Swindon Town v Morecambe

Ground #369: The County Ground

Saturday 31st August 2019

Swindon Town 3-1 Morecambe

League 2

Attendance: 6,887

Admission: £10 (Under 21)

Having stayed in Wokingham the previous night, an easy chance to finally tick off Swindon finally arose.

Swindon is an absolute dive of a town, all disrespect intended. Genuinely might be the worst in the country if the centre is anything to go by. Horrific 1950s architecture all over the shop & not in a cool brutalist way. Chain pub central.

I liked the home fans pub right outside the ground though. Proper football pub, stank of piss, music playing, cheap pints.

The County Ground is alright but nothing to shout from the rooftops about. I'm a dinosaur who prefers club to have a main hardcore end behind each goal, but these stands are disproportionately small compared to the ones across the side.

As for the game itself. All four goals came within the opening 20 minutes. Morecambe swiftly cancelled out Eoin Doyle's opener with Lewis Alessandra finishing off a nice team move. Doyle, who's bagged more this season than Tom Jordan in his snapchat days, unsurprisingly cemented the two goal advantage after Jerry Yates restored their lead.
Thereafter, the game was a complete snoozefest. If I remember correctly, Swindon manager Richie Wellens described the second half as their worst of the season.

I have nothing against Swindon Town. I think they're a proper club, a bit grotty, and they should be playing a level above at the minimum. But I'm glad I've got it out of the way with!

Binfield vs Virginia Water

Ground #368: Stubbs Lane

Friday 30th August 2019

Binfield 1-0 Virginia Water (AET)

FA Cup Qualifier

Attendance: 129

Admission: £6

I have to be honest, I'd never heard of Binfield and would have had no idea where in the country it is located, had it not been the nearby village team of my good friend Dan Scanlon. A Friday night groundhop and then a night out in his hometown Wokingham appealed, certainly from an optical perspective at least. 

It's a Hellenic League club in the depths of the Berkshire countryside. A reasonable but fairly basic ground at step 5, they have a small seated stand on one side of the pitch and behind the goal a decent sized clubhouse. We spent most of the second half in there and left before the only goal of the game in extra time. 

Sutton United vs Dover Athletic

Grounds Revisited: Gander Green Lane (5th Visit)

Saturday 24th August 2019

Sutton United 1-2 Dover Athletic

Vanarama Premier

Attendance: 1552

Admission: £8 (must have got in as an under-something)

As you can probably guess from the photos, we'd had a fair few that day. 

Barnet v Dover Athletic

Grounds Revisited: The Hive (2nd visit)

Tuesday 13th August 2019

Barnet 0-1 Dover Athletic

Vanarama Premier

Attendance: 1,143 (146 away fans)

Admission: £20

Barnet never attracted particularly strong crowds in the charmingly rustic surroundings of their Underhill home which was actually in Barnet. So it's no surprise to see their fanbase has been completely decimated in this leisure centre ground in a boring suburban area of North London.

Located a 10 minute walk from Stanmore station, near towards the end of the Jubilee Line, there's absolutely nothing of note from the walk through the park to the ground. Me and my father drunk around King's Cross before getting a late tube over.

It's not an awful ground by any stretch - I much prefer it to the usual blueprint bores of Northampton, Colchester etc. But with no fans to fill out the place it feels like a massive waste of construction. Since my last visit in Christmas 2014 they've rebuilt the away terrace into a huge seated stand. You get a great view of the pitch.

A dramatic 93rd minute header from Inih Effiong meant we snatched the 3 points in what had been quite a tepid game. Bruised my legs in the ensuing carnage!