Life's a Pitch.
Saturday provided a first for me, no, not arriving before kick off which I did manage, but a trip to Broad Lane and third placed Wivenhoe. After a long week at work and up North I was, as usual, looking forward to my Saturday fix of non league football and also taking in yet another new ground. On arrival it looked a good old fashioned ground and once inside we weren't disappointed. Good terracing either end while the 'sides' could do with a make over but beggars can't be choosers. No doubt over the years this Essex based club has had some cracking games and clearly the supporters needs have been taken care off. But the pitch? Well, now that's a different story. In this day and age where facilities have to be regularly upgraded why isn't the pitch included in this? I guess on Saturday, playing an under 10 game an hour before kick off didn't help. The need for a roller was clearly apparent. During the game and you could have recorded your own dvd of gaffes as time and again a player went to control the ball only for it to bounce or bobble up over it. Every time someone attempted a back pass we all held our breath expecting a Bryan Gunn moment! Luckily for either sets of fans this didn't happen although I'm sure we would have liked to have seen it (at the opposite end of course!). There are many fine surfaces in the Ridgeons League, for those of you yet to visit Broad Lane, brace yourselves.