The Peninsula Stadium

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Salford City 1-0 Cambridge United

Aerial shot of the Peninsula Stadium (salfordcityfc.co.uk)

Rating

Overall Ground Quality : 7/10

Ease of getting there : 8/10

Atmosphere : 5/10

Programme : 7/10

View of Action : 6/10

Quality of the game : 4/10

The "football" feeling : 2/10

Chances of coming here for a random game : 1/10

Legroom : N/A

Surrounding area : 9/10

Overall : 49/100

Programme - £3.00

Nevile Road (South Stand)

East Stand (Away End)

Moor Lane (North Stand)

East Stand (Away End)

West Terrace

Moor Lane (North Stand)

East Stand (Away End)

Nevile Road (South Stand)

East Stand (Away End)

Moor Lane (North Stand)

East Stand (Away End)

Nevile Road (South Stand)

East Stand (Away End)

Moor Lane (North Stand)

East Stand (Away End)

Nevile Road (South Stand)

Moor Lane in 2013

Moor Lane in 2019

Salford City 1-0 Cambridge City

It was only a matter of time before the Class of 92 made their dream of reaching the Football League 92 with Salford City come true. The wealth of being owned by Peter Lim, Phil Neville, Gary Neville, Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and David Beckham meant it was only going to be a matter of time before they took their maiden leap.
Salford City were always well known for being in the Noth West Counties and Northern Premier prior to the wealthy takeover in 2014.
Adrian and I (Ross) originally visited the previously named Moor Lane back in 2013 and at the time, we never considered this would be the location of a Football League match. Well well well, how wrong were we!
An inspiring FA Cup shock against Notts County and various BBC on-the-wall documentaries gave the nation an inside peak into the biggest Non-League promotion push in modern time.
Thanks to their victory in the play off final at Wembley Stadium against AFC Fylde, Salford City became the newest members of the Football League.
As with any new member of the Football League, it's an opportunity for the intrigued groundhopper to tick off their list. With it being an International Break, it was our first opportunity to visit the Peninsula Stadium (and I'm sure we were not the only ground hoppers too!).
We made an early start with the aim of crossing off a couple of non-league visits on the way, Market Drayton Town in Shropshire and Atherton Collieries in Greater Manchester.
We reached Market Drayton just before 10am after a lengthy journey across Staffordshire before crossing the border into Shropshire to the Greenfields Sports Ground, the home of the Gingerbread Men.
Following our stop, we made the awkward journey towards the M6 via Nantwich and Middlewich.
After briefly passing Leigh Sports Village (home of Manchester United Women at the time of writing this), we made it to Atherton Collieries.
With time on our side, we decided to fuel our pre match appetite with a visit to McDonalds in Pendlebury on our way to the Peninsula Stadium.
The location of Salford City FC isn't near the centre of Salford, nor is it where you'd consider a Football League stadium to be located. The Peninsula Stadium in nestled away on a hill side (noticeable with the sloping pitch and staggered terracing) amongst the trees and suburban housing.
With residential permit parking in force, we parked further down Oaklands Road after Matisse Way and walked up the hill to the ground.
STADIUM

A big day for the city of Salford with the rugby league team getting to the grand final for the very first time at Old Trafford, but in the leafy suburbs League 2 fare went largely unnoticed.

The Football League’s newest club gained back to back victories for the first time but in truth this game will not live long in the memory.

High on effort but low on quality. The most skilful player on show has literally just rocked up at Moor Lane. Craig Conway is on a short term deal after his release from Blackburn in the summer and he created the goal delivering an excellent cross from the right which was glanced home by Rooney, Adam by the way!

The goal came against the run of play, Cambridge were playing the slightly better football and twice Luke Hannatt was denied by Letheran in the City goal and a third attempt by him went just over the bar.

Therefore a surprise and relief for the majority of the crowd when Rooney scored and indeed he could have made it comfortable but through on the keeper his shot was brilliantly blocked by Mitkov and the U’s cleared.

Cambridge will feel they should have gone back south with something but a failure to take a half chance cost them.

As referee Carl Boyeson blew the final whistle, we made a quick dash for the exit and back down Oaklands Road to the car and in no time we were on the M602 heading towards the M62 and the latter M6. Bypassing Stoke on Trent and Burton on Trent, I (Ross) made it home just before 7pm with Adrian reaching home for 7.30pm.
All in all, a poor quality match however pleased to tick Salford City off our list of grounds to complete. A great little stadium located in a scenic part of Salford which bears no resemblance to the ground we first visited on our way to Rochdale in 2013.

We were surprised with Salford City, publicity has surrounded them as they have appeared to buy their way out of non-league with the investment of Peter Lim and the Class of 92.

They have certainly invested in the facilities, yet on the field they were very ordinary and you can’t quite see them making an impact on the division on this performance.

I would like to finish by praising Salford City for their admission prices, Adults £10 & Concessions £5.

Two comparisons Coalville Town same cost and they play in the Bet Victor Southern League Central and fellow League 2 side Mansfield Town who want £25 off you on a match day. They will argue that you get a seat as opposed to standing and will point out that local discounts are available but it has to be said that Salford have put their fans first and well done to them.

On a note of caution how many people I wonder will come to support the new kids on the block on a regular basis. The attendance of just over 3000 was made up of over 600 visiting fans and like us many ground hoppers. When the curiosity has died and the 82 club members etc have all been, it leaves a very small fan base, is this all sustainable I wonder?

We wonder where Salford City will in the Football pyramid in another 6 years in 2025...