Tims 92

Cheltenham Town

Whaddon Road

Ground No. 88

Visited - Saturday 4th March 2006
Result - Cheltenham Town 2-1 Wycombe Wanderers
Competition - Coca-Cola League 2
Attendance - 4069

With QPR charging ridiculous amounts for their tickets, I’d decided not to follow Wolves away to Loftus Road, and instead save my money for another trip to a new ground. Unfortunately the snow had taken out a lot of northern fixtures, so my original choices of Stalybridge and Scunthorpe were both off, which left me in a quandary, until looking down the fixtures and seeing that the League Two game between Cheltenham and Wycombe was still on.

As usual, I left Wolverhampton early by train, however on the journey down to Birmingham, I wasn’t overly optimistic as to whether the match would survive the weather, with the Black Country defying its name with the ground being completely covered in (white) snow. After changing in New Street, the weather on the other side of Birmingham seemed to have been a lot better, and by the time we reached Cheltenham, there wasn’t a sign that there had been any snow there at all.

Unfortunately, the train station in Cheltenham is a fair distance from the town centre, with the ground being the other side of that even, however it was quite a pleasant walk, with the town looking particularly nice compared to some. Arriving at the ground at about 11am, I was able to purchase a ticket in advance, saving a couple of pounds, before going into the ground to get some pictures.

I hadn’t really known what to expect of the ground, but after entering I was quite impressed, with the two new stands really helping give a good balance between the old and new. At the far end was the Cheltenham & Gloucester Stand, which was a relatively small, covered terrace. To the left of that was the In2Print Stand, which was a modern, all-seated stand which ran the length of the pitch, and despite only being eleven rows high, it was surprisingly steep. Opposite the Cheltenham & Gloucester Stand was the newly built away end, the Carlsberg Stand. Built in the same style to the In2Print Stand, it was all-seated and again, quite steep, with more rows of seats at one end than the other. An unusual feature of both new stands was that the fans were able to walk along the touchline to get to the tunnels to go in/out of the seating area. With no barriers to stop them getting onto the pitch, it does make you wonder whether these stands meet any regulations set down by the FA/Football League (presumably they do?). Finally, completing the picture at Whaddon Road is the UCAS Stand, which is a traditional looking grandstand, with a small strip of terracing at the front, followed by a raised area of seating behind that runs for about half the length of the pitch, centred on the halfway line.

After having had a good look around, and taken enough pictures, I headed back for the town centre, and spent the next few hours there, before arriving back at the ground for 2:30pm, and going in once more.

I’d chosen to stand on the Cheltenham & Gloucester terrace, which offered a good view, despite having a few pillars in the way. By kick-off, the ground had filled up, and despite not being at capacity, it was reasonably full with a bigger than usual attendance.

With the Wycombe fans in good voice, the visiting side looked the more dangerous early on, with Tommy Mooney going close, before in the 16th minute, they took the lead through Roger Johnson, when from a cross by Jermaine Easter, he rose to head the ball home making it 1-0. Undeterred by this, Cheltenham went straight up the other end, and won a free-kick on the edge of the area, after a foul on one of their strikers. Grant McCann took the kick, and had the home fans nearly celebrating when he hit the post from all of 25 yards, but unfortunately for the hosts, the rebound was cleared by the Wycombe defence. This woke the visitors up, and for the rest of the half, there was only one team in it, with Cheltenham restricted to breakaways and half chances, so when the referee eventually blew for half-time, they were unlucky not to be more than one goal ahead.

Like when I’d seen Wycombe earlier in the season at Adams Park, it was very much a Jekyll & Hyde performance from them, and in the second half they barely troubled Cheltenham at all, sitting back on their lead, letting the home side do all of the attacking. Other than a strong penalty claim, Cheltenham couldn’t really do anything with their possession, until ex-Wolves man, JJ Melligan came on in the 60th minute. After that, the game changed, and Cheltenham looked a lot more dangerous. It didn’t take long for him to make a difference, and following Melligans cross into the box, the hosts were able to draw level when Gavin Caines smashed the ball home following a knock down. Just a minute later, the game really was turned on its head, when Kevin Betsy was sent off, for what wasn’t clear at the time, as there was an argument raging between the Wycombe bench and the fourth official, so when the referee produced the red card, it was a welcome surprise to the fans in the Cheltenham & Gloucester terrace, giving the team an even better chance to take all three points. Despite their possession, as the minutes ticked by, it eventually looked like the game would end in a draw until, with time already announced, Steven Gillespie picked up the ball on the edge of the area and ran with it, before launching a shot. After taking a deflection, it looked to be going over until dipping at the last minute and finding its way into the net, giving Cheltenham the win. There was barely time to restart the game after that, and so when the referee blew his whistle for the final time, the home fans were ecstatic at having won the game in such dramatic fashion.

Throughout the game, helped by the low roof, there was a good atmosphere kept up in the Cheltenham & Gloucester Stand, which more so in the first half than the second, was reciprocated by the Wycombe fans at the opposite end. Despite having heard previous bad reports, the stewards were fine, standing around with nothing to do for most of the game, so that was good to see.

After leaving the ground, it was a fairly long walk again, back through the town centre, to the railway station, where I eventually caught the train home, direct to Wolverhampton, arriving back just after 7:30pm.

Overall, it had been a good day out, helped by the ending to the game, I was certainly glad that I’d chosen this match over Wolves’ 0-0 draw at Loftus Road, especially when the train, match ticket AND programme came to less than the cost of the ticket alone for QPR. Despite not being the biggest of grounds, Whaddon Road was well balanced and with a good mixture of old and new, as well as terracing and seating, it was a good place to visit, so I’ll be quite happy to go back there again one of the days.