Park Drive
FA Cup 1st qualifying round
September 2, 2017
Ground No 196
Pretty slim, you'd have to say, but then the Argentinian hitman has racked up 183 appearances for Manchester City... some 23 fewer tan current Maldon and Tiptree gaffer Kevin Horlock made for the Sky Blues during his playing career,
City were different club back then, mind: No moneybags Emirati owner and down as low as the third tier during Horlock's time there.
It's been all change for the Jammers too over the last couple of decades. In 1997, when Horlock joined City, they were plain old Maldon Town, played in the Eastern Counties League and had been at Park Drive for just three years. A merger with Tiptree United came in 2010.
Being a relatively new ground, Park Drive has a modern feel. A fellow blogger described it as being "hard to love" on a wintry midweek night. On a hot summer afternoon? Well I'd be in no rush to take it behind the bikesheds but, yes, it was certainly worthy of a bit of affection.
As you enter the ground, the pitch is on the left and a brick-built building ccontaining the clubhouse, committee room, tea bar and changing rooms is on the right.
Between the two is a grass area containing picnic tables and parasols. First impressions are that it looks more like a motorway service station than a football ground.
I half-expected to see a family of five from Luton next to a Vauxhall Zafira complaining in equal measure at the traffic on the M1 and the price of a ham sandwich in the cafeteria instead of a football pitch.
Closer to the far end is a split level hard standing area and in the middle is the tunnel - a covered and fenced walkway from the changing rooms to a quirky brick structure which straddles the halfway line.
This has covered areas for the fans either side of the pitch entrance - the team line-ups handily pinned up inside one - and the dugouts on the other side of the metal fence that rings the pitch.
Behind the goal at the far end is hard standing while opposite is another small stand, containing 93 seats while on the opposite side of the pitch to the dugouts is the main stand, a 250-seat structure flanked by hard standing.
Behind is a big grass bank - out of bounds for spectators - which had me guessing what might be on the other side.
For some reason I had a vison of a huge reservoir where rare breeds of mallard fluttered to their hearts' content, or maybe a flotilla of yachts sailing along the glistening blue water of the Heybridge Basin.
I was rather disappointed to see on Google Earth that nothing more than a big, green field lay on the other side.
No comments:
Post a Comment