Eastwood Town's Coronation Park

Had there been consistency from the Football Conference, Lincoln City vs Eastwood Town could have easily been a competitive fixture. It would have certainly been interesting to go to Coronation Park for a competitive match.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS REVIEW CONTAINS NO PICTURES

Back in 2009 I almost got a job working for Eastwood Town. At the time they were owned by the same company that owned the Dusk Til Dawn poker club on the outskirts of Nottingham, and they were an extremely ambitious non-league side. They often made the Playoffs in the Conference North before one year being told that they weren't allowed to compete in them due to their ground being of insufficient quality, meaning that even though they finished comfortably in the Playoff places, they weren't allowed to compete.

Since then they have been on a massive downward spiral due to the owners selling up, yet had it not been for the Conference's inconsistency with regards to grounds (they let Nuneaton in and that's not too dissimilar to Eastwood's ground), then this local derby could have been a competitive fixtures.

Despite being local to Lincoln, Eastwood is exceedingly difficult to get to. Getting to Nottingham is fine, but trying to get to the small town of Eastwood that is located just outside is another matter altogether. We arrived in Nottingham around midday, and even if you take out the time we spent in Nottingham city centre, it still took about an hour to get to the ground from there. There were limited buses going anywhere near the ground and even from the closest train station, it was still another 30 minute walk. Getting there unless you have a car is just awkward.

Once you arrive at the ground you notice that there isn't really a lot to do around it. It is near enough in the middle of a park and there weren't many signs pointing towards the turnstiles, meaning you wander aimlessly around. After finding the turnstiles, we entered the ground and in terms of quality, it's not particularly worse than some of the grounds that have been let into the Conference in recent years, so it just puzzled me that they weren't allowed in.

The stand next to you as you enter the ground is the main stand at the ground, a small seated effort which is fairly thin but does offer a decent view of the action. Opposite it is another seated stand, but that stand is quite unusual as it seems to have been build at an angle, not too dissimilar in style of the main stand at Accrington Stanley.

The two stands behind each goal are covered terraces that, whilst not big, are again not too dissimilar to grounds that have been let into the league in recent years.

The Eastwood fans seemed friendly enough and there was no trouble at all, although I did get some strange looks due to reasons I am sure most who know me can figure out. There was little/no atmosphere but there tends not to be when a club is on a downward spiral that has seen them relegated twice in the last few years.

Whether I would go back again is not very likely if it's not a competitive fixtures. It's nice enough but due to the farce of actually getting to the ground, I don't think I will overly bother unless the game actually means something.