The Ground Junkie!: Balti Pies at

Tuesday 1st of September

Cambridge United vs Dagenham and Redbridge

Johnston's Paint Trophy

Attendance: 1680

"Only a pound for under 18s for Cambridge United Tuesday night!! I'm going!!" said Dan via Facebook.

Obviously I couldn't refuse £1 admission for decent football.

The reason why it was extremely cheap was that it was Johnston's Paint Trophy, a great way to do football league grounds if you're not willing to spend too much.

This wasn't a new ground for me, I went to Cambridge twice last season. Hartlepool in the league and Mansfield in the fa cup 2nd round.

The Journey down wasn't anything special. So with the tickets bought and the quality made scarf bought from the club shop, we headed into the ground.

Personally I've never been fond of The U's ground, yes it's fairly old but it's a 50/50 for me. in some parts there needs to be improvement like the main stand with Crammed, uncomfortable seats with no leg room. And good luck trying to find them without realising you're in the wrong block and having to climb over a few things to correct yourself. Not just that but also the away stand. Don't get me wrong it's a decent modern stand with seats which ARE comfortable and have good leg room. But the big Elephant in the room problem, is that it's in another timeline compared to the pitch!! Seriously the only match action you'll really get if you sit there is the players warming up!!

That being said However, in other parts it's fantastic. First off the floodlights. Any football fans who's a sucker for decent floodlights should absolutely appreciate Cambridge United's effort. Old and massive floodlights which are fantastic at illuminating the pitch. And in mixed in with tonight's sunset made it picturesque. The other thing I really like about the ground is the terracing behind the other goal and on the far side opposite the main stand, I've never stood there before but I was hoping to tonight, if I can brag my way into there.

After meeting up with Dan and Maurice who were sitting in the main stand I made my way over to the stewards, I asked nicely if I could go there and to my amazement they said yes. Purely down to the fact it's a JPT game.

I stood right at the back of the stand The view of the action was pretty good, and the terrace itself was fantastic!!

The game itself started off quite sloppy, both teams but Cambridge especially put passes that kept going out of play and missing the players completely, Dagenham on the other had put a few balls through but nothing really happened to start with.

Dagenham and Cambridge did start to get a few shots in but they were comfortably saved by both keepers.

Dagenham go 1 ahead with a fantastic Ashley Chambers first time strike from just outside the box into the top left hand corner. Best goal of the season so far, the view from the terrace made it even sweeter, and to top it off a cheeky backflip to celebrate. Dan managed to even get it on camera link as always at the end.

From then on basically, Cambridge just couldn't be bothered, giving away stupid balls and letting Daggers have all the possession.

This eventually led to Dagenham score their second goal from a very slow and low hit shot from inside the box the shot had an unfortunate deflection which caused it to go the wrong way from where the keeper thought it was going. Therefore it easily went in.

Then I heard a Cambridge fan shout "COME ON U's!! IT'S ONLY FUCKING DAGENHAM!!" I agree to be fair, daggers are a team who are likely to get relegated this season and have shocking away support, only About 30-40 Daggers fans actually made the trip tonight. Even Braintree beat them 2-1 in pre season!!!

HT: Cambridge 0-2 Dagenham and Redbridge

At half time I went to the food stall at Cambridge to get what I can only describe as one of the best pies down south. The Chicken Balti Pie at Cambridge is absolutely awesome.

I Decided to move over and sit with Dan and Maurice for the second half.

Second half started how the first half ended with the daggers dominating balls through on the wing and Cambridge with their sloppy defending.

This lead to a few chances which daggers should have really capitalised on. First a 1 on 1 goal which was slotted calmly by daggers was ruled offside. Then came another 1 on 1 chance but it was poorly hit, which went wide of right post and out for a goal kick.