I had a walk around the ground first, bumping into and chatting with a couple of people on the way around. It’s hard to realise just how small it is until you actually go there, but from the outside, at the East End is a small yard where the turnstiles for the home end are, and then round the other side is a small building, which is actually the main stand. It's difficult to make out that it even is a stand, never mind supposedly the best one there!
         
After walking around taking a few pics, I went in and found my seat near the top of the stand. The view wasn’t that bad, even accounting for being around an athletics track, but id certainly had a lot better. Inside the ground itself isn’t that bad, well, OK it is that bad, but for what you expect it isn’t so bad, and its set in really nice surroundings, which take away from it so evidently not being a real football venue. To our right was the main stand, which is very small, and on the opposite side of the ground was some large uncovered temporary seating. We were in some more temporary seating in the corner of the stadium and to our left, behind the goal was a strange affair of various buildings and another, much smaller temporary stand. The opposite end was open, but the large wooded hill that surrounds the ground gives it an enclosed feel, that despite being open to the elements, makes you feel not as bad as at, say Portsmouth or Stockport. The one downside to the hill is that it creates awful lighting conditions, which combined with it getting darker earlier it meant that the pictures I took really didn’t come out that well.

As for the game, it was a scrappy affair, with neither teams showing great potential, and us continuing our run of poor form, looking genuinely like park players. However, on one of our few attacks we managed to put the ball in the net, when Kenny Miller headed home a cross. Brighton threw everything they had at us, but even then, they didn’t really manage to cause any problems, and throughout the rest of the first half, and all the second half, it was mostly them, with us restricted to the odd breakaway every now and again. When the final whistle blew we were especially pleased with ourselves, having just seen the first away win in 18 months, although the nature of the performance didn’t exactly inspire us for the games ahead, but a wins a win, and with the way things are going, we’ll take anything!

After staying to take some more pictures, I left the ground and walked back down the big hill, and to Preston Park station, before finding my mate and setting off on the long drive home.

Overall it was a pretty good trip, for one just to see that win, but it’s a nice location to watch a game at, (as long as the weathers OK!), you certainly wouldn’t want it as your home ground, and it's probably more like a ground you would only expect to visit in pre-season, but for what it is, it isn’t a bad little place, although Brighton very clearly need a new stadium in the long run.

 

Pictures:



One of the buildings around the Stadium



The Sportsman Pub



The Away Fans Entrance



View from the North-West end of the Stadium



View from the open end at the West of the Stadium



The East end of the Stadium



The South Stand



The open ended West side of the Stadium



The North Stand