Lincoln United: A match day guide

If you’re in Lincoln, the United side of the city may be the perfect place to go for an enjoyable day out.

It’s fair to say Lincoln United enjoyed quite the season, making it all the way to the FA Vase semi final where only spot kicks separated them from a place at Wembley.

Having also challenged at the top of the table throughout the league season, it has certainly been a campaign to remember for the Whites.

Semi-Professional took a trip to Ashby Avenue, where Lincoln United came up against Deal Town in their FA Vase quarter final clash, to see what all the fuss is about…

Accessibility

Travelling from Sheffield via public transport, it was a very easy train into Lincoln station and that stage of the journey is simple.

Once again, the 6 bus arrived on time to get from the station to the stadium just fine, and so for public transport users, it was a relatively straightforward journey despite the club being based a couple of miles outside the city centre.

However, the Whites lose some marks because for drivers, there isn’t much in the way of parking outside the club, and even from the nearest bus stop it is quite a long, albeit scenic, walk through parks and all sorts to get to the turnstile.

Rating: 6/10

State of the pitch

A great start, yes, the game was in March but Step 5?! There are pitches in Step 3 that wish they looked even remotely like that.

Perhaps it wasn’t worthy of top marks purely because better pitches do exist in the non-league community, but for the level it’s at, Lincoln United have certainly done a great job maintaining their pitch.

Rating: 9/10

Scran

It was a £3 barbecue burger that we tested out to rank Lincoln United, but other food on the menu included a chip butty, hot dogs and a pie and chips.

The burger was 100% worth the £3 fee, great scran, which definitely gets the Semi-Professional seal of approval, quick and easy to get as well with a relatively short queue for a game with 922 fans in attendance.

Rating: 9/10

Atmosphere

It was loud an hour before kick off! Maybe Lincoln were helped by it being a big game, in an FA Vase quarter final that went all the way to penalties, and admittedly, the visitors Deal Town did generate most of the noise.

That said, the home fans were still excellent and the scenes that followed their win on penalties were particularly good, so once again, Lincoln United get another impressive score.

Rating: 8/10

Facilities

This one was tougher to give a rating for.

For the vast majority of people, the facilities at Lincoln United are very impressive for a Step 5 club, Ashby Avenue is a nice little stadium, with plenty of seats and quite a unique graffitied area to sit on the far side.

The best part of the stadium though was the bar right outside the ground which was superb, and fans are allowed to leave the stadium to pick up a pint and come back and watch the game.

For press however, the game became slightly more challenging, with no press box and an area for cameras which was locked, several commentators and journalists had notes and laptops scattered across the little graffiti stand that probably could’ve freed up extra seats had there been somewhere a bit better to put the press.

With that in mind, it was tough to give Lincoln the highest score for their facilities.

Rating: 7/10

Overall

Lincoln United’s match day experience was particularly impressive, especially when you consider the level the club play at.

Coming off the back of such an incredible run in the FA Vase and a strong league campaign, it feels as though the club should continue to go from strength to strength off the pitch, which adds nicely to the enjoyable experience for supporters watching them on the day.

Total score: 39/50