Having spent the morning in Dundee, including a cheeky scout of the town’s football grounds (ready for a return visit) I jump in the car and visit Montrose Basin, the other side of Arbroath. I’d seen it yesterday, but not had time to visit. What a stunning natural phenomenon, a huge inland estuary...where I also learnt Montrose is actually built on a spit of sand, the result of thousands of years of longshore drift. How’s that for GCSE Geography!
I was back in Arbroath with a couple of hours to kick-off. Courtesy of the lovely lady in the Montrose Basin visitor centre, I learnt that Angus is the ‘birthplace of Scotland’ (as it announces on its road signs) as the Declaration of Arbroath was signed in 1320 by Robert I, AKA Robert the Bruce. Much of the abbey still stands, so I had a nose around before a brief look in the high street, mainly notable for one shop owner putting a ‘come and get me’ plea for love in his shop window. I wish him luck.
By now I was hungry, so parked up near the ground, and hit the Bell Rock fish and chip shop…memorable only for my lukewarm reaction when asked how my dinner was. ‘Very average’ if I must be honest. The fish was alright (as it should be, we’re by the sea) but the chips weren’t great and I’m not paying £1.99 for a portion of mushy peas. At their insistence, I did try the tartar sauce for the first time in years, confirming the view I’d come upon in my youth. I’ll give it another 30 years.
Being early, I parked right up by the ground, across the road from the adjacent amusement arcade ‘Pleasureland’, whose ‘music’ could be heard throughout the first half. I decanted to the pub, Tutties Neuk Inn, and charming it was too, with various pennants from visiting sides adorning the wall. Sadly, they had nowt on tap I fancied so I had a walk around the ground, past a couple of the local yoof enjoying their version of an Arbroath smokie.
I’d bought my ticket online, while waiting for my unimpressive fish and chips. Good job I checked Twitter...no pay on gate. What about all these (old) people whose lives DON’T demur to tech? Like me. All entrances were on the main (Dundee) road, no segregation. Leave that for the visits of the Dundee teams, I should imagine. Gayfield Park, famously the closest ground to the sea in...the world?...is a fabulous old ground, 3 sides of terracing wrapped around the pitch and a low, main stand which I’m surprised to find was built as recently as 2002. This perhaps carries halfway into each half, with terracing either side. Impressively, there’s also cover on all 4 sides and there’s no doubting a lot more than its official capacity of 6,600 could fit in here. The only problem is the large chunk taken out of the central part of the terracing on the touchline, for a TV gantry and media. This structure, such as it is, restricts the view considerably on that (sea)side. Perhaps this is what happens when you’ve plenty of space and not a huge amount of fans (Arbroath: population c.23,000, average attendance last season c.1,600.
Still, with no segregation, it does allow a considerable number to switch ends to where Arbroath are kicking. Hence, second half, I had virtually the whole of the North Terrace to myself. I was taking a risk, surely, with 3 divisions between them, all the action would be down the other end? But it was goalless at half-time, and despite going behind after 51, the Blue Brazil hit back on the hour. One-all it stayed, and I had my first penalty shootout of the season, as the league cup gives an extra point to whoever wins the resultant penalty shootout. The standard was shocking, as Arbroath scraped through 4-3 after 7 penalties, with 3 skied over. I thought Arbroath had won it earlier, but a contrived order brought bafflement on my behalf. It wasn’t each side taking turns throughout, it wasn’t ABBA, it was...ABABABBAABABAB. If that makes sense. And if it doesn’t...you’ll understand how I felt at the time!
The Damage:
£12 ent
£2.50 programme
£32 petrol (half of the £64 it cost from Durham)
= £46.50
*drove back to County Durham afterwards, the price to pay for there being no trains back the following day due to a(another) train strike. Still, I needed to be back for the plasterer...who didn’t turn up (again). When will LNER ever let me use the 50 quid worth of train vouchers I’ve had since Covid!? When will the plasterer ever stick to his word and turn up when he says he will?**
**eventually, I had to give up on him and find someone else. He then got upset that I’d 'gone behind his back' to find someone who could actually do the job.
