Bristol C

Ground: Ashton Gate

Visits: 1

Date: 3rd January 2012

Match: Bristol C - Millwall 1-0 (League Championship)

Attendance: 12 410

Due to police advice the match between Bristol City and Millwall was moved from (Bank Holiday) Monday to Tuesday evening. Bad news for Bristol City as a Tuesday night means a lower crowd. Good news for me as it made it possible to visit one more ground on this trip. During the night between Monday and Tuesday very strong winds and heavy rain swept through Britain. The weather was really bad and my planned sightseeing tour of Cheltenham on Tuesday morning had to be cancelled. I stayed at my hotel until 11 when the rain eased and then said good bye to my hosts for the last four days, the Bradley family in Cheltenham. The train journey to Bristol was a short one, 45 minutes. My hotel in Bristol was only a 5-minute walk from Temple Mead train station. I could see the affects of the rain with puddles everywhere. Once at the hotel I could check the Bristol City website for news about the match, game was on. Pitch covers during the night had protected the pitch and with the forecast being sunny and bright there was no risk of a postponed match.

Ashton Gate Stadium, the home of Bristol City since 1904, is quite a long walk from the city centre. There is however a station (Parson Street) situated only a 15 minute walk away from the ground. This station is on a local route to Weston-super-mare. I was at the ground by 2pm and took some exterior pictures in the strange weather (sunshine and rain in some interesting mix). After a while I found an open gate and I used the opportunity to sneak in and take some pictures of the stands. The groundsmen were removing the pitch covers and didn´t pay any attention to me walking around taking pictures. Once outside again I decided to to check how long the walk (to the city centre) actually was. It took me around 35 minutes to get back to my hotel so it wasn´t that far.

Later in the evening I used the same route again, Parson Street station and then the 15 min. walk. As I said earlier the match was moved on police advice. In the end only 202 Millwall fans made the trip and there were probably more police than away fans at the match. The match itself wasn´t too bad. Both teams needed the three points and created several chances each. After 90 minutes it was still 0-0 though and the first goalless match on this trip was on the cards. That was not to be the case though. In the 92nd minute Bristol C scored and the 12 000 home fans erupted in wild celebrations. 30 seconds later Millwall very nearly equalised but David James saved and since Millwall couldn´t score from the resulting corner it finished 1-0 to Bristol City. My last match on this tour was over and after 5 matches in 5 days I have had a great time in England. I have now been to 63 (57 of the current 92) grounds in England and hopefully I can add a few more grounds later in the season.

bristol, vy