| Team-Stadium | OVR | Atmosphere | Cost | Entertainment | Facilities | Food |
| Southampton– St Mary’s | 20 | 4.5 | 3 | 3.5 | 4 | 5 |
| Spurs– White Hart Lane | 19.5 | 3.5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 |
| Cardiff– Cardiff City Stad | 19 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3 |
| Bristol City– Ashton Gate | 18 | 4 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3 |
| Cheltenham– Jonny-Rocks | 16 | 1.5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4.5 |
| Bath City– Twerton Park | 15.5 | 2.5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 4 |
| Yeovil Town– Huish Park | 15.5 | 3.5 | 3 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2 |
| Portsmouth– Fratton Park | 15 | 3.5 | 1.5 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| Newport– Rodney Parade | 12 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
Groundhops
Groundhop: Bristol City
Football matches were like London buses this weekend. We’ve waited three months for some action and we see two matches in as many days.After Bath City on Saturday, we headed off to our local football league club, Bristol City and their ground, Ashton Gate.
We will be heading to university in Southampton in September so it was important that we manage to go to a City game as soon as possible. Thankfully, Sky Sports moved this game to a Sunday so we could make the trip to BS3 to see the Robins face up against Leeds.
The game didn’t disappoint with Leeds comfortably running out winners 3-1 after a scintillating first 70 minutes or so. Pablo Hernandez opened the scoring with a belter of a goal before setting up Patrick Bamford for a second. Jack Harrison made it three before Andreas Weimann scored a consolation after a good solo run.
Atmosphere:
With it being the first match of the season, the atmosphere was expected to be brilliant and the Leeds fans didn’t fail to deliver. The 2295 Leeds faithful were singing their hearts out from minute one.
It did help that the football was going well but they still exceeded all my high expectations of them. Bristol City fans also tried to get a decent atmosphere going with their renowned section 82 dominating the pre-match noise. However throughout the game it was largely Leeds you could hear.
I am going to rate the atmosphere 4/5.
Cost:
Let’s start with the tickets. We paid £19 each for our seats which were the cheapest available at the short notice. For Championship football I was reasonably happy with this pricing
Being local, we were able to cut any transport costs as we got a lift with my dad, who kindly forgot to turn the trip meter on. Our seats were right next to the Leeds fans and in the biggest stand in the stadium so for our money I think we got a good deal.
For cost I am going to rate Bristol City 3.5/5.
Entertainment:
After the Conference South battle on the previous day, we expected a different type of game at Ashton Gate and Marcelo Bielsa’s side proved us right. They played lovely free flowing football throughout and were only missing a goal until Hernandez pulled one out of the top draw to score past Daniel Bentley.
City lacked any chances in the first half with their best coming with Josh Brownhill’s effort which was safely parried away by Kiko Casilla who spent the match relatively stress free.
Leeds went into another gear in the second half and put the game to bed with 15 minutes to go. The match itself and the fans were entertaining throughout and made for a good day.
Luke, the die hard Spurs fan, noticed that Paul Robinson was a pundit for Sky at the match. He would eventually get his picture with him after the match despite some protestations from some sinister City stewards
For entertainment I am going to give City 3.5/5.
Facilities:
Ashton Gate and Bristol City as a club are developing and the facilities are quite brilliant. There are several different food places both in and out of the stadium, which allows picky eaters like me to get what they want.
The ground itself holds a tad under 28,000 and for the Leeds game over 23,000 were filled up ( some were lost in the away end where City took precautions with the Leeds fans). The stadium looks magnificent after walking up the steps with the stand we were in being reasonably new. A slight negative would be the away end which does look a bit average compared to the rest of the stadium.
For facilities I am going to rate Ashton Gate 3.5/5
Food:
With the match being a 4:30 kick off I decided beforehand I would have a light lunch and eat before the game. After entering the stadium at 3:00 I looked around to see the options I had. There was plenty on offer and despite all the fancy names for pies and burgers I opted for a good old fashioned Sausage Roll. With a slight discount from a mate’s season card the price was £2.90.
The roll itself was very nice and to wash it down I bought a bottle of water outside the stadium as the water inside was a steep £2.20. At half time I also felt peckish so I brought out my wild side and got a Walkers Ready Salted grab bag. At £1.50 I didn’t have too many other options to chose from
For this I will give it a 3.5/5
Man of the Match:
With the scoreline being how it was I have to choose a Leeds player but I am going to give a lot of credit to City left back Jay Da Silva who put in a stellar performance after signing for the club permanently this summer.
It pains me to say it but Patrick Bamford had a very good game up top. The striker held the ball up well and allowed Leeds to play how they did. But MOTM has to go to Pablo Hernandez. The silky Spaniard ran things in midfield and scored a sumptious goal alongside his clever assist for Bamford.
If Leeds somehow don’t go up this season, then I could see Hernandez making a move to England’s top flight as he is just too good for this league. Everything he did he made look so easy and he will be a key player for them this campaign.
So what does this mean?
Unsurprisingly, Bristol City leap above Bath into top stop with an overall rating of 18/25.
Scoring an average of 3.6
Groundhop: Bath City
After three mind-numbing months without football, the football season got back underway today with everyone from non-league to EFL kicking off their season hoping for a season of glory whilst others will inevitably be condemned to a season of disappointment.
Today we started our football season at Twerton Park for Bath City’s opening game against recently relegated Braintree Town in the National League South.
After missing out on promotion with a play off semi-final defeat last season, The Romans kicked off their campaign in style as two excellent goals from Bath’s Tom Smith and Ross Stearn made it a perfect start for Jerry Gill’s side.
Atmosphere:
After 94 days since Bath City last took to the fields of Twerton Park for a league fixture, the atmosphere was expected to be quite lively ahead of the new season. However throughout the game, the atmosphere was somewhat patchy.
With the attendance standing at just 786 people there was simply not enough numbers to generate an electric atmosphere, there were certain segregation’s of the Bath support willing to urge their team on and let their voices be heard, yet were slightly inconsistent with their support.
For me I would give Bath City a 2.5/5 for atmosphere.
Cost:
With Bath City being situated in the sixth tier of English football, an opening day game was never likely to be too costly and with tickets prices at £7 for under 18’s/students this game was sensibly priced for a day of football.
A train ticket from our native city of Bristol to Bath alongside the match day ticket saw our spending come to just £9.70 before we’d even seen a ball kicked.
This represented excellent value for money, as alternative options shortlisted this weekend would have saw our travel and match day ticket rise to potentially £35.
I would give Bath City a 4/5 for cost.
Entertainment:
Ahead of the opening weekend of the season Bath was perhaps not the most glamorous option to explore in comparison to a number of potential EFL destinations, however Twerton Park did not disappoint.
After a cagey first half of nick and tuck, clear cut chances were few and far between. The highlight of the half was a speculative effort from inside the Braintree half rattling Ryan Clarke’s crossbar, just inches away from one of the goals of the season just minutes into the new season.
The deadlock was broken minutes into the second half, as on loan midfielder Tom Smith made it a debut to remember with a fine volley from inside the box to open the scoring at Twerton Park.
Half time substitute Ross Stearn then doubled the lead with a stunning effort from the edge of the box to seal an opening day win for Jerry Gill’s side.
Chances may have been hard to come by, but the quality of both goals made up for the lack of action and made it an enjoyable experience.
For this I’m going to give Bath a 3/5.
Facilities:
Twerton Park is a throwback to grounds of yesteryear, with the majority of the ground standing it is not your archetypal modern football stadium.
However, expectations can not be raised to an unrealistic level for a game in the sixth tier of English football.
The lack of seating in the stands allowed for the Bath fans to display flags and banners to help add their own touch of sentiment towards the stadium that they call home every other Saturday.
For that, I will give the overall facilities a 2/5.
Food:
Now for the decider, food. Twerton Park was somewhat unorthodox in allowing a food van inside the stadium, situated between the home dugout and corner flag. In fairness, the food can more than warrants its place inside the ground, with hot food priced at £3.20 the food more than warranted it’s price tag with the overall standard of food somewhat higher than then price displayed.
For that I will give it a 4/5.
Man of the Match:
There was a number of impressive candidates to pick up the man of the match award at Twerton Park, but for me it would be hard to look past debutant Tom Smith.
Smith was often found doing the dog-work in midfield, breaking up play whilst also being integral to counter attacks, a fantastic volleyed goal was a testament to the Cheltenham loanee’s debut in front of the Bath faithful.
So what does this mean?
Bath City jump straight to the top of our leaderboard automatically as our first trip scoring 15.5 marks out of a total 25.
Scoring an average of 3.1.
Whilst there is somewhat of a stigma around non-league football from fans of elite clubs in England, I would thoroughly recommend watching your local non-league side when you can as it gives a different perspective to the modern day money-mad heights of the Premier League.
For the love of the game 