Blogger Dan White recounts a trip to The London Borough of Barking & Dagenham Stadium, well Victoria Road as Cheltenham Town were the visitors.

Ground: Victoria Road 5/92
Game: Dagenham & Redbridge 3-1 Cheltenham Town
Date: 31/01/2015

Thoughts on the ground:
I boarded the District Line tube to Dagenham East and got lost within seconds! While lost, I did spot that they have a Tesco built into a pub! I thought that was interesting. I arrived at the ground and spotted that everyone has to drive/walk down what felt like someone’s entrance to their garage. I also noticed that the car park was rather small. Even the Cheltenham Town bus had a hard time trying to reverse into a spot. I also noticed the name of the stadium,” The London Borough of Barking & Dagenham Stadium”. I can see why fans, and Jeff Stelling, refer to it as “Victoria Road”.

As a local radio station played music and a healthy keep fit tent attracting hardly anyone, I made my way into the club’s pub for a drink and to watch the lunchtime game, Brentford vs. Middlesbrough. The woman behind the bar took one look at me and could clearly tell that this was my first visit to the club. Thankfully she and the other fans in the pub were nice enough to make me feel welcome. After some time, I collected my ticket and programme and headed for the terrace.

The ground has two terrace stands but only one has a roof so those stood in the terrace stand without a roof were getting soaked from the rain but they came prepared with their umbrellas. And security clearly couldn’t care about me taking photos at the game as they were busier trying to keep warm by smoking cigarette after cigarette and making sure Cheltenham fans didn’t get into any fights with Dagenham fans. This was the first game that I attended where a fan brought a drum into the ground as a way to rally the crowd.

Thoughts on the game:
The game kicked off and both teams spent the first half fighting for possession as the rain kept on pouring down. There was nothing to note about that half expect that Joe Widdowson received a yellow card at the 41st minute. I also noticed that Jack Dunn, on loan from Liverpool, looked good on the pitch. I’m surprised Cheltenham Town didn’t extend his loan deal on Deadline Day. The rain stopped just as the second half started and that’s when things got interesting. First, I got to see my first penalty take place in the “Doing the 92” challenge. Jamie Cureton was the man to take the penalty, which he missed but he managed to score on the rebound at the 55th minute.

8 minutes later, another penalty was awarded! This time to Cheltenham Town. Mark Cousins got yellow carded and Jack Dunn scored from the penalty spot at the 62ndminute. As Cheltenham celebrated the goal, some of the near 200 fans who travelled to the game tried starting a fight with security. This lead to two or three Cheltenham fans getting arrested for their actions. At the 71st minute, Dagenham fans were celebrating again as Ashley Hemmings made the score 2-1 to Dagenham meaning that they were out of the relegation zone. They were celebrating more as Alex Jakubiak, on loan from Watford, made things 3-1 four minutes into extra time. Finally, I got to see a team win. The last team I saw win was the England U16’s back in November. I headed back home knowing that I would more than happy pay them another visit.

Overall, I feel like I had a very successful trip. This, to me, made up for the mess that Huddersfield Town had caused earlier in the month. Many memories to take from that game and happy to finally see a win for the home team.

Atmosphere 4/5

Location 3/5: Hidden behind some houses and hard for those with cars to park

Value for money 3/5

Pie Rating n/a: Too scared to try 🙂

Pint Rating n/a: Don’t drink. Pint of Coke was £1.75.

Programme 3.5/5: £2.50 for a programme

Character 3.5/5:

Stewarding 2.5/5: No bag checks and stewards spent more time smoking cigarettes than doing their job.

Overall 3.75/5:

You can keep up with Dan and his groundhopping exploits on Twitter @DanWhite1993 and his the92.net profile here. To see Dan’s work from grounds up and down the country head to danwhitephotography.wordpress.com.

Have you ticked Victoria Road off your 92? Add it to your profile here www.the92.net/ground/victoria-road or if you’re thinking of going plan your visit there using our away day planner here www.the92.net/plan-your-away-day/victoria-road.