Sunday 20 June 2010

End of Season Review

My season ended with the visit to Ripon City, my 66th game. I visited 26 new grounds out of the total number of 37 grounds I went to. I saw 183 goals in total which equates to 2.818 goals per game, with only 3 0-0 scores (all involving Leicester).
Whilst I enjoyed all my visits, my favourite ground was definitely Bangor City. Farrar Road is well worth a visit and it also boasted the best pitch I saw all season too. I hope you have enjoyed the blog this season and I fully intend to carry on next season, beginning with my visits to two Swedish grounds when I go on holiday to Gothenburg in July.

Hope you have a great summer, see you soon.

Paul
Reynard The Fox

Game 66 - Ripon City v Pool Saturday 22nd May 2010 West Yorkshire Premier League

With Leicester's season ending with defeat at Cardiff, there was no Wembley visit for us and I really did not fancy watching the play off Final, so I started a hunt for a game to go to. Using the Non League Matters site I saw that Ripon City were at home and a quick look at their site revealed a decent looking stand so the trip was arranged and Mrs Reynard and Helen decided that they would come too. Ripon's Mallorie Park was easy to find and we were soon parked up and exploring the ground.


It was a really hot sunny day and the Clubhouse, although open, was not serving any food or drink. As there were a fair number of people at the Ground at 2pm it seemed a missed opportunity for the Club to make some money. The Clubhouse was decorated with pictures of teams from the past and some shirts too. I made my way back outside and made my way towards the only stand in the ground.


It has four rows of bench seating and was flanked by the dugouts. The rest of the ground is railed off and there is no hard standing. Behind one goal there are trees and the end you enter is where the car park and Clubhouse are. The opposite side to the stand is open and the road is clearly visible and during the game people were watching from outside the ground and some did actually climb the fence and watch the game.

I did the usual amble round the ground and took some further shots of the stand from the opposite side.

I rejoined Mrs Reynard and Helen in the stand, grateful for the shade. The game kicked off and I did not envy the players having to play in the heat. Both teams had chances to score in the first half but a combination of poor finishing and stout defending kept the game goaless.
The second half followed the same script and just as everyone was resigned to a goaless game Ripon scored. On 87 minutes a corner was headed out to Medd who totally miskicked his volley but he had time to compose himself and his second attempt went through everyone and ended up in the corner of the net. The whistle went no long after and the three points were Ripon's.
I enjoyed the trip and the ground was well worth visiting.

Ripon City 1-0 Pool
Att: Varied throughout the game, headcount of about 50 was the best.
Admission: Free
Programme: None