Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2012 12:31:40 GMT
Enfield Town v Brentwood Town was the perfect stop off for the journey back to Sheffield from Brussels: just inside the M25 and a "new" ground to boot. Left Grimbergen around half-ten; 2pm ferry from Dunkirk to Dover. The only issue was a slow puncture which we discovered immediately after the game in Brussels on Tuesday evening. That needed fixing at Kwik Fit in Dover.
Enfield Town play in the Ryman League Premier and are a supporter-founded spin-off club from Enfield FC which, in turn, has since reformed as Enfield 1893. It's a complicated story that progressed rapidly downhill after we played Enfield in the FA Cup in the mid 1990s. The old ground at Southbury Road went down the pan in 1999 and the two clubs took their separate paths in 2001.
Enfield Town are now the more senior of the two in playing terms and have fairly recently moved to the Queen Elizabeth athletics stadium just along the A10 from Southbury Road. On Wednesday evening they were at home to Brentwood Town in the Ryman League Cup. Both teams are struggling in their respective divisions - Enfield Town are a division above Brentwood - and you suspected that Enfield, perhaps, could have chosen a team that may have been more likely to win the tie. Instead Brentwood scored from a penalty in the first-half and held on to win 1-0 in a game that increasingly lost direction. Attendance 102 and, after a stop at the services near Leicester, we were back in Sheffield by 1am.
The main event at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium is the fine old pavilion-cum-clubhouse-cum-main stand which has been renovated for Enfield Town's arrival. The rest of the facility has been converted into a fairly typical non-league ground built around an updated athletics track. An important step has been the building of small covered stands immediately behind each goal and within the running track. This helps to normalise the football experience. But I chose to watch from the main stand, on-high and close to the halfway line. That was fine on a wet night, and perfect for the half time cuppa, but it is rather removed from the action thanks to the track and long-jump pit. Nonetheless definitely worth the visit especially for that marvellous signage promising "cafe" and the illuminated facilities within:
Pictures taken at night on a camera phone so of variable quality.
Enfield Town play in the Ryman League Premier and are a supporter-founded spin-off club from Enfield FC which, in turn, has since reformed as Enfield 1893. It's a complicated story that progressed rapidly downhill after we played Enfield in the FA Cup in the mid 1990s. The old ground at Southbury Road went down the pan in 1999 and the two clubs took their separate paths in 2001.
Enfield Town are now the more senior of the two in playing terms and have fairly recently moved to the Queen Elizabeth athletics stadium just along the A10 from Southbury Road. On Wednesday evening they were at home to Brentwood Town in the Ryman League Cup. Both teams are struggling in their respective divisions - Enfield Town are a division above Brentwood - and you suspected that Enfield, perhaps, could have chosen a team that may have been more likely to win the tie. Instead Brentwood scored from a penalty in the first-half and held on to win 1-0 in a game that increasingly lost direction. Attendance 102 and, after a stop at the services near Leicester, we were back in Sheffield by 1am.
The main event at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium is the fine old pavilion-cum-clubhouse-cum-main stand which has been renovated for Enfield Town's arrival. The rest of the facility has been converted into a fairly typical non-league ground built around an updated athletics track. An important step has been the building of small covered stands immediately behind each goal and within the running track. This helps to normalise the football experience. But I chose to watch from the main stand, on-high and close to the halfway line. That was fine on a wet night, and perfect for the half time cuppa, but it is rather removed from the action thanks to the track and long-jump pit. Nonetheless definitely worth the visit especially for that marvellous signage promising "cafe" and the illuminated facilities within:
Pictures taken at night on a camera phone so of variable quality.
