Grantham Town's South Kesteven Sports Centre

Just from the name you know that this is not a stadium designed for football. The South Kesteven Sports Centre is an athletics stadium that simply allows football to be played there. This is quite possibly the shortest review I will ever write.

I'm not a massive fan of football being played at athletics stadiums. There are some that are quite nice, such as the Gateshead International Arena, and then there are some right shitholes, such as the Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield that Rotherham United for a while. My issue doesn't necessarily come from the fact that they are obviously not designed for football, but just because you are often miles away from the pitch. With the Don Valley in particular there was an issue where you were literally just shoved in the corner and you were about 200 yards from the other goal, but fortunately Grantham was like Gateshead in the sense that you are at the side of the pitch.

Getting to Grantham from Lincoln is very easy and should take no more than 30 minutes, and that's if you're going slowly. The town is quite small which means that getting to the ground is relatively easy and it's also quite close to the A1, which means that in terms of ease of getting somewhere, very few grounds will beat Grantham.

Parking at the stadium is plentiful and I can't imagine that they would ever have a problem with regards to having enough spaces, and even in friendlies where the stadium has been packed, the car park has often only been half full.

Unfortunately there isn't a lot to do around the ground, but they do have a quite sizeable bar at the stadium that is quite reasonable and has a decent pool table. Other than that though, if you can find something to do that's worthwhile in Grantham then you're doing well.

The stadium only has two stands, which is the fewest out of any ground I have visited to date. When you enter via the turnstiles you are immediately in the main stand and there is a small terrace that is below a decent sized seating area. This is my preferred area and the view from the seating is actually very good. Despite there being a running track, you don't feel like you're miles away from the pitch, although obviously the gap is noticeable.

Opposite is the only other stand at the ground, a small terrace that covers about 1/3 of the width of the pitch. I went in here just to get a photo and it doesn't offer a good view at all.

There is a tiny club shop at the ground and a small beverage stand that offers very little, and that is pretty much it.

I would probably never come here for a non-competitive match that didn't involve Lincoln, and to be honest I'm not even that bother about going there when Lincoln are playing. It's not awful considering, but there's nothing particularly exciting about it as a visiting fan.