Upminster Daggers - Dagenham and Redbridge FC Fan Site

Pre Journey:  Myself, Dogva and Browns lined the stomachs with a full English at the Avon Road cafe at about 11.30. From there it was on to the Yeoman.  Crazy Stew, Mardle and Dead Bloke were already in attendance in the pub.  We were soon joined as well by Chucky.  Browns was dispatched to sort out beer for the journey.  As usual he couldn't get it quite right and he had to be dispatched once more for a bottle opener!!!

Attendees: Just the 7 which is a bit poor for a local away game when we are second and the oppo are 8th.  In attendance were myself, Browns, Dead Bloke, Crazy Stew, Chucky, Dogva and Mardle.  Of the missing, the excuses were poor.  Count was absent yet again, this time in Newcastle.  His commitment has to be questioned??  Bobby continued to force himself through two games a weekend by playing for the vets football team (in his 30s!!!), Skippy was watching Thomas the Tank Engine, and nobody else was interested (perhaps they knew how the game would turn out).

Journey There: For once Station Cars at Upminster were remotely useful!!!! An 8 seater minibus was actually available and actually available at a decent price.  £80 return from the pub to the ground.  On boarding the vehicle Stew was a little disturbed by the signs saying "no eating or drinking", but luckily for him the driver was not bothered about enforcing this and he was able to continue drinking his Stella!!!!  The driver took the scenic route through Aveley to avoid any traffic on the motorway, and we arrived outside the ground just 35 minutes after leaving the pub.

Pre Match: On arrival we descended on some dingy pub, similar to the Yeoman in fact!!!  It was so uninspiring I cannot even remember it's name!!!  The Bolton v Liverpool game was on but the place was so cramped we could not get in any place to watch this.  Stew then got a call from a certain Winkle, who informed us that he had decided to come and was outside the ground.  Browns and Chucky were dispatched to put the flag (making it's debut) in a decent spot in the away end and the rest of followed about 15 minutes before kick off.  We managed to spot Winkle (not a hard task) outside the ground on the way in.
Ground: A dump!!!!  People may argue this but it is a dump!!!  Away end is a shoddy open terrace.  Queue for refreshments was as usual here massive.  Toilets, as at most grounds, stunk!!! Home end is very weird.  Last time we were here this was shut. Has now been re-opened with seats in.  Bit weird seeing a Conference game with seats behind goal in this style.

Ground: A dump!!!!  People may argue this but it is a dump!!!  Away end is a shoddy open terrace.  Queue for refreshments was as usual here massive.  Toilets, as at most grounds, stunk!!! Home end is very weird.  Last time we were here this was shut. Has now been re-opened with seats in.  Bit weird seeing a Conference game with seats behind goal in this style.

Crowd: A decent size crowd, one of Fleet\'s largest of the season I would imagine.  Always difficult to judge away turn out but I would guess nearly 400.  There were about 60-70 in the seats and then about 300-320 on the terrace.  Not a bad effort but I expected a few more.  Not the most atmospheric of grounds.  Their fans are pretty rubbish, and we were on an open terrace so it\'s hard to make to much noise.

Game: Not the greatest.  We were the better side early on, and had chances but as it went on both teams seemed more worried about not losing.  0-0 in the end and a decent result for us, most people seemed pretty pleased.  Nobody was outstanding for us, but nobody was bad either, one of those sorts of days!!! (see match report)

Journey Home: Cab driver was nice and prompt and got us back to Upminster in quick time.  Only blip was the fact he couldn't pick up Five Live on the radio.  Stew managed to get most of the scores and it was pleasing to note Orient had been thumped again and Grays had lost again!!!

Post Journey: I shot straight off so any antics in the Yeoman will have passed me by!!!