Tims 92

Stafford Rangers

Marston Road

Ground No. 100

Visited - Monday 28th August 2006
Result - Stafford Rangers 0-3 Aldershot Town
Competition - Nationwide Conference
Attendance - 1720

One ground that I had wanted to go to for a long time was Stafford Rangers’ Marston Road, even before I had really started to get into non-league football. At school one of my PE teachers had played for the club back in the 70’s, and it wasn’t unusual to see him kitted out in a Stafford top during lessons, so they were a team that I’d been aware of for quite some time! In addition to this, it would also be the 100th ground that I’ve seen a football match at, so I was quite looking forward to it when the day came around.

Unfortunately the trains were to disrupt the short journey up to Stafford, with one being cancelled and another heavily delayed, so once I finally reached the town, time was catching up, so I had to hurry up to the ground so not to miss kick-off!

After walking through ‘classic football country’ (terraced streets, with pubs, factories and shops on every corner, vaguely reminiscent of the area around Goodison Park), I eventually came across the ground, and made my way in.

From the outside, there wasn’t much to see other than the turnstiles and social club, but once inside, the ground opened up a bit more. At the end that I had come in at was an area of flat standing in front of the social club, which wasn’t really the most attractive of buildings, looking more like a small warehouse than anything with only a door in its centre giving away what was inside. This end was split in two, with a large gate dividing home and away fans. Running up the far side was the Lotus Side. Believed to date back to 1921, this was a small terrace with an unusual roof that ran for about three-quarters of the length of the pitch, falling short of the Social Club End. This was also split between home and away fans, offering the visitors some shelter, if not a particularly good view, with numerous posts in the way. Adjacent to this was the Shed End, which was another terrace, slightly larger than the Lotus Side, but with another strange looking roof giving cover to the centre of the stand. Finally, completing the picture at Marston Road was the Main Stand. This was an all-seated stand that despite being fairly tall, only ran for about a quarter of the length of the pitch, centred on the halfway line. To the left of this was some uncovered terracing, whilst to its right was a flat area which included food outlets, the club shop and a small disabled enclosure, as well as the dressing rooms and tunnel. One unusual feature at the ground was the terracing itself. Quite old, the steps were fairly deep, and sloped slightly at an angle towards the pitch.

Without much time to take pictures, I found a place to stand and waited for the game to start. After promotion at the end of last season, Stafford had surpassed all expectations in the early games of this campaign, and were sitting in a respectable position towards the top of the table. Whilst this may have been surprising on paper, when seeing them in the first half, it soon became evident as to why they were doing well, as they really took the game to Aldershot, doing all but score. Unfortunately though for Stafford, it was the visitors who took the lead on the half hour mark, when from a quick counter attack, the ball was lofted deep into the box, where Marcus Gayle rose to head it into the far corner, giving the diving goalkeeper no chance. That was how the half ended, and at half time there was a mass exodus from the Shed End, which was fairly full with home fans, down to the Social Club End leaving that end deserted!

In the second half, Stafford couldn’t quite get a hold of the game like before, but it was still against the run of play when Aldershot increased their lead. John Grant was the scorer, although I missed it, being in the toilets at the time! After that, there was only going to be one winner, and Aldershot were happy to soak up pressure, before hitting Rangers on the break again, this time in the 89th minute when Ryan Williams found himself unmarked at the back post and was able to slot home a cross to make the final score 3-0.

During the first half the home fans had created a fairly good (if distinctly coarse!) atmosphere, however it wasn’t quite carried on in the second half, probably not helped by the main singers having moved down to the open end. Despite the need for segregation, the Aldershot fans, who had travelled in good numbers, quietly enjoyed the match without causing the trouble that I’d seen at the 2004 Play-Off Final, when a number of them had tried to climb into the Shrewsbury end during extra-time!

Having stayed behind to take a few pictures whilst the ground was (relatively) empty, I eventually left, walking back to the station, where I was confronted with more cancellations and delays, which meant a 15 minute journey ended up taking about an hour and a half.

Overall, other than the trains, it had been a good little trip, with the ground being a pleasant one to visit. The only criticism is that it probably isn’t good enough for this level of football, with relatively poor facilities and little cover for the home fans, but on a sunny day as this was, then that didn’t seem to matter, and so I’ll probably find myself revisiting it at some point along the line.