Gainsborough Trinity Vs Grimsby Town - The Northolme

Gainsborough Trinity Vs Grimsby Town

The Northolme

02/08/2014

Game number 3 this season. All of them have been away. I haven't visited Blundell Park yet this season because I really want to visit new grounds. This game was to decide who would face Lincoln in the Lincolnshire Cup final. Grimsby and Lincoln both have won the cup 38 times each so I felt it was important that we won this game and hopefully beat Lincoln in the final to claim bragging rights and get one over them. I was really looking forward to this because I have read up that they have a decent Club Shop. I later discovered that this was true but I will tell you more about that later!

The Northolme Stadium opened in the 1850s and was originally a cricket ground. Gainsborough moved there in 1884. A 200 seat stand was later added along with a coved terrace on the north side of the pitch. The record attendance for a football league match at Northolme was set on the 29th April 1991, when more then 5,600 people saw Trinity beat Chelsea 3-1. The stadium is a average Conference north stadium that has a really nice feel to it.

My alarm woke me up at 8:40. I got ready and had some spare time so I decided to go on my laptop for a bit to play some games. After that I walked down to the Stamford Club to catch the coach for 12:20. The journey was very short and we got there for 1:30. We went in the shopping area to see what is there. There is a McDonald's, Kfc and a chip shop within 10 minuets of the ground so that is very handy. I went into Pound-land to get a drink and 2 Mars-bars which was in a 3 for a pound deal. I also picked up a Documentary called England's Road To Rio which contained all the England goals from the qualifying group and a few friendlies.

We headed back to the ground and got at 2:00 and paid £3 to get in. I also brought a Chip Bun which cost £2. This is the best one I have had at a football match. Everything else also looked well priced. We got to the standing area at the far end of the ground because that was the only place that had a roof on our end of the ground. It was raining really heavily for a good 10 minuets but it did ease off and the sun came out again.

The game kicked off and Grimsby had most of the possession through the whole game. The hosts took the lead in the 22nd-minute through Simon Russell's penalty after Carl Magnay was adjudged to have handled in the box. Town more than deserved to get back in the game and Jon-Paul Pittman's low volley in the 77th minute ensured they did just that. But with penalties looming, second half sub Hannah scored two quick-fire goals to set-up a final at Lincoln City. His first saw him capitalise on a defensive mix-up to tap into an open goal before he added a second just before the full-time whistle.

We also visited the club shop at half time. It was so good that we visited a second time at the end of the game to have another look. In the end I brought 10 old programmes for 90p and a birthday card for 10p! I was very happy with this as on the website it said that programmes were 20p each. The club shop had a couple of boxes of programs and a good selection of polo shirts for just £5. I wish I had some more money with me because I would have spent £10-£15 in there!

I really enjoyed the day and Gainsborough is a place to put on you list of clubs to visit.