Friday 14 September 2018

Bristol Rovers

Bristol Rovers v Luton Town
Sky Bet League Two
Memorial Stadium
Saturday 2nd January 2016
3pm

Journey Time to the ground: 1 hours 30 minutes.  We left Newbury at 1pm and after a short stop at Leigh Delamere services we managed to find some street parking on Church Road which is off the main Gloucester Road.

The ground was about a 5 minute walk from Church Road, along Gloucester Road before turning down Filton Avenue.

Ticket Price: £16

Programme Price: £3

This was my first visit to the Memorial Stadium and as a fairly local ground, one I had been looking forward to doing for quite a while.  We had tickets in the High Spec North Terrace which was where the bulk of the home fans congregated.  The covered terrace was pretty full, but we managed to make our way down toward the front and found some space to stand and also an unrestricted view of the pitch.

To the left of the High Spec North Terrace is the Dribuild East stand. This consists of uncovered terracing that runs the length of the pitch, then an upper tier of covered seating which runs for half the length of the pitch and straddles the half-way line called the Uplands Stand.  This stand is shared with away supporters, with them in the uncovered terracing closest to the South Stand and houses the dug-outs.  The South Stand is a temporary, covered seated stand which runs for just over half the width of the pitch, and is shared between home and away fans.  Opposite the East Stand is the West Stand which runs half the length pitch and straddles the half-way line.  This stand is the main stand with terracing to the front and seated hospitality areas to the rear and has and electronic scoreboard on it's roof.  To the right side of the West Stand is a small, temporary, covered, all-seated stand known as the South West Stand and to the left side of the West Stand, towards the High Spec North Terrace is the small covered Family Terrace.

Bristol Rovers thought they had taken the lead in the first-half when Ollie Clarke raced through and slotted past Mark Tyler only to see the lineman flag for offside.

The deadlock was broken on the hour mark when Rory Gaffney fired in from six yards after Tom Lockyer has seen his header cleared off the line.  Gaffney grabbed his second and secured the three points in the 72nd minute slotting in the rebounded after Tyler had fumbled his initial effort.  The home fans went home happy as the result lifted their team up to fifth in the table.

Attendance: 9,131 with 707 Luton fans.

Atmosphere:  The atmosphere was very good.  The Bristol Rovers fans in the High Spec North Terrace were particularly loud through-out the game and the club anthem Goodnight Irene rang out once they were in front.  It really reminded me of being back at football when I was younger.

Journey Time home: 1 hour 30 minutes.  We stopped at the Brazilian Lounge on Gloucester Road to have some food so didn't end up leaving til about 6pm and were comfortably back in Newbury by 7:30pm.

I enjoyed my trip to Bristol Rovers.  The game was good, the atmosphere was very good and standing on terracing reminded me of what it was like to go to football as a child.

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