2nd October 2007

Aldershot 2-0 Exeter City 

Attendance: 2943

by Kirstie Bowden 

I didn't go to Aldershot because of Uni. I was disappointed to be missing City playing, but not particularly aggrieved to be missing out on a visit to the Rec. I hate the place. To reach the away end you have to walk down a dangerous wooded path. After surviving this precarious journey you are generally met by one operational turnstile. Through the turnstile you are met by the wonderful site of anything from 1 to 4 portaloos placed next to the burger van. The away end is split with Aldershot one side, the police in the middle, and Exeter on the other side. I stood there once and feared for my own safety so much that ever since I have stood on the exposed open side terrace, watching as the baiting and scuffling intensifies. You've got more chance of watching this than the game with the view from this area appalling unless you are stood right at the front.

The miserable ground has been the site for some miserable results. My first visit, on the 28th March 2004 saw us unfairly bow out of the F.A Trophy. This of course owed greatly to the 'expertise' of Amy Rayner who cemented her place in Grecian folklore for all the wrong reasons. Poor Eamo got in such a state that he threw his coat at Clare in the dugout!

My next memorable and miserable visit came on the 2nd January 2006, a league fixture which we lost 1-0. We may have lost the match but Neil Le Milliere successfully won the battle of common sense, succesfully negotiating for some of the female grecians to use the toilets in the main stand. Despite these toilets being in the segregated Exeter end of the stand, we were still escorted there and back by police!

The best thing about Aldershot is always leaving. One day we're going to win there.

BBC Match Report