Crown Ground

Saturday 30 April 2011

Accrington Stanley 3-1 Barnet

Aerial shot of the Crown Ground (Bing Maps)

Programme - £3.00

Ratings

Overall Ground Quality : 5/10

Ease of getting there : 7/10

Atmosphere : 8/10

Programme : 4/10 (Poorly made compared to other Football League clubs!)

View of Action : 7/10

Quality of the game : 5/10

The "football" feeling : 6/10

Chances of coming here for a random game : 1/10

Legroom : N/A

Surrounding area : 9/10

Overall : 52/100

Main Stand

The Coppice Terrace

Whinney Hill Terrace

Mark 'Clem' Clemmit from BBC

Towards the Coppice Terrace

The Coppice Terrace

Main Stand

Whinney Hill Terrace

A Season Ticket for free!

Accrington Stanley 3-1 Barnet
Following one major event is always another. In this instance it was the Royal Wedding which featured the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton on the Friday not forgetting Accrington Stanley against Barnet on the Saturday. This game would extend Barnet's chances of League 2 football next season if they win plus results go their way and Stanley would guarantee their play off place if they win.

I (Ross) set off at 9:30am and travelled up the M1 and coming off and going through the Peaks before reaching my first stop of the day, Stalybridge Celtic at 11am who play at Bower Fold which can hold 6,500 supporters. The stadium is notable for being the only active ground in the country where the pitch faces a perfect north alignment, which was previously shared with Chesterfield before they moved away from Saltergate.

Not too far down the road was Curzon Ashton who play at Tameside Stadium which has a capacity of 4,000. Curzon Ashton moved to the £4 million Tameside Stadium at the beginning of the 2005/2006 season. Outside the stadium, a statue stands commemorating three locally-born footballers associated with the World Cup; Geoff Hurst (born in Ashton), Jimmy Armfield (Denton), and Simone Perotta (also born in Ashton).

My final stop before ‘Accy’ was Rochdale who play at Spotland which holds 10,249. Thanks to the friendly stewards at the ground, I managed to get pictures inside the ground before they play against Peterborough United.

I reached Accrington at 1pm and parked on West Crescent which is a 2 minute walk from the ground. The Crown Ground holds 5,057 and was built in 1968. It is currently the smallest stadium in The Football League. If Accrington were to progress further up the Football League, they would need to extend their ground considerably.

Before the match a familiar character was walking round the pitch, no not Stanley mascot but Mark Clemmit (Aka ‘Clem’) from the BBC.

At Half Time the sprinkler system kicked in hydrating the pitch as well as most the fans in the Clayton End Terrace as the high winds off the Peaks blew into the Crown Ground and blowing the cold water into the Stanley faithful’s faces.

The game finished 3-1 to Accrington who seal their place in the Play offs while Barnet’s League 2 status is still hanging in the balance. A man of the match Jimmy Ryan sealed his 3 goals and not forgetting Accrington’s 3 points. Barnet got an early equaliser on the 7^th minute thanks to Mark Marshall yet Barnet failed to propel themselves to go on and win the game.

Personally, I didn’t really enjoy my time at Accrington Stanley due to the poor game and poor facilities at the Crown Ground. I even think that they need to improve the ground lots for League 2 standards.