Away Days- Mariners 1 Bantams 3

Ahoy me mateys! Two Away Days in a week, and this one proved a lot more fruitful than our trip to Darlington. We were on the coast, Cleethorpes to be precise, to watch City take on Grimsby Town. The game itself started brilliantly for us, as Omar opened the scoring early on, but within minutes we found ourselves down to ten men after big Matt Clarke picked up a straight red for a professional foul, although it looked quite innocuous to me. This could have been the moment of capitulation for us, but the Mariners are mired in a twenty game winless streak, and it showed. Now I am not saying we didn't play well, going on to score anther two goals when you are a man down against eleven is not a feat to be sneezed at, but they were woeful. Boulding scored anther in the first half, and when Lee rose to power in a header ion the second half, the game was won. Of course they scored, and but for some seriously poor shooting, they could have made a fist of it, but victory was ours. We play again on Tuesday night, against Bury, will be a better barometer as to where we are at the moment form wise, as they are a solitary point behind us in the table.



Baz Watch- Apart from a few warm up sprints, his Irish keister remained rooted to the bench. Although Thorne was slightly off his game, Boulding looked very good against his former club, so I can see, injuries permitting, his strarting place will be on the bench in the coming weeks.

Pie Rating- This ground is a proper throwback, more of which later, and the concession stand was a mobile burger van kind of thing. I was concerned we would be stuck with burgers and hot dogs, but it proudly displayed a menu featuring Steak and Kidney pie. This was to prove slightly misleading, as in fact the only flavour they sold was chicken and mushroom, was a peasant surprise as it is my personal pie of choice. The cost was £2.50, reasonable, and it was warm. The sauce came in massive squirty bottles, both red and brown, and was of an acceptable standard. Taste wise was above average, although a bit light on chicken pieces if you ask me. My original prognosis was to give it a six out of ten, but on reflection I think it just about deserves a a 7/10. Tony stuck with a 6/10, and Bakes followed suit, pointing out the fact that the pie disintegrated on the first bite. I am surprised he took more than his usual one bite to polish it off anyway.



The ground, as mentioned above, is from anther era. The away end was built just prior to World War Two, in 1939, and it doesn't appear to have changed mush since. I particularly like the bar area, which is like having a pint in an old working mans club. It is housed under the stand and you even have a seating area with tables. Cool. The ground itself is situated smack in the middle of a housing estate, and gives it a community feel, no out of town industrial complex here. The crowned was of a reasonable size, around 4,500, but because we weren't in some grandiose white elephant like Darlingtons ground, it actually felt like there was a crowd present. On the whole, it is museum piece, but I quite liked it.

Statistics

• Capacity-9,235
  
• Concessions-Not bad considering the grub is served from a vehicle, not usually a good omen. The bar is quite frankly, as cool as fuck. (although £3 a pint is a bit rich)
  
• Built-1898
  
• Did You Know?-The Main Stand, opened in 1901, is thought to be the oldest in the Football League, and because it is made partly from wood, always has a fire engine parked next to it on match days. It is also the lowest stadium in England, only two feet above sea level.
  
• Visited By-Euro Bri, Helmet and Bakes
  
• Rating-Coliseum. In the truest sense it is very much garden shed, but being the old romantic that I am, I loved the place. It's a proper old ground, with proper stands, and just felt right for the league it is in. Alas, there are plans to move Grimsby Town into some soulless, out of town, multi purpose structure that will give all the romance of watching a game in a Tescos Superstore. Hopefully the credit crunch, or more likely relegation into the Conference will stop these heinous plans, or they should at least make the place a listed building. Otherwise yet another piece of true football heritage will be gone forever.