Burton Albion Day Trip
Burton Albion
By Mike
February 9 2006
On Saturday saw The Fleet travel to Staffordshire to play Burton Albion at their new Pirelli Stadium, I was there and this is my account of the day at The Pirelli Stadium.
Saturday was the day I had been waiting for since I saw photos of Burton’s new Pirelli Stadium. So i got the minibus at 10am down at the ground with 12 other Fleet fans as we set off for Burton. With The Fleet Trust chairman Chris Pilkinton the driver. Due to the closure on the M1 it took nearly 5 hours to get there, but everyone was ready for the match when we got there at 2:30pm. What a fantastic stadium and if The Fleet can have something like that in the near future I will be very pleased. Paid £12 to get in then a further £2 for a good quality programme, A5 size with 48 pages. The main stand at The Pirelli Stadium is so good they have there own Conference & Banqueting suites, it’s all seater stand that holds 2000 people, with a section for away fans. The North stand is for the home fans like our Northfleet stand quite low roofing though. It was where all the singing was coming from when they sung that is!!! The Popular Side is like our Stonebridge Road stand, runs the length of the pitch and is terracing and was nearly full. It was when the match was on!! The stand we were in was the Coors stand and was one of the best away stands I have stood in. No pillars to get in your way and crash barriers to lean on. The attendance was 1,733 but it won't be that when Manchester United come to town, as they kept going on about.
The Fleet coming out for the 1st half The game sadly wasn't as great as the stadium due to a very poor pitch where the ball would just stick in the mud and not move. Craig Holloway though did make 2 or 3 fantastic saves in the game, mainly in the 1st when everyone thought it was a goal but Holloway was superb and stood up very well to clear for a corner. The 2nd half and The Fleet should have won it, chances one after the other but it just wouldn’t go in, Andy Drury and Jay Saunders with the best chances. Burton nearly stanched it themselves when James Smith’s poor pass back missed Craig Holloway and Craig had to run after it and clear it off the line. It ended 0-0 it wasn’t the greatest of games due to the lack of play you could do on that pitch, Manchester United won’t know what’s hit them if it’s like that come January!! The Fleet though remain on a 4 game unbeatern run as they go into next week's short journey to East Thurrock in The Trophy. 
