Hyde FC - Ewen Fields

Hyde FC

Ewen Fields

Walker Lane

Hyde

Cheshire

SK14 5PL

0161 3677273

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Ground Number: 292
Monday 26th August 2013
Hyde 0-1 Grimsby Town
Skrill Premier






MY VISIT

For the second part of my bank holiday double, I was off to Hyde v Grimsby. In fact, this was the whole reason that I was up here, and it was pure luck that I managed to squeeze 2 games in, owing to the fact that the game had been moved for BT Sport. I had, in fact, planning this since the day the Conference fixtures came out. I had 3 grounds left to do in the Conference and was looking to do these with Grimsby if possible. It's funny how things work out. I used to get so fed up with going to Grimsby year after year. This was back in the day when I did every single Wycombe game, home and away for 7 years. Therefore I was 'forced' to make the trip up to Blundell Park year on year as they followed us around the divisions. I was not as adventurous then, as I was without the comfort of Google maps on my phone. After missing a coach home from Brentford one year, I was concerned about going too far in case I got lost. So I only ever tried the nearest chippy, and the nearest pub, both of which invariably disappointed. And there was not the information out there to make a more informed decision either. Another way that technology has transformed away days is social networking - Facebook and Twitter was how I met a few Grimsby fans. It's ironic, but after wishing the trips to Grimsby away and indeed missing our last visit there as I had stopped my 'run' I had been for the past 2 years wishing for us to be paired together in the cup or for us to be in the same league.

Of those trips to Blundell Park, the highlight has to be when we won 1-0 back in 2005 to send us top of the league. We were under John Gorman's stewardship at the time and were playing fantastic football, branded by many as 'Gormania'. The home fans were buzzing, they were going well and were right up there with us at the top of the table. They also had a huge game with Spurs in the League Cup coming up and supporters had to turn up to this game too, to stand a chance of getting a ticket to their big cup tie. As a result, they had more fans than usual and Wycombe fans were given just a small corner, instead of our usual end. Tommy Mooney was the man that did the damage as we saw out a tough game to top the table at the final whistle. And since then I had seen Grimsby a few times with me lending my support to them for the day. First of all in April 2012 when I met brothers John and Tom during the 0-0 draw at AFC Telford. Then the following season in September I met William at Newport County, another 0-0 for the Mariners. Then I met him again as we travelled to see them draw 1-1 with Rotherham reserves at Parkgate's ground, we also went to another game at Barton Town Old Boys later that night. It was a really enjoyable day and the time that I decided to really step up my efforts to tie in my groundhopping with seeing the Mariners play.

As for the home side, I had not had much experience of seeing them play. I had been to the ground to take pictures back in around 2008. I had been given the typically friendly Lancashire welcome as I visited a few grounds around the area. Since my visit they had had their ground turned blue by Man City as they use it for their base for reserve and youth teams. They had dropped the United name too but had stopped short of changing the kit blue and changing their name to City. Some may consider it as a sellout, but the money they had got from the deal allowed them to gain promotion from the Conference North and enjoyed a solid first season in the Premier. As for on the field, I had not seen them play. They had however halted Wycombe's run to a trophy before I started getting into football. Back in 1988, they beat Wycombe 1-0 in an FA Trophy Quarter Final, the game being played on an artificial pitch. They went on to lose to Telford in the Semi Final, who in turn went on to beat Macclesfield in the final at Wembley to lift the trophy.

I had left Mossley as soon as the final whistle sounded it and made slow progress towards Hyde, thanks to busy traffic and a set of roadworks. I got there just after 5.15 and chucked my car down the nearest empty road that I could find. I then tried to amble my way to the ground as I had no idea where the away supporters were supposed to go. I soon found the ground after a couple of wrong turns and a friendly local pointed me in the direction of the visitors' entrance. Little did I know but my mates were behind me as I ran and rushed my way through the turnstile and so right on kick off we met and decided where to stand. On getting into the ground I was surprised to find how empty it was. I was expecting a massive support from Grimsby and a struggle to get near my mates, but the stands were empty. In the end, the attendance was given as an entirely believable 782, with a highly dubious 272 being classified as away fans - it seemed a whole lot more from them. We went behind the goal first half and to be honest, the view wasn't great. The terrace was quite a long way back from the pitch and there was netting draped down over the front of the stand to make the view even worse. For the second half, we stood along the side and the view was a lot better. We had some banter with the linesman too and celebrated Grimsby's winner which came from Alex Rodman in the second half.

THE GROUND

EWEN FIELDS is one of the smaller grounds in the Conference but is smart and modern. Three and a half sides are covered terracing with the views being good apart from the one down the far end. And even then it's not the worst view you could get at a football ground. The seated stand holds around 530, whilst the ground overall holds just over 4000 people.