Droylsden 1-5 Ilkeston

Saturday 8^th February

Northern Premier League

Attendance: 136

Admission: £10/£6/£2 (Adults/Concessions/Under 16s)

As many matches fell victim to the weather, on Saturday came that time looking for any game in the local area. We were due to be going to the Winsford v Stockport Sports game but that got called off so I found myself on the way to Droylsden by Tram.

Droylsden were formed in 1892 and play in the Premier division of the Northern Premier League, with their home games being played at the Butcher’s Arms ground. The small ground has 3 stands, a seated stand housing the player’s facilities so the seats have a heightened view. The other two stands are terraces with the large terrace behind the goal sheltering the Ilkeston fans from the heavy rain and the small stand to the side housing some more of the fans. The attendance at the game was 136 with many of the fans coming from Ilkeston.

 

The admission at Droylsden was £10 for Adults, £6 for Concessions and £2 for Under 16’s which is average from what I’ve seen in this division and decent value especially for the children attending. The ground was close to the Droylsden tram stop making it an easy ground to get to. When we got into the ground we picked up one of the programmes which has some good content but it was hardly professional and lacked some colour but for £2 it wasn’t bad.  The game was entertaining enough with result pretty much pre-determined with Droylsden’s winless season. Ilkeston bossed the first half but for much of the second half Droylsden were much the better side.

At half-time we sampled the foods on offer and went for Chips which came (to us dreaded) cone but it was overflowing with chips so the portion size was nothing to complain about, they were average, they had the normal condiments of salt, ketchup and vinegar. The prices were good for chips at £1.50, whilst the pies were also £1.50. So the Admission/Programme/Chips combo in the ground is £13.50 which is very good for the things available, maybe as a home fan it would be hard to muster giving this money away each week when your team cannot win.

Overall the ground had character with a very big social club and the good value food makes the day all better, a pretty good day.

Price: 7.5pts

Programme: 6.5pts

Food: 7.5pts

Entertainment: 7.5pts

Parking 2pts

Staff: 2pts

Facilites: 2pts

Total Score: 35pts

Match Pictures