Colin Podge visited Proact Stadium on 03/12/2016
Game watched: Chesterfield 0-5 Wycombe Wanderers
With my beloved team Newcastle being robbed by a poor referee on Friday evening at Forest, I had found myself with a spare Saturday to tick another ground off.
Three of us jumped into my old trusty Clio and headed south for approx 150 miles to Chesterfield's Proact Stadium. There was an FA Cup 2nd Round tie taking place with the lure of a ticket for a tenna. As usual, we got there early to attempt our dug-out photo. We parked in the stadium car park for £7, a bit steep considering the price of a ticket. We were allowed in for a photo, and escorted through the players entrance, and down the tunnel (always a bonus) and the photo was taken. We made our way back out of the stadium, and found a pub right outside till kick off neared.
With only 30 minutes till kick off we headed inside to sample the pies, and read the programme. The pie was so hot, it was impossible to taste. The programme was poor. It was wafer thin and cost £2. I don't know wether this was because of the low profile cup match or not.
The match itself was a struggling League One side at home to a mid-table League Two side. If you didn't know which team were which you could quite easily got them wrong! Wycombe easily won 5-0. Fair play to the travelling fans as they never stopped singing (and banging their f***ing drum) all game.
At half time, as Wycombe's striker Adebayo Akinfenwa was warming up, I called him 'Fatty', his response was a huge smile. At the end of the game I waited near the dugout in order to ask 'Fatty' for a photo. He duly obliged and when he gave me a bear-hug I soon realised there wasn't an ounce of fat on him, just pure muscle.