Halifax Town, The Shay

The coach left at 8.00 in the morning from the ground, so there was no Saturday lie in. I woke up at 6:30 am and got to the ground at around 7:30 where I proceeded to the clubhouse until the coach arrived. The coach journey was a long 5 hours, but I managed to get some sleep so the journey was a bit quicker. We arrived at The Shay at around 1:45 pm. It took around 10 minutes for the coach but it finally parked round the back of The Shay where the away supporters enter. Looking from the outside I could see that it was a big ground for conference standard and the stand I could see in the distance (The Skircoat stand) look quite impressive.

We immediately made our way to the pub which was just round the corner which understandably was called “The Shay Pub”. It was a nice small pub which had Wigan playing Crystal Palace on the few TV’s in there, with a few people in there mostly Daggers fans, I watched the pool table as Mr Drummer seemed to be winning a few (So I think ;)).

After an hour, we then made our way to the ground and got there around 20 to 3. The prices were £12 for adults and £6 concessions. I then got a programme which was adequate compared to our lovely one and took a glance at the stadium. It was very big and the North Stand we were in was very big, I reckon it could have held around 4000-4500. It must have looked a joke with around 80 daggers fans turning up. The stand opposite us was pretty much the same as the North stand and was very big as well. The skircoat stand was impressive although it was a shame as not many people were in it. The east stand to the left us only had around 200 seats and was still under construction. According to other Daggers fans that went to the Shay last season, it had hardly changed which proves Halifax poor financial state. I walked up the massive stairs which felt like it took 5 minutes as all Daggers fan crowded at the top, mainly because of the candyfloss being sold behind us, it also included a range of sweets which entertained us until the kick-off.

The ground began to fill up, the main stand opposite us seemed like it had around 900 Halifax fans with the rest situated in the Skircoat stand. Leading up to the game the Daggers had just been knocked out of the F.A cup and things were made worse then Halifax went 3-0 in a matter of 30 minutes. The team looking great in red shirts and black shorts portraying Manchester United maybe, but unfortunely they didn’t play like champions. The defence were awful, they didn’t defend there set pieces and looked all over the place. Tim Cole and Lee Matthews were no where near match fitness. There was a bit of a atmosphere both set of fans sung in the early stages and when Halifax were on attack the noise echoing from the stands was very loud so when our drum started to play, the Halifax fans must have heard it quite loudly as well. The game was over after 45 minutes as we got some more candy floss and sweets trying to laugh off the humiliation of the team but inside we were fuming with our team’s performance. As the game went on the colder it got. Around 15 of us sung the whole way through the second half keeping the spirits up, my hands could hardly move as I shivered waiting anxiously for the final whistle so I could go to the warm coach.

The final whistle went as our fans started to depart the stadium, the players clapped the fans that travelled as we reciprocated but some fans couldn’t even clap for the players with the frustrating of the teams performance. I couldn’t be bothered to back to the pub so I went straight into the coach and listened to Talk Sport as I tried to get to sleep. The fans that did go to the pub returned with a local vodka called “Shag” which left plenty of jokes to be told on the way back.

Overall it was a good day out, the stadium was very impressive except for the east stand, the atmosphere was good except for the result and the teams performance.

My rating for The Shay is:

17/20