Cressing Road Stadium
National League
February 9, 2019
Ground No 214
AND so I found myself in the away end at Braintree on a Saturday afternoon when Britain's most high profile non-league team rolled into town.
My 16-year-old Mancunian nephew is a Salford season ticket holder you see and, full of youthful exuberance, he'd headed south for a weekend with his handily-placed groundhopping uncle, hoping to see the Ammies take another step towards the Football League.
I think he's bored of me telling him how, the first time I saw Salford play at home, the crowd was barely into three figures - in the days well before some lads with a few bob who played for a team up the road took them over.
So any how, an hour before kick-off we were driving into a small close made up entirely of strange, flat-roofed houses, and parking up ahead of the game.
Nineteen quid in and three quid for a not especially substantial programme was a bit steep for this level in my opinion but on the plus side, the bacon roll was very nice.
Cressing Road has been Braintree's home since 1923. Much of the way it looks now is down to work carried out since the 1990s, but it still retains a homely and traditional feel.
Its orange barriers and blue fences - reflecting the team's colours - give it a bright look too.
The away end is a small terraced area at the far end, just the other side of the man stand, which contains around 500 seats. There's a similar area of terracing on the other side too.
A long, mostly covered, terraces extends along the side opposite the main stain while there are identical banks of terracing behind the goal - one left uninhabited, giving the brightly coloured barriers even more prominence on this gloomy February day, and the other home to the Braintree faithful.
Those fans haven't had much to cheer this season, but went home the happiest thanks to an injury time winner.
"The Football League is waiting for us," sang the City fans around me. They'll be waiting a little longer at this rate.
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