Griffin Park

Ground: Griffin Park

Visits: 1

Date: 3rd January 2015

Match: Brentford - Brighton 0-2 (FA-Cup)

Attendance: 8 542

When the 2014/15 season started in England I had three grounds left to visit in the top two divisions, Burnley in the Premiership as well as Brentford and Sheffield W in the Championship. As I watched the (3rd round) draw for the FA-Cup I was quite pleased when Brentford and Burnley were drawn at home. when their fixtures were confirmed to be played at different days I was even more pleased. I woke up in Prestatyn in northern Wales and at 08.01 my train left this nice town. At 10.40 I was then at London Euston. Since I was travelling to Preston after the game at Griffin Park I had to leave my big bag at the luggage store at Euston station before going with the tube to Vauxhall. From Vauxhall station, which is next to the MI 6 building, I travelled towards Brentford. Griffin Park, the home of Brentford FC, was then only a 7-minute walk from Brentford train station. It had rained all day in London and I was getting a bit wet as I walked to the ground. Most of the non-league games in the London area were called off because of the rain but no such problems at Griffin Park. I picked up my ticket and then walked around the ground. Griffin Park has a pub on each corner of the ground (see pictures below) but I stayed in one of them drying up and having a drink. Around 13.30 the gates opened and as usual I went in as soon as possible to take pictures of the empty stands. Griffin Park was opened in 1905 and has a capacity of around 12 200. The ground is quite nice to visit with four separate and different-looking stands. The away end is a two tiered (seats in the upper tier, terrace in the lower tier) with a capacity of 1 600. Brentford have plans to build a new stadium though. It will be built next to Kew bridge railway station and is supposed to be ready in time for the 2021/22 season.

Brentford vs Brighton was an entertaining match. In the first half Brentford were by far the better team but despite having some great chances they couldn´t score, 0-0 at half-time. The second half started with Brentford missing some more chances but Brighton always looked dangerous with their counter attacks. Brentford were a bit sloppy at the back and Brighton twice hit the post. Still no goals though. In the 87th minute Brighton were awarded a free-kick. The free-kick was headed in, 1-0 to Brighton. The goal was scored in front of the packed away end which exploded with joy. Brighton then scored again in stoppage time and the songs coming from the away end were as loud as they can be at Griffin Park.The match ended 2-0 to Brighton but that scoreline hardly reflected the match. The Brighton fans next to me at Brentford station actually asked themselves how they managed to win this one. My train back to Vauxhall left Brentford station on time (17.25) but signal problems at Clapham junction meant huge delays. I had to get back to Euston and when my train moved slowly from one station to next, waited for 10 minutes, then on to next station etc I took the decision to leave the train at Putney. I navigated to East Putney tube station from where I took the District line to Edgware Road. At Edgware Road I took a Circe line train to Euston Square, which is 5 minutes by foot from Euston station. At 19.30, one hour later than planned, I could then board a train taking me to Preston. Going to Motherwell and Burnley Preston was my base for the last part of this trip.

brentford fc