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, Hartlepool United.
Victoria Park
Capacity: 7,833 (4,180 seats)
Occupant: Hartlepool United
Town/City: Hartlepool
1) The Journey - 9/10
A fantastic buzz at 5:00 A.M. as I left my house for the station on the way too our first northern away day of the year, if it was any good as the last it was going to be one hell of a day. After a lovely breakfast in an empty St Pancras Wetherspoons we made our way to Kings Cross to meet the others.
The 8:06 from Kings Cross was absolutely rammed with Orient, besides First Class every coach was red and white, good to see a few familiar faces making the trip. On the way back an empty train to London pulled into Hartlepool and everyone on the platform was singing, in good spirits and yet again there were Orient faces in each coach - in the words of a mate ''It was like the old football specials in the eighty's''.
A very easy journey taking three hours direct to York then stopping at a few local Teesside towns before hitting Hartlepool. They were quite nice trains, strange how first class was in the middle of the train I hadn't seen that before on my away trips. I hadn't been with Grand Central before but every time we get back from a Kings Cross away day like Peterborough or Doncaster we saw Grand Central trains lined up on the platform and they were luxury trains, with long carriages, locomotives, like something out of the Orient Express. However, we were given quite a basic modern train.
2) The Area - 4/10
We walked out of Hartlepool station in a backstreet and made it onto the main road in search of the marina, there wasn't too much going on in Hartlepool quite a lot of boarded up shops and pubs and an advertisement for a Comet store, a retail business that went bust years ago.
We got past the level crossing and there was a bit of empty land, then we found ourselves at the marina and we were pleasantly surprised, a bay that looped around us full of dark choppy blue waters there lied a pub on the bank next to a hotel.
3) The Pubs - 8/10
Having embarked on Hartlepool at 11am, getting the early train out, we had a bit of time to kill. The first pub we went too was on the marina, a nice little place that done a bit of grub and wasn't that full, so it had a nice quiet relaxing atmosphere.
The only downside was that the nachos were served with green salsa, we were stunned. Then we went to the Wetherspoons on the roundabout, which was quite good, then back to the Jackson Arms.
4) The Ground - 7/10
I quite liked Victoria Park, very old fashioned with a lot of character, four stands and four massive floodlights in each corner. I liked the stand next to us, had wooden seats at the top tier and then bellow it was a terrace all the way along, you don't see that at many grounds, it was like something from Football Manager.
5) Food and Drink - 5/10
I couldn't get down to the Kiosk at half time as the ques were very long, a mate had a double stacked burger that looked very appetising, only missing a sheet of cheese and that would have been right up my street and very tempting for me to go down in the second half.
6) The View - 7/10
I had a good view of the action, at the back with everyone however when we scored we experienced the slowest limbs ever, maybe because we were all anticipating the goal as it rolled in slowly then when it did we all fell on each other. Must of been painful for those in front of me.
7) The Programmes - 8/10
A very good programme, for once we actually got one as we went to the ground straight after arriving to pick up tickets, so that was a nice touch. A great detailed section on the away side, must of been about four pages long and was a good read.
8) The Atmosphere - 7/10
Some good noise from Orient fans through out the game, better noise than recent away trips like Ebbsfleet last time out.
9) Away Support - 7/10
Just under 450 O's fans in the North East, a great turnout, fair few on the free coaches, fair play to them I could never hack 7 hours on a coach.
10) The Performance - 8/10
A good second half performance, had times were we really went for it and times were they did too but a good result away from home.
Total: 7/10
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. Maidenhead United 5.7/10
9. 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.
Comments