Prenton Park

Sunday, 6 May 2012

Tranmere Rovers 0-2 Huddersfield Town

Aerial shot of Prenton Park (Bing Maps)

Programme - £3.00

Ratings

Overall Ground Quality : 8/10

Ease of getting there : 8/10

Atmosphere : 7/10

Programme : 8/10

View of Action : 8/10

Quality of the game : 4/10

The "football" feeling : 5/10

Chances of coming here for a random game : 4/10

Legroom : 10/10

Surrounding area : 4/10

Overall : 66/100

The Main Stand

Reception

The Cowshed Stand

The Kop

The Johnny King Stand

The Kop

The Cowshed Stand

The Johnny King Stand

The Main Stand

The Cowshed Stand

The Main Stand

The Johnny King Stand

Tranmere
Rovers 0-2 Huddersfield Town

This was a trip I was looking forward too. Not only
was it a must win match for both sides, it was also my first
trip I drove to myself too after passing my driving test fairly recently. It
was only myself (Ross) going to this game as Adrian was at Norwich City v
Scunthorpe United with a mate of his.

I left at 9:15am going through Burton-on-Trent, Stoke-on-Trent, and
Bypassing Nantwich before reaching my first visit of the day, Chester. I
arrived at the Deva Stadium at 11:30am home of newly reformed Chester who were previously Chester
City. The stadium name ‘Deva’ comes
from the original Roman name for the fort ‘Deva Victrix’, which became the city of Chester. Before the
Deva Stadium was built, they were ground sharing with Macclesfield Town for two
seasons while their new 5,376 capacity home was being built. The stadium is notable for straddling the
England-Wales border with the pitch itself in Wales, with the front gates and
main office in England!

I then made the short journey to Vauxhall Motors who play at Rivacre
Park which holds 2,500. Vauxhall Motors was formed by the workers of Vauxhall
Motors who are situated on the other side of the motorway, opposite Rivacre
Park. Rivacre Park has been Vauxhall Motors home since the 1980’s.

I reached Tranmere and parked
on Allcot Avenue which was one of the only roads near Prenton Park which wasn’t
permit holders only. After a short walk from the car to the ground, I got my
match ticket before taking pictures of the exterior. I then got talking to a
steward called Pete outside the Kop
who was very friendly as well as all the Tranmere Rovers fans I met.

Tranmere Rovers moved to
Prenton Park in 1912. In 1968, the current Main stand
was built replacing the original main stand which was in a poor condition.
Following the Taylor report, In 1994 the Kop,
the Borough road stand which was later renamed the Johnny King
stand after a former Rovers manager and the Cowshed stand
were all rebuilt into all seater stands. All together, the ground holds 16,567.

The game saw Huddersfield Town
extend their unbeaten run to 19 games and stay in second in League 1 as the
season draws to an end. Tranmere Rovers were very poor and were simply
outclassed by a strong Terriers team. The two goals came from Benik Afobe and
Lee Novak sealed all three points for Town who overall deserved the win.

I really enjoyed my visit to Prenton Park. The
people of Tranmere are very friendly and make you feel really welcome.
Unfortunately the game was pretty poor after expecting a thrilling encounter
with both teams needing the points and also both teams in two different
situations, Promotion and Relegation