Away Days - Airbus UK Broughton

By Robert Stock
April 13 2009

Robert Stock reviews a visit to the not-so-fierce, North East Wales derby between Airbus and Cefn Druids.

Airbus UK Broughton 1 - 0 NEWI Cefn Druids, Monday 13th April 2009

How did you get there? A nice and quick drive up the A483 in stark contrast to last week's mammoth trek to Carmarthen.

Pre-match shenanigans? Having arrived at around 1:45pm you are greeted with the decision of admiring the factory surrounds and the runway or having a swift half of lemonade in the social club which is annoyingly outside the confines of the ground. I decided on the former, largely in the hope of doing a bit of plane-spotting, but much like the match itself I was left disappointed and empty handed.

What was the damage? £6

Was the ground any worse than Airbus? After entering the ground I immediately felt a tinge of guilt over picking on Airbus in the wording of this question. Since my last visit a few seasons ago, a new stand has been built opposite the changing rooms, greatly adding to the appearance of the stadium. Add to that being bathed in glorious sunshine, the stadium certainly looks better than several other grounds in the league, ourselves included. However, I'm a stubborn bastard, so the question remains as it is. 

Tea-hut tales? Mayhem. One solitary lady was left to man the entire ship and, such were the queues for stewed tea at half time, that if I were a nicer person I'd have jumped over the serving hatch and assisted her myself...But I had a 2nd half of rubbish football to go and endure.

How crap was the game? Extremely crap. A nice pitch, a glorious day and a stomach full of easter eggs. Almost the perfect recipe for success.

Were the adverts in the programme any good? Having taken the entire first half to get over the shock of paying 50p over the standard Welsh Premier programme value of £1, I took the half time break to investigate whether this gluttonous break from conformity was worth it. And there was the answer - the adverts were in colour. Robbing bastards!

Were the home fans awake? If standing directly in front of the 'no standing in front of this stand' notice counts as 'awake', then yes.

Any other anecdotes to bore us with? Fold-away floodlights in the Welsh Premier. You don't see those in IKEA.