Train ticket (Derbyshire Wayfarer = £11-60-£5 voucher): £6-60
Entry: £13
Programme: £3
Tea: £1-30
Total: £25-90
On a Saturday which came at the end of a week of torrential rain in some parts, I was expecting more postponements. Sure enough, out of 24 games in the NWCFL, only two went ahead, while the NCEL saw barely 3 games go ahead. So I reverted to my list of nearby back-up options, which today consisted of Preston NE, Macclesfield, Crewe and Burton Albion. Preston NE was ruled out when I couldn't buy a ticket on their online system, Macclesfield was called off just before 8am, and I discounted Crewe when I decided it was just too far.
I expected to pay circa £25 for a train ticket to Burton, but had a pleasant surprise when the woman at the ticket booth sold me a 'Derbyshire Wayfarer' for £11-60. Then I realised that I also had a £5 rail voucher in the wallet from a delayed train some time ago, so ended up saving nearly £20 altogether - a good start! The added bonus of this trip was that I could reach Burton on a direct train from Sheffield, and the ground was a 20-min walk from the station. It was obviously meant to be.
Back when I started watching King's Lynn in the Dr Martens League, Burton Albion were familiar opponents, and back then played at Eton Park. Now they are in League Two in the relatively new Pirelli stadium, and in fact have pushed for the play-offs over the last couple of years. On the approach, the gleaming facade of the ground looked more like a conference centre than a football ground. I made my way round to the West Terrace, where I parted with £13 for entry, and £3 for a programme. The usual terrace price was £15, so again I'd evidently got lucky today. The ground can perhaps be best described as a 'breeze-block' stadium, with three fairly similar-looking terraced stands, and a fourth stand of seating. Although the ground wasn't completely enclosed, I was grateful for the shelter on a wet and windy day like this.
Burton looked stronger from the start, and as the half wore on, they grew in confidence. They forced an excellent tipped save from the visiting keeper on 15 minutes, before Robbie Weir scored a 'drop-goal' (he skied it) on 33 minutes. Zeli Ismail on the right-wing was superb for Burton, and repeatedly delivered dangerous crosses, as well as making surging runs into the Dagenham box. Matthew Palmer fired just wide shortly afterwards, and it looked like only one team would score. And so, completely against the run of play, Dagenham took the lead bang on half-time! A smart run and pass from Elito set up a fantastic top-corner strike from Lawson D'Ath, stunning the home crowd into a surprised silence.
At half-time, I wandered around the stand taking the odd photo, and was reprimanded by a steward when I tried to walk round the front of the stand. No signs were up, so I figured it was worth a go! In the second half, the Daggers looked a bit more equal to the task, and forced a solid save from the debutant keeper (Lainton) just after half-time. Then on 54 minutes, they had a player sent off for slicing down the excellent Zeli Ismail, and they proceeded to park a (turquoise) blue bus for the rest of the game. The game was increasingly broken up by poor passing, fouls, and some determined defending from Dagenham. Burton finally grabbed a more than deserved equaliser when Billy Kee curled a superb goal into the bottom left of the away net. There should have only been one winner after that, but Dagenham somehow held out for the point. This was my first 'new' league ground of the season, and I was glad I'd managed to sneak one in on a day packed full of postponements.
No comments:
Post a Comment