My Matchday - 263 B2net Stadium

Chesterfield 2v1 Lincoln City
League Two
Saturday 4th September 2010
After last weeks visit to Morecambe, it was the turn of the other Football League club who have relocated this summer. The B2net stadium replaces the ‘classic’ Recreation Ground, the former home of The Spireites and the oldest continuous used ground dating back to 1871.

The Derbyshire market town of Chesterfield lies north of Derby on a confluence of the rivers Rother and Hipper and is the largest populated town in the county.
Chesterfield is well known for the "Crooked Spire” of the Church of Saint Mary and All Saints, which twists at 45 degrees and leans 9 feet 6 inches from its true centre.
The spire is not attached to the church building, as it is kept on by its own weight. The bend follows the direction of the sun and it’s believed that the bend formed when the original wooden roof tiles were replaced by heavier slate and lead.

The B2net Stadium was built on the former site of Dema Glassworks, north of the town at Whittington Moor on the Sheffield Road, just off the A61.
Built at a cost of £13m by GB Building Solutions, the stadium was designed by Sheffield based Architects Ward McHugh Associates. Planning permission was granted in July 2008 and construction began in July 2009.
The official opening match was a friendly against neighbours Derby County on the 24th July 2010 with new signing Craig Davies scoring the first ever goal in a game which Derby won 5-4.

The stadium has four separate stands with an overall capacity of 10,400.
The main HTM Products Stand has a single tier of blue seat with executive boxes and viewing area for disabled supporters at the rear. The stand has a flowing white curved roof which improves the overall appearance of the stadium. There’s also a police control tower in the south west corner and a capacity of 2,902.
Opposite is the Midlands Co-operative Community Stand which is similar in appearance. The stand has the same style roof, but no executive boxes which gives it a larger seating capacity of 3,144. The stand also houses the TV gantry.
The stands behind each goal are similar, having a single tier of 2,000 blue seats split into five sections. The Karen Child Stand is where the main vocal support gathers and opposite is the away end called the Printability Stand. Both stands have standard flat roofs with glass windshields at each side.
For a new’un the ground isn’t too bad. The curved roofs on the west and east sides gives it a more unique look, which is much better than the standard made to measure stadia which have appeared over the last few years.
The ground also has the welcome sight of four thin floodlights pylons in each corner, which is an old football ground tradition that I like to see maintained.

Chesterfield's good start to the League Two campaign continued as they retained their 100% league record at their new stadium
After a lively start from the visitors, Chesterfield took a grip on the game as the half progressed, taking the lead when a Dean Morgan cross was glanced home from close range by Dwanye Mattis on 36 minutes.
The Spireites doubled their lead after an hour when Jack Lester clipped a through ball over the Lincoln defence for Craig Davies to finish from six yards out.
Ben Hutchinson halved the deficit with a late strike, converting Joe Anderson's left-wing cross. The Imps agonisingly failed to grab an equaliser, as the hosts held on and thoroughly deserved the three points.

For my latest venture I left home at 11am, arrived in Chesterfield within three hours via two lifts sandwiched by two train journeys,
I was accompanied by squad #88 and disillusioned Grimsby fan Graham Precious, who picked me up at Retford for the last leg of my trip to Derbyshire.
On arrival we parked off the Sheffield Road in the Red Lion car park, which is free to use as long as you call in for a drink. The pub serves a good selection of ales from the Old Mill Brewery in Snaith, East Yorkshire, of which I chose Blonde Bombshell(4%)****

We arrived at the stadium at around 2.30 to find that the programmes were sold out and then having the endure the real negative about the stadium, which is having to queue for tickets, before having to queue up again at the turnstile.

Special thanks to Graham for making this trip possible and helping me get home, as I very nearly missed my train at Retford. I had it in my mind that my train was due at 1747, but I was a few minutes out as it was 1744 and we pulled up outside the station at 1743.
To say I made my train with seconds to spare would be an understatement. Retford station only has two platforms, one heading north and one south, however the northern line is on the far side under the subway. I was running through the subway when I heard the train guard's whistle blow, only my desperate cries of “wayyyyttt” give me that few extra seconds to run up the stairs and board the train, greeted by three stunned looking train guards and grinning passengers who were staring at me as if to say “You lucky get!”

I’m pleased to get the two new additional grounds out of the way early in the season and after already ticking four grounds off the “Pissing against the wind 92” as I prefer to call it, I’m now find myself back at the total I was at when last season ended.

My visit to Saltergate in 2006.

Matchday stats

CFC 2(Mattis 36, Davies 62) LCFC 1(Hutchinson 88)

att.6,429

Admission £16

Programme £3

Ground no.263 B2net Stadium - Matchday Web album(19 pictures)

My Matchday - 160 Sincil Bank

Lincoln City 2v1 Rochdale
League Two
9th February 2008
att.3955

Sincil Bank has been Lincoln City’s home since 1895, the club formed a year earlier, the origins of works team Lincoln Recreation FC, playing 300 yards away at the John O’Gaunts ground, named after a medieval proprietor who owned the nearby land. In 1894 City’s landlord died and his family sold the estate to builders, the club then moved south to the other side of Sincil Drain (a canal forming an overflow from the River Witham, thought to have been created by the Romans) mainly thanks to the efforts of the supporters who raised funds and developed the new ground themselves.
During the early years the ground also hosted cricket matches, a cinder tack was added to hold athletics and cycling, but the ground remained basic until the 1930’s, which saw the construction of a terrace at the Railway End and a new Main stand to the east. After the Second World War the capacity was raised to over 20,000, after The Imps gained promotion to the 2nd Division in 1948 their average gate rose to 16,500, more extension work followed through the late ‘50’s/early’60’s including the installing of floodlights in 1962 and five years later a record crowd of 23,196 witnessed a League Cup tie v Derby County.
The Imps nickname derives from the mischievous little creatures, sent by the devil to do his evil work, according to the 14th century legend, two of the little buggers caused chaos in Northern England before heading to Lincoln Cathedral causing more mayhem before an angel appeared, turning one to stone while the other escaped, that Imp seems to have taking refuge at Sincil Bank, as the ground has suffered it’s major share of setbacks and bad luck. In 1908 a freak storm toppled the Main Stand over on to it’s back, landing in a nearby field (amazingly after a short break they played on) while in 1929 the South Park stand, along with the club records were destroyed by fire, but again thanks to the efforts of the clubs supporters and an FA loan, a replacement was in place within two months.
The club continued to struggle, raising finances by staging boxing, wrestling, greyhound racing and in 1966 a major rock concert took place, featuring The Who, The Kinks and The Small Faces (Wow!.. What a line up!) then exactly 40 years later the venue held the city’s biggest ever gig, 13,000 were in attendance to witness Westlife, Liberty X and Journey South (Ugh!.. What a line up!)
The grounds poor fortune continued, this time the perimeter wall of the South Park terrace collapsed during a League Cup tie with Stoke City in September 1975, which meant the closure of the terrace for good. With the rest of the ground slowly going into decay, they became one of the first clubs in ground redevelopment following the Bradford Fire and Hillsborough, City were Bradford’s opponents on that tragic day in May 1985, among those dead were two Lincoln supporters Bill Stacey and Jim West and it is in their memory that the Stacey-West Stand is named.
City have the unwanted milestone of being the first club to suffer relegation from the Football League to the Conference in 1987, but this
setback turned out to be a blessing in disguise, after the council had previously bought the ground for £225,000, they backed the club after relegation, helping rebuild Sincil Bank, there was even a rise in attendances as the Imps returned after only one season, the club have organised events this year to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their return to the Football League.
I arrived in Lincoln at 1.15pm unintentionally finding a prime parking spot on the riverbank; a short walk from the stadium, after a short tour of the exterior of the ground and purchasing a fifteen quid ticket, I went into the supporters club ’The Trust Suite’ which welcomes both home and away supporters as well as neutrals like myself, I watched another inept performance from the Toon and witnessed a live auction, with a signed framed picture of Peter Shilton going for £26. (I think the winning bidder was a Forest fan)
I watched the game with the hardcore Lincoln support in the covered Stacey West Stand, it has a capacity of 2,000 red seats which are now look more pink than red, this was the away section until 2002, when the old Railway End terrace was demolished the away support now share the CO-OP Community Stand, a large single tier covered area which runs pitch length, it has a capacity of 5,700 and was opened in 1995. This stand is shared with the home support which includes the Imps brass band, who have maybe the John Bonham of football drumming amongst their ranks.
The far goal has the IMPS Stand which replaced the old South Park End, this has a small section of green seats and has a row of 17 executive boxes running along the back, there’s also an electric scoreboard and a large digital clock.
The St Andrews Stand, now known as the Lincolnshire Echo Stand is very distinctive, opened in 1987, it sits proudly on the half way line, leaving gaps at either side, this was due to clubs relegation from the Football League meaning a reduction in the originally planned capacity, there’s 2,200 red and white seats, the very bright yellow stairways sets it off, giving a more attractive appearance, one side has been filled in with a small family stand with the police control box on top, while the other section is still empty apart from a selection of rubbish skips, which were constantly being filled up throughout the game by the ground staff.
Lincoln have improved since the appointment of Peter Jackson in late October, after flirting with the bottom two for most of the season Jacko has steadied the ship and City are heading in the right direction,
City’s opponents Rochdale have a fantastic away record, 14 games unbeaten, stretching way back to August, on the opening day at Peterborough, so I was expecting an entertaining encounter, but no matter how the game went, it would surely be an improvement on the TV game I saw earlier.
An even first half finished with City taking the lead in stoppage time, a free kick by Frecklington on the edge of the box was too hot for the keeper, who parried to ball into the path of Jamie Forrester to net the rebound. Rochdale equalised in the 56th minute, with a well taking goal from their danger man Rene Howe, who beat the offside trap with a cool finish that the Fonz would have been proud of, however City finished strongly and grabbed the winner on 81 minutes after a long throw-in fell kindly to Danny Hone in the box, notching his first ever league goal, the roar that greeted the final whistle showed what a big win this was for City.
After two blank Saturday’s due to bad weather, it was good to be bagging a new ground, especially one with such a chequered history, the last league club I visited In Lincolnshire was rival club Boston United who sadly fell under the league trap door, but I’m confident the Imps won’t go the same way, not unless those devilish creatures return to cause more mischief and mayhem at Sincil Bank.

Links -
Lincoln City match report

Ground no.160 - Sincil Bank Matchday Web Album(15 pictures)