As part of the Everything Orient series 'Away Days', @QuaneRoman reviews his adventures at football grounds across the country and takes a look at everything from the best ground, the best food and most importantly, the best pubs. Next up, Brackley Town.
St James Park
Capacity: 3,500 (507 seated)
Occupant: Brackley Town
Town/City: Brackley, Northamptonshire
1) The Journey - 6/10
Up early for the cup, or trophy even, as the O's travelled north to the Midlands to take on Brackley in the quarter finals. We were out for the 10:44 at Marylebone to Birmingham Snow Hill, where we got off at Banbury two stops in.
The journey took an hour and was quite smooth and pleasant, the train bypassed every station until Bicester and then Banbury. Then a cab to the small town of Brackley tucked away from everything like big towns and train lines, motorways sandwiched in-between Northamptonshire & Oxfordshire. This journey took around 25 minutes.
2) The Area - 7/10
We didn't see much of Brackley, pre-match we spent most of the time in Banbury who had a bigger town centre and had a lot more going on there. When on arrival in Brackley we walked down the main road into town past the pub on the green and up the nice cobbled slope to the pub next to a parade of shops surrounding the war memorial. From what I saw, it looked a nice clean town with a lot of history and had a nice rural feel to it. The only negative being it's location and transport links, the cab back to Banbury definitely took it out on me.
3) The Pubs - 7/10
After getting out at Banbury we searched for a pub, hoping there would be one in town that's where we headed and once we passed the bus station and the Debenhams we spotted a little pub called the White Lime tucked away in between a few restaurants in a side pedestrian.
A very nice pub, that served good food, had the Premier League football on and we spent a good three hours there. In Brackley I saw a few people we knew out on the green outside the Locomotive Inn but then shortly moved on to the Royal Oak in town, where we spent until kick off and after too. An ok pub, not the best, Banbury had a lot more too offer and had variety, it was a nice change from a Wetherspoons this week.
4) The Ground - 4/10
Walking into Brackley Town Football Club my first sight was three porta loo's to my right, a man with toilet paper draping down from his trousers and a view of the 'Brackley Ultras' behind the opposing goal, this truly is the level we, Leyton Orient Football Club, have fallen too. The pitch was awful, it was on a slope and Orient had approximately half the ground with the uncovered side terrace and a small shed stand.
5) Food and Drink - 2/10
Quite poor from Brackley, before the game a few people told me that they were refused entry to the clubhouse because they were away supporters, there was no alcohol inside the ground. A few mates had a sausage in a roll which they all found quite bitter and not tasteful so I wasn't that tempted to join the que.
6) The View - 6/10
Not the best of views, I had a poor view at the side so I moved behind the goal under shelter. From here, I had a good view of proceedings though it was a busy terrace.
7) The Programmes - 7/10
Not the best printing quality but a very good section on the O's, about 4-5 pages of information and also some good content from the home side and was a good read.
8) The Atmosphere - 5/10
Good noise from the travelling O's in patches, singing breaking out now and then but with the poor showing on the pitch, O's fans didn't have too much to sing about until the 75th minute. I enjoyed the chilled back atmosphere during the game, allowing us to have a laugh whilst watching some, in my opinion, poor football and then after Happe's header going absolutely mad. I, for one, cant wait to watch us celebrating behind the goal when it goes on the Leyton Orient YouTube channel.
9) Away Support - 9/10
A great away following by the O's, around 700 at Brackley the best away crowd on our FA Trophy campaign so far.
10) The Performance - 5/10
Besides the last quarter of the game, Orient were woeful. You couldn't see us getting through there was nothing creative until Maguire-Drew came on and changed it up. However a great turnaround late on see the O's win 2-1 progressing to the semi finals! Wembley is in our sights, but can we do it? That is the question on every O's fans lips.
Total: 5.8/10
AwayDays Standings
1. AFC Fylde 7.3/10 2. Maidstone United 7.3/10 3. Wrexham AFC 7.1/10 4. Hartlepool United 7.0/10 5. Salford City 6.9/10
6. FC Halifax Town 6.1/10
7. Braintree Town 6.1/10 8. Brackley Town 5.8/10 (FA Trophy) 9. Maidenhead United 5.7/10
10. Ebbsfleet United 4.6/10
*AWAYDAYS that are on the same rating are rated higher on personal enjoyment, for example I personally enjoyed Fylde slightly better to Maidstone despite being given the same rating.
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