Gloucester

Your Team: Northwich Vics

What Time of the day did the match take place: 3:00pm

The Match itself: A scrappy affair in torrential drizzle, made worse by a nit-picking ref who blew up for the slightest touch and by the end had sent off 3 players, only one of which was in my opinion justified. Match decided by one moment of Beckhamesque magic with a free kick by Junior Brown a few minutes from the end.

Atmosphere in ground: Not a lot. Not helped by the weather. The ref did her best to stir up the fans of both sides. Little to cheer about otherwise.

Quality of Food: Didn't have any.

Quality of Drink: Bitter in clubhouse was a bit too cold for my liking, but drinkable.

Bars (in or around the ground): Ground in middle of nowhere outside Cirencester and didn't see a pub nearby. Clubhouse small, modern and welcoming. All the locals I met seemed friendly.

People (fans, or general): See above. Good NL rapport. Home fans got a bit daft with their chants in the second half, but otherwise fine.

Programme (quality, value for money): £1.50. Long pieces by Chairman, manager, prog editor & supporters' trust, but rest pretty standard statistical fayre. Could do with a bit of colour, but not over-priced.

Town/City (what was the host town/city like): No idea, arrived without driving through any built-up area.

Ground (tidy, neat, terrible, what was the playing surface like): I feel sorry for Gloucester having to trek 20 miles each way for every home game. Hope they can sort out going 'home' in the near future. Cirencester's ground is pretty basic, as to be expected from that step of the pyramid, but neat and tidy, with two small stands (no extra cost) and one part of behind one goal under cover. It's a bit of a walk to the facilities (loo, tea bar) which are in one corner of the ground by the turnstiles. And the dug-outs are in a strange place - miles apart roughly in line with the two penalty areas. Why? Floodlights adequate. Pitch was heavy (pourng down). Think there was a bit of a slope to one side.

Talent (either player wise or laydezzzzzzzzzz wise!): Classic missed open goal from Jack Pitcher. Central defenders robust.

Overall day: A 'local' game for me this season, only 75 miles. And a victory, however scrappy, is still 3 points. Could have done with better weather though.