YeovilGround: Huish Park Visits: 1 Date: 23rd April 2011 Match: Yeovil - Bournemouth 2-2 (League 1) Attendance: 6 150
Last match on this trip was going to be a League 1 or League 2 game on Easter Saturday. When I went through the fixtures I decided for Yeovil vs Bournemouth. The town of Yeovil is situated in Somerset and with Bournemouth being kind of a derby I realised there was to be a higher than usual attendance at Huish Park. There is no train station in Yeovil itself. Yeovil Junction is some 5 km outside of the town and as we arrived after the 2h 20min journey from London Waterloo we grabbed a taxi. Pete, the taxi driver, was an invaluable source of information. He told us everything about Yeovil and he informed us about the huge helicopter plant (Westlands). Yeovil also used to be the centre of English glove manufactoring. When I later bought a programme and the front page said "The Glovers" I knew why. As Pete dropped us off at the ground we booked him for the return as well.
First thing we did at Huish Park was buying two tickets in the West Stand, close to the away fans. There was a beer tent next to the ground and as we approached the entrance the steward looked at us and asked "Where are you from? This is for home fans only". My reply was "We are from Sweden but I promise to support Yeovil today". Clearly shocked to see people from Sweden at Huish Park he let us in without any hassle. This Easter Saturday was another day with summer temperatures. When we had a drink in the beer tent, watching Manchester U vs Everton on the big screen, it felt like a Swedish garden party in the middle of July. No Swedish women here though....
Huish Park has a capacity of 9 300. The two side stands are seated, the home end is a covered terrace while the away end is an open terrace. It is always nice to see a full away terrace. 2 000 Bournemouth fans packed the away sections and as their team played quite well they were in a good mood. When Bournemouth scored two quick goals in the second half, and Yeovil had a player sent off, the away fans were singing about promotion. Football is football though. Yeovil got a soft penalty in the 86th minute which they scored. The home fans raised to the occasion and believe it or not, in stoppage time Yeovil scored again. 2-2 and another dramatic end to a match on this trip.
As the final whistle went we quickly left the ground and Pete was waiting for us. We jumped into his taxi and at 17.10 we were back at the train station. Pete wished us a nice trip back to Sweden and I thanked him for his friendliness. I guess it is not every day he has Swedish grundhoppers as passengers. This was my 5th and final match on this trip. with 22 goals in those 5 matches this is one of the most memorable trip I´ve ever been on in England.
Yeovil Town FC
Huish Park
Beer tent
Copse Road End
East Stand
Blackthorn Stand
Young Yeovil fan
Old Yeovil fans
Copse Road End celebrating
Bournemouth fans
Bournemouth fans
View of play
Kick-off
East Stand
2-2!
Blackthorn Stand
West Stand
Pano
Pano
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