket: £10.00
Programme: £2.00
Total: £38.00
Mileage: 556
Travelling time: 11hrs
Stadium character: 8/10
Facilities: 7/10
View of pitch: 9/10
Atmosphere home fans: 4/10
Atmosphere away fans: 3/10
Match Rating: 6/10
Wish to go back to stadium: 8/10
Photos
