Away Days - Plymouth Argyle
First Impressions -- Around the ground -- Facilities -- The Stand -- Overall -- Pictures
Fixture: Plymouth
Argyle V Preston North End
Competition: Coca Cola Championship
Ground: Home Park
Date: Saturday 22 January 2005
Kick off: 3.00pm
Final Result: 0-2 Sedgwick, Agyemang
After the long trip down on the coach for my longest away trip, we got to the ground early just before 1.20pm. Upon arrival there was confusion of where the coach had to park - it headed for the coach park but the driver was then told he had to head for the car park! So we finally pulled up along side one of the stands. What we saw then was bizarre to say the least! There were a few programme sellers just nearby and one, wearing a blue jacket, appeared to be tossing himself off! As everyone glanced out of the coach windows, everyone erupted with laughter!
Anyway, the coach pulled up just outside the Davenport End. My first thoughts were 'this is a smart, tidy ground' although I thought it was a shame in that they had to follow a similar design to the bowl stadiums springing up around the country.
So after getting off the coach and witnessing the bizarre event, we decided to have a wander round the ground since there was plenty of time left until the turnstiles opened - let alone kick off!
We first wandered round towards the grandstand but stopped at the turnstiles to the stand. This particularly impressed me - so full of character and really added to the exterior to the ground. I just hope they keep it when they get round to redeveloping the grandstand.
After this we went round to the grandstand. The exterior was non-too impressive, although the portakabin's and the crap surface of the car park were more to blame for the 'tarnishing' of the image. We then walked towards to the club shop. This was merely just some portakabin too.
Leaving the club shop, we realised we couldn't go full circle around the ground so walked back the way we came and then walked down by the Lyndhurst Stand and then the Barn Park End. From here we realised what a great location Home Park was and from the outside was a decent view of Plymouth.
Soon after the turnstiles opened we opted to go in. We stood on the concourse for a while enjoying a pint before making our way to our seats half an hour before kick off. We had a fantastic view of the pitch as well as the rest of the ground, so taking decent pics was a doddle. I was particularly impressed with the grandstand. Although the exterior was somewhat spoilt, inside it looked great. It broke up the 'bowl' look perfectly and didn't look out of place like other old stands do at other redeveloped grounds.
As said above we opted to stand on the concourse for a while since there was plenty of time before kick off. I enjoyed a decent pint of Carlsberg, but it somewhat baffled me as to why they didn't have any pumps - they used used cans and bottles which were obviously poured into plastic cups.
Before taking my seat I decided to have a quick slash. The toilets were obviously clean and of a high standard but upon washing my hands I was puzzled by the sign warning of high water pressure. The actual pressure was what we up North considered normal and did make me think "christ these southerners are soft!".
Altogether the facilities were of an expected excellent standard.
The stand itself I was not disappointed in. When taking my seat I opted to take part in the 'hitting the inflatable football' game that was going on between our fans - a great laugh! Upon actually sitting down so I could have a read of the programme, the legroom was great.
There isn't a bad word I can say about the stand. The acoustics were fantastic and we managed to make a great deal of noise and since the legroom was spacious, this made jumping around for the 'jump around if you hate blackpool' much easier and less painful!
The day as a whole was fantastic and I enjoyed it to the full. I would list it as my best away day to date. As for the ground itself, although you could draw some similarities with certain other grounds, it was tidy, smart and the grandstand just seemed to 'finish it off' pretty well.
Ratings
Appearance: 9/10
Facilities: 9/10
Enjoyment: 10/10
Fans: 7/10
Away Stand: 9/10
Overall: 9/10
