Scunthorpe

Ground: Glanford Park

Visits: 1

Date: 2nd April 2010

Match: Scunthorpe - Blackpool 2-4 (CC Championship)

Attendance: 7 508

As I have stated previously Easter is the best time of the year to travel to England, at least if you want to go to as many football matches as possible. When I in October noticed Scunthorpe had moved their match against Blackpool to Good Friday I quickly booked a cheap return flight to Manchester and planned my trip knowing Scunthorpe was to be my first stop on this year's Easter trip. My flight was on Thursday evening and as I arrived in Manchester I was greeted by the news the planned rail strike had been postponed. It would have affected the latter parts of the trip and its postponement was of course excellent news for me.

My Good Friday journey to Scunthorpe started in Sheffield, where I stayed for two nights, and when I arrived I found a taxi which drove me to Glanford Park. Scunthorpe used to play at the Old Showground and when they moved to Glanford Park in 1988 it was actually the first time in 33 years an English club had moved to a new purpose-built stadium. Glanford Park has a capacity of 9 100 and is situated on the outskirts of Scunthorpe, just next to the motorway. If you are travelling by car this is convenient but if you are going by train it is a very long walk. Scunthorpe is not a big club and have done a fantastic job to achieve promotion to the CC Championship. From the start it felt like visiting a truly friendly and welcoming club. Outside the ground an elderly man asked me if I was a Scunthorpe supporter (he was doing some kind of survey). When I replied "As I am from Sweden I guess I count as a neutral today" he smiled at said "From Sweden? Then I would like to wish you a very pleasent afternoon here in Scunthorpe" Once inside the ground the friendlyness continued. My seat neighbour was at the match with his kids and had some candy with him to keep the children happy. Suddenly he said "Do you want some?" and then provided me with candy for the rest of the match. He was fascinated I had come all the way from Sweden to watch Scunthorpe. We had a good chat about football and shook hands after the game. The actual match? Blackpool played quite well in the first half and were thanks to an own-goal 1-0 up at half-time. A couple of minutes into the second half the home team equalised from the penalty spot and then looked like an improved side. After some poor defending Blackpool regained the lead 15 minutes from the end and then it all happened. Goal after goal was scored and when the final whistle went the score board said Scunthorpe 2 Blackpool 4. An incredible last 15 minutes meant six goals in the first match of my trip. When I finally made it back to the train station afterwards there were some happy Blackpool fans there. I spoke to some of them and one fan told me this was his first visit to Scunthorpe since 1960. Back then Blackpool played in the 1st Division and Scunthorpe in the 4th. "We lost 6-2 that day in the FA-Cup so today was much better". What do you reply to that?

Scunthorpe vs Blackpool might to some people not sound like a match they would go to. All I can say is it was a really good day out and a perfect reminder why I enjoy travelling to England for football. Scunthorpe might not be a big club but they for sure have some friendly fans that their club should be proud of.

Up the Irons!

match!