Kick-off is at 7.45 on Tuesday night, and you’ll find Boundary Park about a mile to the north of Oldham town centre.

If you’re coming by car you need to leave the M62 at Junction 20 and take the A627(M) towards Oldham. Take the second exit off the A627(M) and at the roundabout at the top of the slip road take A663 turn off towards Royton . You will then be able to see Boundary Park over on your right. Take the next right hand turn into Hilbre Avenue which will take you up to the large Club car park, which is situated behind the Lookers Stand and costs £2. This accommodates a few thousand cars but is a problem after the game as you can be nose to tail for a good hour or so, so if you can you should get there early and get a quick getaway space.

On the official Oldham website they boast that Boundary Park is “One of the best located stadiums (sic) in the UK”, but it’s location for public transport services could be better. The nearest railway station is Oldham Werneth, (about 15 minutes walk away), and luckily it will be possible to get a train back to Leeds after the game, leaving at 22.16 and changing at Rochdale. Outside the station turn right onto Featherstall Road South and walk for about 3/4 miles through one set of traffic lights and a small roundabout at Tesco until you come to a large roundabout. Turn left onto Chadderton Way (cross over at the underpass as Chadderton Way is a dual carriageway) and follow for another ¼ miles until you come to Boundary Park Road (by the B&Q Warehouse) turn right and Boundary Park is straight ahead. You will be approaching the ground from the home supporter’s end, so at the end of Boundary Park Road turn right up Sheepfoot Lane past the main stand to the other end of the ground.

There is a pub called the 'Clayton Arms' on one corner of the ground, which serves decent Lees beers and reasonably priced food, but it’s a bit small and gets extremely busy on matchdays. The usual 'away fans pub' is the BlueBell, a small friendly little place which is just out of the Car Park and right and across the road. Another option is ‘The Old Grey Mare’ on Rochdale Road, which you can get to by walking to the top of Sheepfoot Lane (The big road on the opposite side of the big car park) and turning left at the newspaper shop. If you’re walking up from the railway station there are several pubs on the way, the best being ‘The Spinners’ by the dual-carriageway.

Food-wise, there aren’t too many good old-fashioned take-aways nearby, but you can find several food outlets at the nearby retail park, owned by various horrible American multinationals. If that doesn’t suit, you can make do with the standard football ground fare inside. Pies, hot dogs and burgers, that sort of stuff.

Boundary Park is quite high up and exposed, and when I first went in the 1980s we had a good view of the distant hills from the open away terrace, but there always seemed to be a cold wind blowing right into our faces. The current away end is in the same part of the ground, but these days we get some protection from the elements, as in 1994 the terrace was replaced with the covered Rochdale Road stand, when Oldham had to go all-seater to comply with the Taylor Report. The facilities are good, as you would expect from a modern stand, and there is an excellent view of the pitch.

The Rochdale Road stand has two sections, with away fans getting a minimum of 1,800 seats, but bigger clubs can get the whole end (4,609 spaces in total) and thankfully we have the larger allocation for this game. The total capacity of Boundary Park is currently 13,273. Hopefully you’ve managed to get your ticket by now, as there will be none on sale on the day, either for the home or away sections of the ground. They have charged us £18 for adults, £12 for OAP's/Under 16's, and only £3 for Under 12's.

As for the future, the Club have announced plans to re-develop Boundary Park into a new 16,000 all seater stadium, as part of the 'Oldham Arena' project. This will involve building three new stands (the present Rochdale Road End will remain) including a new 5,200 capacity Main Stand. As part of the re-development a 130 room hotel and separate living accommodation will also be built, but no formal time scales have yet been announced as to when this might take place. Personally, I would have thought that it would be enough to replace only the main stand (built in 1904) and leave the other two stands, which were built in 1971 and 1991.

Photo: Action Images

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