NPower Championship
Keepmoat Stadium
03/03/12
Att: 8964
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| Outside the Keepmoat |
Having been a while since ive managed to attend a game (thanks to work commitments) a Saturday off arrived and Football was high on the agenda. There didn't seem to be many local games in the non league world so I took Dad along to the Championship. We didn't bother with the satnav as the clubs website gave pretty good directions, however best laid plans an all that saw an accident on the M18 causing us to come off early. Luckily Dad had a fairly decent knowledge of Doncaster and got us to the stadium with plenty of time to spare.
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| Inside the Keepmoat |
After parking up at the retail park near to the ground we made the short walk and headed towards the ticket office. Having purchased a nice glossy programme fo £3 (full of adverts obviously) we asked the seller the best place to sit. His reply was "what noise there is comes from the Polypipe Stand." Polypipe it is then. At £22 a ticket we are paying about £14 more than at any of the non league grounds I have visited. Heres hoping we get £14 more worth of football.
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| Donny dog entertains the crowd |
On entry to the stadium you arrive in the concourse under the stand where flat screen tvs are showing the 2nd half of Liverpool V Arsenal. We grab something to eat and for a pie and a bottle of Tango iam left with very little change from £5. We head out into the stands to get our first view of the stadium. Now I have to say Iam not particularly a fan of the identikit bowl stadiums that are appearing up and down the country (see Kc, St.Marys, Riverside etc.) however for a club the size of Donny, the 15000 seated Keepmoat is pretty smart. Traditionalists will like the fact that there are 4 floodlights in the corners.
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| An ode to owner John Ryan |
On flicking through the programme I realise that representing Doncaster today will be a certain El hadji Diouf. As a Liverpool fan I have to say seeing the serial spitter in action is going to be difficult and I will have to keep my opinions to myself while sitting with the home fans. The home fans chant about him spitting on his opponents was only sung and found amusing by a limited number of individuals. Wosre was to come when I saw a home fan setting up a drum. A f**cking drum whats that for? I hate the England band and any other set of fans that think instruments create an atmosphere. THEY DONT SO STOP IT.
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| The Polypipe stand before the arrival of the drummer boy |
Prior to the game we are treated to a group of little girls/cheer leaders girating about to some very loud dance music anyone who wolf whistled should hang their head in shame. As the teams take to the field local kids greet them by waving Rovers flagson the pitch. A lot is being tried to create an atmosphere but it all feels very manufactured (especially with the hideous drum going).
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| The warm up |
The game kicked off and we soon realised we were not going to get £22's worth of Football. Brighton have earned great reviews about the style of Football they play under Gus Poyet. Well Today no one played good football. The highlights of 90 minutes action include a very scrappy Mackail-Smith goal in the 1st half for Brighton and a Penalty equaliser by my favourite Player Diouf following a hand ball. The game was awful and by no means better than anything I have seen 7 leagues below.
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