SATURDAY OCTOBER 3RD 2015
EASTLEIGH 0 V 2 BRAINTREE TOWN
NATIONAL LEAGUE PREMIER
SILVERLAKE STADIUM, EASTLEIGH.
ATT......1,330 (approx. 37 away)
ADMISSION....£15
PROGRAMME....£3
TRAIN FARE.....£107.20
2015-16 TOTALS......34 GAMES, 123 GOALS....MILEAGE = 4315.1m
2015-16 TOTALS......34 GAMES, 123 GOALS....MILEAGE = 4315.1m
Up at 5am still nursing the hangover of defeat for the Millers last night.
Although i can take heart from the fact that despite being down on the Birmingham performance, we battled against a strong looking Burnley side and didn't go down with a whimper, but it will be good to get the next 2 gameless weeks out of the way, get a new boss settled in, and begin the new era for Rotherham United when we resume at Griffin Park on October 17th.
Today i am making a 439 mile round trip to Hampshire for the National League game between Eastleigh and Braintree Town at the Silverlake Stadium.
Ground no 243 for me and the 18th of the current 24 National League Grounds in my quest to complete the Division this season.
Eastleigh, nicknamed The Spitfires following a poll amongst fans in 2005 to choose a new nickname for the Club, are like Rotherham, without a Manager following the resignation of former Watford and Northampton Striker Richard Hill a fortnight back.
Their Essex opponents are managed by Danny Cowley, who along with his Brother and assistant Manager Nicky left Concord Rangers in May for the Braintree job.
Their Essex opponents are managed by Danny Cowley, who along with his Brother and assistant Manager Nicky left Concord Rangers in May for the Braintree job.
Visitors Braintree, sit one place above Eastleigh in 9th position by virtue of a single goal better goal difference.
Both teams are 7 points adrift of League leaders Forest Green who are stuttering slightly after an 100% record in their opening 9 games, and have only taken 1 point from the last 12.
Eastleigh enjoyed their first win in 6 National League games last Saturday with a 3-2 victory at The Racecourse Ground, Wrexham, while Braintree suffered their first defeat in 6 in a single goal loss at Bromley.
Eastleigh caretaker boss Chris Todd, the former Swansea, Exeter and Torquay defender, has expressed his desire to be given his chance for the permanent Manager's job at the Silverlake Stadium, he told Radio Solent, "I feel I've got something to offer. If the club want me to be manager, I'd love it," The National League club are currently inviting applications for the job. "That moment of winning your first game was up there with anything in my career. "It was the biggest buzz ever, even better than scoring. It's always been my desire to manage a football club, but we'll see what happens over the coming days."
Eastleigh will be looking for a return to goalscoring form of ex-Oxford goal machine James Constable, who bagged 5 goals in the Clubs opening 6 games this term but has failed to find the net in the last 7 outings.Another former Oxford player in the Spitfires ranks is Jack Midson who also enjoyed a good spell at AFC Wimbledon before his move to the Hampshire Club.
Another name which looked familiar in the Eastleigh squad list was former Barnsley captain and Scunny player Paul Reid whom the Millers have been linked with once or twice over the years.
Reid's career stretches back as far as 1999-2000 when he made his debut for Carlisle coming on as sub for former Miller Rob Bowman.
Reid's career stretches back as far as 1999-2000 when he made his debut for Carlisle coming on as sub for former Miller Rob Bowman.
Onto the journey, and despite being the furthest away (and the most expensive travelwise) of the remaining National League Grounds for me, Eastleigh is by far the easiest of the Southern based clubs to reach...train from Wombwell to Sheffield then train from Sheffield straight to Southampton Airport Parkway, leaving a 15 minute walk to the Ground on Stoneham Lane.
A weary walk up to Wombwell Station at 6 with last nights supper laying heavy on me, i trudged through the almost deserted streets aside from half a dozen cars, a lone cyclist and 3 drunks....2 of whom were talking very loudly, almost shouting, at the top of Hough Lane...this must've gone down a treat with the sleeping (not for long) locals.
Sheffield train on time and i arrived there with 20 minutes to spare before my connecting train to S.A.P
Took my seat on the 7.18 train and settled back for a near 4 hour jaunt armed with yesterday's Rotherham Advertiser, Barnsley Chronicle and this morning's Sheffield Star to pass on the time, plus an all day breakfast panini to put me on till whatever lies in store food wise at the Ground...no Wetherspoons within my reach today, so hopefully something nice to be had down there.
Finishing the papers as we arrived at Birmingham New Street was expert timing, as i've never done the remainder of this journey by rail before, so i can indulge in one of my favourite train travelling hobbies for the next 2 hours.....Ground spotting.
Obviously, the first "spot" was the scene of last weeks superb Millers win and Mr Evans' toodle-ooo, St Andrews....i gave a wry smile as we passed, remembering the joy in my heart as we left there approxiamately 6 days and 16 hours earlier.
The next Ground i spied was Reading Town FC's and i got a great overhead view of it from the higher vantage point of the Train, pity i didn't get my camera out in time.
An hour from Birmingham without a Ground then 2 come along together as the driver changed ends and we veered off towards Basingstoke bypassing the Madjeski Stadium on the horizon.
Finally arrived at my destination at 11.15 and had a steady 15 minute walk to the Ground.
Out of the Station, turn right and a few hundred yards down the road is the Lakeside Country Park.
Through there going past the Eastleigh Lakeside Railway which features little minature train rides (yes i was tempted) and up to the end of Stoneham Lane which the Ground is housed on.
A nervy little 5 minute walk on the narrow causewayless lane, pressing myself into the hedgerows to make way for the traffic on a blind bend (just a very narrow bit of path on a small section of the walk) and i arrived at the main gates of the Silverlake Stadium.
Upon hearing of my neutral status when asked if i was a Braintree supporter, a steward gave me help as for where to go as segregation is in place there and away fans aren't allowed in the Social Club.
The nearest pub for away fans seems to be The Cricketers which is a good 15 minutes walk away....there is an hotel complex called The Concord at the end of Stoneham Lane but i don't know if there's a bar there.
Back at the Ground and one of the turnstiles opens at 12 to allow home fans access to the Social Club, but a very friendly club official invited me in the ground at 11.35 to take photo's pitchside...he even offered me a cuppa but i politely declined as i don't like to trouble people.
I went in through the main reception door, past the home dressing room and through the tunnel to pitchside.
The main stand is a narrow but tall 390 capacity grandstand which sits proudly either side of the half-way line, this is raised seating with no posts to block your view.
Either side of the Grandstand is uncovered terracing with the obligatory Burger van.
Opposite is a long shallow covered terrace with steel steps which stretches almost the full length of the pitch.
Beside the clubhouse is another shallow covered terrace which covers half the end directly behind the goal, with the clubhouse one side of it and 2 large portakabins on top of each other to the other side, these house the executive lounges.
Behind the other goal is a quite impressive large covered seating area which is segregated to house away supporters in one section of it, this holds 2,290 fans in total, again with no posts to interfere with viewing.
A good stroll around the Ground taking photo's, then i thanked the official for his kindness and made my way out to go round to the "early" turnstile.
£15 in and then into the large Social Club to have a much needed drink and get settled for the Palace v West Bromwich live telly offering.
A few comfy looking leather sofas were dotted about on the edges of the club but none were in line for either of the 2 plasma screens to watch the Football.
The main floor of the Club was devoid of any seating or tables and it's pretty much a case of grab your own seat if required from 6 stacks of chairs which were situated at the far end of the bar.
I leant on the far end of the bar away from the serving areas and got a good view of the game.
The main floor of the Club was devoid of any seating or tables and it's pretty much a case of grab your own seat if required from 6 stacks of chairs which were situated at the far end of the bar.
I leant on the far end of the bar away from the serving areas and got a good view of the game.
A few drinks later and i left the Club with 15 minutes left of the Palace match to get some fresh air and watch the warm-ups.
There is a food bar attached to the Clubhouse and I purchased a Steak and Ale Pie for £3....not a Pukka, but it was extremely tasty and filled to the top with large chunks of dark juicy meat.
None of the 3 Eastleigh names i mentioned earlier started the game, and in fact, only Midson of the 3 was on the bench.
2 other familiar names sprung out from the starting line up though....Ben Strevens who plied hs trade for several Southern based clubs including Barnet, Dagenham and Brentford, plus Joe Partington, a right back who had quite a few games for Bournemouth in recent years.
None of the Braintree team had any relevance to me, except the keeper who's surname was Norris (Good name)
The game got under way and the opening half an hour was pretty even and end to end, although not many clear chances were created, but enjoyable all the same.
However, just after the half hour mark, Kenny Davis was upended in the box by Eastleigh's Dan Harding and the visitors were awarded a penalty.
Davis dusted himself down and took it himself, hard and low to the keepers right....1-0 Braintree.
The scoreline remained the same till half time and i went back to the Clubhouse to check out the half time scores.
Coming back out I called at the Burger van for a Cheeseburger and a bottle of diet coke which cost £6.30, again, a very tasty offering.
Into the second half and Braintree regained the momentum they had built up after the opener, and following a sustained bout of pressure and a succession of corners, they doubled their lead on the hour.
A low hard left side cross right in front of me and across the six yard box, managed to evade 3 defenders and the keeper to find it's way to Michael Cheek on the far post to strike home.
This killed Eastleigh off, and the game itself for me, and despite a mini revival from the home side in the final minutes when substitute Jack Midson went close a couple of times, it was Braintree who took all 3 points and climbed to 6th place as a result.
Eastleigh dropped to 11th.
On leaving, i overheard a Braintree fan mention that 19 travelled down from Essex on the Supporters coach, and i did a quick headcount in the Ground and i counted 37 in the away section.
The overall attendance was 1,330.
Back the way i came, and down the dodgy lane, but this time i walked behind half a dozen people, who, unbeknown to them, acted as my human shield from the oncoming traffic.
The 4 hour 5 minute journey back to Sheffield seemed to take forever as tiredness really kicked in, but despite the Train being re-routed via Lichfield because of maintainence work being carried out, i still arrived back in Sheffield at the pre-planned time for my 10.06 connecting train to Wombwell.
Eventually walking into my house at 10.55, the end of another very enjoyable day out.
6 Conference Grounds left to do, and next up is Bromley v Barrow next Saturday.
Awesome read mate I do my reviews of Braintree Matches on my website
ReplyDeletewww.thebonuslevel.com
Thanks very much Gareth, appreciated pal.
DeleteI'll check out your reviews later today.