AccringtonGround: Crown Ground Visits: 1 Date: 24th March 2008 Match: Accrington Stanley - Milton Keynes Dons 0-1 (CC League 2) Attendance: 1 559
After visiting Old Trafford the day before I decided to spend Easter Monday in Accrington and the League 2 match between Accrington Stanley and MK Dons. Accrington Stanley is a strange name for a football club but when the club was formed in the 1890s most of the players lived at Stanley Street and the club was originally called Stanley Villa. After folding in 1962 the club reformed in 1968 and in 2006 the club played league football once again. I was at the ground before midday to meet up with Duncan and Tim from the Footballgroundguide and as Duncan had arranged a meeting with the CEO we were invited inside the ground to take pictures and got some info about planned redevelopments. The club don´t need a new all-seated stand but as the Football League demands a seating capacity of 2,000 the Whinney Hill Terrace have to be rebuilt. We then headed towards the old ground, Peel Park, where the club played before they folded. There wasn´t much left of the old ground so we went for something to drink in the Peel Park Hotel pub next to the ground. A very nice pub which is mentioned in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide, I can understand why! Duncan wants to get the away fan experience of grounds so we went in with the away fans in the open end (fortunately it didn´t rain, only some snow came down...). The less said about the match the better. It was awful and the bad pitch didn´t help either. MK Dons scored a late goal and it seems they will be promoted back to League 1 next year.
A snowy day in Accrington
Welcome to Accrington
Snowy hills
Main Stand
Clayton Terrace (Home End)
Whinney Hill Terrace
Away End
Main Stand
Clayton Terrace (Home End)
Whinney Hill Terrace
Away fans
Kick-off
Stanley Ultras
Winstan, the mascot
Pano
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