Deal Town 1-0 Canterbury City (repeat)
26/12/11
The Charles sports ground
att 156
Deal or No Deal
Not a new ground for us but always a pleasant visit. We had gone through a number of grounds to go to this week, including Aldershot, but decided to return to Deal. This was a 2nd v 2nd bottom clash. Deal had won the 2000 FA vase at Wembley, while Canterbury went bust the following season. Now Canterbury (playing at Herne Bay) were looking at promotion while Deal were looking for safety.
The ground is located amongst many houses and is rather basic. Behind the end you enter is a metal terrace that you can associate with any step 5 ground up and down the country. Following round in a clockwise direction you get to the dugouts and the original club house. In the corner is our favourite part of the ground. They are the changing rooms in an old looking building surrounded by a cage. Behind the other goal is more hard standing and the clubhouse. Following round to the final side is the "developed" side. The middle of it is a seated stand with an approx capacity of 200. It runs less than a third of the pitch. Next to it is the remaining footprint of the "new" clubhouse. Earlier in the year it was set alight meaning all the hard work to raise funds and build it were ruined. The ground is completed by 8 floodlights.
We arrived to the game about 3 minutes late. Because of this we missed a yellow card and a sending off. Fun. The game was a lively one either way though. Both goalies made good saves and tested their opponents. Deal got the winner in the 88th minute through a dodgy goal that the city goalie might of felt he could of got to. For an Idea look at Wolves equaliser v Arsenal the following day (not so extreme). We then received the news that Aldershot was abandoned due to floodlight failure.
The ground is located amongst many houses and is rather basic. Behind the end you enter is a metal terrace that you can associate with any step 5 ground up and down the country. Following round in a clockwise direction you get to the dugouts and the original club house. In the corner is our favourite part of the ground. They are the changing rooms in an old looking building surrounded by a cage. Behind the other goal is more hard standing and the clubhouse. Following round to the final side is the "developed" side. The middle of it is a seated stand with an approx capacity of 200. It runs less than a third of the pitch. Next to it is the remaining footprint of the "new" clubhouse. Earlier in the year it was set alight meaning all the hard work to raise funds and build it were ruined. The ground is completed by 8 floodlights.
We arrived to the game about 3 minutes late. Because of this we missed a yellow card and a sending off. Fun. The game was a lively one either way though. Both goalies made good saves and tested their opponents. Deal got the winner in the 88th minute through a dodgy goal that the city goalie might of felt he could of got to. For an Idea look at Wolves equaliser v Arsenal the following day (not so extreme). We then received the news that Aldershot was abandoned due to floodlight failure.