Internet Football Ground Guide - Away Days, Saunders Honda Stadium, Chester City City

1. Why you were looking forward to going to the ground (or not as the case may be)

My team had five wins from five games, were top of the league and seemingly invincible and most importantly they have a terrace! (Now longer the case Ed)

2. How easy was your journey/finding the ground/car parking

Travelling up on the coach meant there was minimal fuss for me but the journey took considerably more time than it should have done. Roadworks on the M6 meant we were reduced to crawling on a couple of occasions and stopped completely at least once, the game being on a friday night probably didn't help as we would have been joining the commuter traffic. We finally arrived at the ground at 7pm, five and a half hours after leaving Swindon.

The ground itself is located in the middle of an industrial estate so it was probably a blessing in disguise arriving with only 45 minutes to kick off, as finding something to eat and drink would have meant a trek back into the city centre.

3. What you did before the game pub/chippy.... home fans friendly?

Arriving as late as we did, I went straight into the ground. Home fans seemed friendly enough, didn't hear a peep out of them.

4. What you thought on seeing the ground, first impressions of away end then other sides of the ground.

Small. The ground was very small, but clean and tidy which is all you can ask for really. The away terrace has a low roof, meaning a fair amount of noise can be generated, with a decent away following. No supporting pillars so you get a decent view for you money as well.

5. Comment on the game itself, atmosphere, stewards, pies, toilets etc..

The game itself wasn't a classic, but Swindon fans were out in force and the atmosphere in the away end was good which meant the game flew by. The home fans were very quiet, a drummer in the home end occasionally tried to rally the troops into some sort of action but it ended up sounding more like some sort of native American-Indian music than a football chant...which lead to some good natured banter from the away fans.

The stewards were helpful and the facilities clean but I think they were taken by surprise by having 800 away fans to feed, and they had sold out of refreshments before half time.

Two goals from Lee Peacock gave us all three points despite being down to ten men for much of the second half, which made the long trip home go slightly quicker.

6. Comment on getting away from the ground after the game

The away end was soon empty, two exits meant there was no real trouble getting out.

Driving away from the ground the supporters coaches were sent in the opposite direction to the fans who had driven up, which meant we avoided what looked to be a sizeable queue heading towards the city centre. 20 minutes later we were back on the main roads and heading home.

7. Summary of overall thoughts of the day out

Despite taking all afternoon about getting there and didn't get home to 2am it was well worth the trip, hopefully we won't be going back next season.