Our FA Cup tie away to Cambridge United kicks off at 7.45 on Monday night, and is live on BT Sport. (We’re not famous any more).

The ground formerly known as the ‘Abbey Stadium’ is about one and a half miles north-east of the city centre, and now goes under the delightful moniker of ‘the Cambs Glass Stadium’.

If you’re driving from the north you need to come off the A14 at junction 34 (signposted B1047, Cambridge Airport). At the top of the slip road turn right and go through Fen Ditton until you reach a T Junction, where at the traffic lights you turn right into Newmarket Road. Go straight across the roundabout (there is a McDonalds on one corner) and you will come to Abbey Stadium on your left hand side.

There is no parking available for away fans at the ground. There is some parking to be had on the streets surrounding the stadium. Otherwise some off road car parking is available behind the ground. To reach this, continue past the ground entrance for another 400 yards and turn left at the traffic lights into Coldhams Lane. Continue for about 300 yards, crossing a small roundabout and over a railway bridge, then the car park entrance is on the left about 50 yards beyond the bridge.

The main Cambridge railway station is about two miles away, and it’s frustrating that the ground is close to the main line to the north, but there is no stop nearer than that. Probably the size of the crowds that Cambridge usually get wouldn’t justify the expense of building a new halt for trains to call at on match days.

It won’t be possible to get a train back to Leeds after the game, but I’ll include these directions on behalf of our many fans who live a bit closer. You can get ‘Citybus’ C3 to the ground from the train station or the city centre (£2.50 return) , but there is a walking route that takes about 30 minutes and gives a few opportunities for refreshment along the way.

Turn right and cut through the car park, and through the pedestrian exit into Devonshire Road. Turn right and just before the end of the road you will see the entrance to the Devonshire Arms on your left. (It’s in the CAMRA guide). You can turn right onto Mill Street or take a quick detour by going straight on for a few yards to the Kingston Arms (also CAMRA)

After crossing the bridge on Mill Street you pass a pub on your left called the Earl Of Beaconsfield, then in the next parade of shops is good fish and chip shop called the Seatree. Take the next left into Sedgwick Road which becomes Cromwell Road. Where the road forks, keep to the left (still Cromwell Road) and at the end of the road cross straight over onto to the common and there is a pathway running to the left, which leads you over to the stadium.

Apart from the pubs just mentioned, the best options are in the city centre or along Newmarket Road. Special mention goes to a little establishment called the ‘Tram Depot’ about a mile from the ground in Dover Street (just round the back of the KFC on East Road). There is also a supporters club at the ground that sometimes allows away fans in for a £1.50 entrance, but usually doesn’t for ‘high profile’ games.

We’ve got the whole of the Marstons Smooth South Stand, which amounts to an allocation of about 1,400 out of a total capacity of 9,617. It’s irritating this is all-seater when standing is allowed at Cambridge’s level of football and the home fans at the other end get a terrace. But we can at least be thankful that this end of the ground has had a roof since this stand was built in 2002.

As you would expect from a modern stand the general facilities and the view are pretty good, with a reasonable choice of food on offer. Some away clubs also get an allocation of 1,000 places on the terrace to the side, but that doesn’t seem to apply to us.

Ticket prices for this game are £20 for adults, £15 for senior citizens and students, £10 under 18s and free for under 5s. They were sold through the clubs ‘attendance tracker’ system and our allocation has now sold out. Cambridge had 500 tickets left as of Jan 2nd, despite being on sale only to those with a ‘past purchase history’, so the chances are they will also have sold out by the night of the game.

For the future, the club have plans to extend the capacity to 11,000 by building two new stands, though this depends on the stadium owners Grosvenor Estates being able to raise funds from other developments in in the Cambridge area. Even if they do, we might not be coming back to Cambridge again to take advantage of this largesse, but you never know.

Some of this stuff came from www.footballgroundguide.com .

Photo: Action Images

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