Tims 92

Colchester United

Layer Road

Ground No. 113

Visited - Saturday 30th December 2006
Result - Colchester United 2-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Competition - Coca-Cola Championship
Attendance - 5893

When Colchester had been promoted at the end of the 2005/06 season, I had a few mixed feelings, partly being glad at the chance to see a new ground, but partly not being overly enthused that it would have to be from the notoriously poor away end (neutral games in the same division as Wolves seem wrong somehow!). Despite this though, I wasn’t going to pass up the chance of adding to the 92 total (especially with Colchester looking to move grounds soon), so I bought the ticket and headed off to Essex in a good mood.

The journey down there went fairly well, despite one cancelled train, but I arrived into Colchester just before 12pm, and made my way down to the ground to take a few pics as usual. Going around the outside, I did initially think that I wouldn’t be able to get in, but Steve (the asst. groundsman) spotted me and invited me in for a tour!

Coming in through the Layer Road end, it was interesting to see where I’d be later on, with the terrace split into two halves. Both sides were of an equal height (9 rows high) and fully covered, with the section behind the goal cut out, reminiscent of Goodison Park in the 1960’s. Going around the ground, to the left was the Main Stand, which was split into three parts. Nearest and furthest from the away end were two small terraces, both covered, whilst in the middle stood a seated section. The roof of the seated section also carried on over the far terrace, whilst the near one had its own roof, which made it look slightly separate. Opposite was the Clock End, which was a small all-seated stand, with more rows at one end than the other. Adjacent to this was ‘Barside’. Like the Main Stand opposite, it was split into three sections, with an uncovered terrace at the far end, a larger covered terrace in the middle, and at the Layer Road end, a covered, temporary stand, which provided seating for visiting fans.

Having taken enough pics, and visited the club shop, I walked back to town to spend the next few hours there, finding a nice pub in the process, called The Castle, so after having a drink there I eventually came back, going in with 20 minutes or so to spare to kick-off.

Before this game, Colchester had been in good form, especially at home, so we weren’t expecting too much but it was a bit of a set-back when they took the lead in just the fourth minute. From a foul on the edge of the box, Jamie Cureton was able to hit the ball home direct from the free-kick to put the home side 1-0 up. The rest of the half breezed by, with both sides looking fairly evenly matched, but it was Colchester who scored next, when from a long kick, Chris Iwelumo seemed to handle the ball, before closing in on goal, and poking home past Matt Murray to make it 2-0 at the break.

In the second half, both sides had good periods, but with not much going for us up front, we never looked likely to get anything out of the game, and Neil Collins’ goal in injury time was no more than a consolation, leaving Colchester to take all three points.

After leaving the ground and going back to the station, there wasn’t long to wait for a train home, and the journey back went fairly well, with me arriving home just after 10pm.

Overall, it had been a fairly good day out. Going around the ground before the game, I found myself falling in love with Layer Road, with all its peculiarities and an almost eclectic sense of balance, but the away terrace really isn’t a good place to watch the game from, especially when packed, as it seemed nearly impossible to find a decent place to see the game, let alone take pictures from! With that in mind, if visiting as a neutral, then it’s recommended to try and visit when there’s either a small away following, or just to find another part of the ground to sit/stand in, otherwise though, with the club having announced that work will start on a new ground in the near future, then Layer Road is quite definitely a place to visit whilst it’s still standing, as there are few left in the league with such character.