Trafford 3-3 Witton Albion

Saturday 28^th December

Northern Premier League

Attendance: 234

Admission: £8 Adults / £5 Concessions

 

Trafford FC welcomed Witton Albion to Shawe View in the Northern Premier League. Both sides are flirting with relegation danger in the league, it was going to be an entertaining affair. Trafford FC, formed in 1990, play their home games at Shawe Lane. The ground is made of 3 covered stands. Two of them are seated stands along the length of the pitch, the main stand housing the refreshments and bar and opposing that is the other seated stand with small section of standing behind the seats. Behind the goals there is a covered terrace and an open end. Trafford gained promotion last season through the play-offs after beating Cammell Laird in the final.

The admission at Trafford is £8 for Adults, £5 for Concessions, £2 for Under 18’s and free for Under 12’s which is very reasonable for the league and the quality of the teams. There were many kids at the match a true reflection of the value for Under 18’s. There is a large car park directly outside the turnstiles to the ground.  After getting into the ground I parted with more cash buying a ‘Trafford Review’ and a golden goal ticket. The programme offered a lot of information across the Northern Premier League, premier and northern division and also the NWCFL. It also gives good detail on the playing squad of both teams and also has the match reports from previous games. It maybe lacked colour in the programme as it is primarily black and white. There was a large group of vocal Witton Albion fans who had made the trip.

 

The game was very much end to end, Witton opened the scoring 5 minutes in, messing up my golden goal of 49 minutes, the rest of the first half was even throughout. The action came in the second half as Trafford levelled the match up a few minutes in. Witton took control of the match after that and inevitable came when they went 2-1 up and that looked to be the winner until the 87^th minute when Trafford equlised and just minutes later Trafford took the lead for the first time in the match. It didn’t end there. Witton with the last attack of the game equalised to end the game 3-3.

At half-time we sampled the food on offer at Trafford. We went for the burger, parting £2.50 for Cheeseburger with onions, a nice burger; the value for other things such as cans was good, at 60p. We decided against having a pie. So the Admission/Programme/Burger combo costs £12.50 at Trafford which is pretty good value especially for the entertaining match on offer.

Overall it was a great game to watch, with good value food and admission. The programme was good and overall it was a good overall experience.

Price: 8pts

Programme: 7pts

Food: 7pts

Entertainment: 9pts

Parking: 4.5pts

Staff: 2.5pts

Facilities: 1.5pts

Total Score: 39.5pts

Match Pictures

Ashton United 2-1 FC United Of Manchester

Thursday 26th December

Northern Premier League

Attendance: 1,008

Admission: £9 (Adults)/£6 (Concessions)

Boxing Day was upon us, the football derby day, and Ashton United welcomed FC United Of Manchester to Hurst Cross, in what was definitely an entertaining game. Ashton United, nicknamed The Robins were formed in 1878 and they ply their trade in the Northern Premier League, premier division. They play their home games at Hurst Cross in Ashton-Under-Lyne and managed a 10^th place finish in the league last season. Hurst Cross is made of 4 main sections, one seated stand to the side of the pitch and opposite that was the large covered terrace which housed much of the visiting fans for the match. Behind one goal was a large open terrace stand and opposing that was a curved terrace where the refreshments were.

This match was a very attractive affair for us to do an ‘Away Chips’, short trip, new ground and a largely supported visiting team. The admission was £9 for adults which seemed very reasonable but it was £6 for concessions, so U16’s pay £6 which seems very expensive, especially in non-league where they should be trying to attract more younger fans to come along. There was a small amount of parking directly outside of the ground and not far from the ground there was many cars parked along a long road, just minutes away. With an average crowd there would be an adequate amount of parking but there was an extremely large attendance for the match. We picked up a programme from those selling them outside the ground and the ‘We are United’ programme is pretty good, giving a good insight about the visiting team and has a lot of content looking back at previous matches with pictures and also general football columns and for £2 it’s not bad value. The ground has a nice charm and it’s a very traditional looking ground which is great for taking pictures, and after a walk around the ground we headed into the club shop, which had loads of old programmes on sale and Ashton merchandise and the person running the shop was very friendly. There was a very good atmosphere building in the ground with many of the FC United fans watching the Manchester United game in the clubhouse prior to the match and the match winner was greeted with a very loud celebration heard from the other side of the stadium. Ashton United have had an average attendance of around 150 this season but this match attracted just over 1000 people and the FC United faithful in the terrace where vocal throughout the game.

 

The game was a very even affair with chances for both sides and it was FC United’s keeper Ed Wilczynski’s saves that denied Ashton opening the scoring. As the game was approaching half-time we decided to grab something to eat. The opener came from the visitors through Michael Norton. The queue was considerable in length and it took 40 minutes before parting with £3.10 for pie and chips. The steak pie we had was nice enough and the chips were great for £1.50, they were better than most that we’ve had this season but nonetheless 40 minutes is way too long to wait for pie and chips. Supposedly they usually have more food and drink outlets open but being a bank holiday they weren’t and considering the crowd size, it had a huge effect. The second half saw Ashton take more control of the game and they equalised through a Gary Gee penalty after Tom Davies was sent off for handling on the line. Ashton’s pressure paid off after they found a winner on 82 minutes as Dale Johnson poked home after the visitors failed to clear. It ended 2-1 and it was a very entertaining game. The Admission/Programme/Chips combo at Ashton United for adults cost £12.50 which for the overall match is very good.

Overall Ashton United was a good visit with an entertaining match. It’s been a while since we’ve had chips so that’s a plus. Hurst Cross is a great ground for a match and the atmosphere was brilliant adding to the game.

 

Price: 5pts

Programme: 8pts

Food: 6.5pts

Entertainment: 9pts

Parking: 3pts

Staff: 2.5pts

Facilities: 2pts

Total Score: 36pts

Match Pictures

Manchester United 1-0 Shaktar Donetsk

Tuesday 11^th December

UEFA Champions League

Attendance: TBC

Admission: £35 

Manchester United play in the English Premier League and were formed in 1878. They play their home games at the 78,000 capacity Old Trafford.

The admission for us was £35 for adults, whilst considering the stature of the competition and the opposition, that is still a lot of money for a football match, especially since it was a fiver at the match we were at on Saturday. Outside the ground there is a great match day feel to the place with the plethora of people selling their flags and scarves, and all the fans walking down to the ground. We picked up our programme for £3 and went in the ground. The facilities inside the stand were very good with the toilets, food places and bookies there. As always the food is the first port of call. The food there was limited, and the pie of choice for us was their Peppered Steak Pie. Coming out into the stands you see the size of the place and it’s a great site of a great ground. As you take your seats you realise how cramped the ground actually is, definitely get acquainted with the person next to you. The pie was nice enough for the £3 you shell out, they do a deal of 3 items for £6, so Pie, Drink and chocolate, not bad but earlier in the season at one club we spent £2.80 on the exact same thing. The programme is the nice, professional programme you expect from the football league teams. The match was very disinteresting, with very little chances worth noting.

 

The Admission/Programme/Pie combo costs £41 at Manchester United. I didn’t actually see the parking but from past experience know there is a decent amount nearby. The staff were very friendly at the ground.

Overall it’s still a nice place to watch football in a large stadium with the pre-match hype but our return will not be that quick.

Price: 4.5pts

Programme: 9pts

Food: 6pts

Entertainment: 5pts

Parking: 2pts

Staff: 3pts

Facilities: 1.5pts

Total Score: 31.5pts

Fan-View Pictures

Hyde 1-2 Chester

Saturday 9th November

Skrill Premier

Attendance: 1232

Admission: £14 

Hyde play in the Skrill Premier after winning the Conference North in 2011. Their home is Ewen Fields which also plays host to Manchester City’s Elite Development Squad (EDS), it can hold around 4073 people. The club formed in 1885 and nearly went out of business in 2010 but they were saved by Manchester City. Ewen Fields has 4 terraced sections to the ground, on one side you have the seated stand and the famous Shed End home to the vocal Hyde fans.

The Admission at Hyde is £14 for Adults which at this level is cheaper than a considerable amount of teams with Under 16’s getting in for £4. The first port of call is to check out the food, pouring rain wasn’t helping the overall atmosphere and doubts were cast whether the game was even going to go ahead. The Chip cone at Hyde costs £1.50, quite expensive considering its size and taste. The chips were average and with the cost it wasn’t brilliant. The programme’s at Hyde are £2.50 for a decent 40 paged programme with decent features and good use of images, so that makes the Admission/Programme/Chips work out at £18 for Adults. A large noisy contingent had made their way from Chester to watch their team and the overall game was entertaining, two sides battling at the wrong end of the table. Hyde never got going in the second half and so Chester won the game 1-2.

The parking outside the ground is of a reasonable amount but there is also a large amount of parking just around the corner of the ground. In addition to that the staff there were friendly and easy to talk to and showed some excitement to the match.  There is also a large social club inside the ground open before and after the game, a nice place with some photos of their Conference North winning season.

Overall a great visit, one of my favourite grounds to go to watch a game, a shame to see where they are in the league and a shame that the chips weren’t of the quality we have witnessed earlier in the season.

Price: 7.5pts

Programme: 7.5pts

Food: 5pts

Entertainment: 8pts

Parking: 3pts
Staff: 2.5pts

Facilities: 2pts

Total Score: 35.5pts

Match Pictures