QPR face Oxford United on Friday night as the pre-season campaign continues. Oxford have been regular opponents down the years but this is the R's first visit to the Kassam Stadium.

Ground Name: Kassam Stadium
Capacity: 12,500 all seated
Address: Grenoble Rd, Oxford, OX4 4XP
Telephone: 01865 337 500

By Car: The new Oxford ground is an out of town affair on a retail park so should, in theory, be pretty easy to find by road. Travel out of London west on the M40 to junction eight, go off there and join the A40. After six miles at the Headington roundabout take the first exit onto the A4142. Follow that for about four miles and then at the second roundabout turn left onto the A4074 signposted to Reading and Wallingford. After the Sainsbury's roundabout turn left following signs for Cowley/Wallington/Oxford Science Park and you eventually come to the ground on your left. This is just under 53 miles from Loftus Road and will take an hour and twenty minutes at the speed limit - although bear in mind this is a Friday night on the M40 we’re talking about.

Map:

Click on the map to visit the Multimap site where you can zoom in and out or tour around.

Parking: The ground itself has space for 1600 cars on site and the adjacent cinema and bowling alley have 400 spots as well - all free of charge. These tend to fill up quickly on Friday nights and Saturdays, more with couples on awkward first dates at the cinema than people going to watch Oxford United mind. Cars parked on grass verges will be ticketed

By Train: It’s Paddington for this one but journey times vary between 53 minutes and 90 minutes so be careful not to get yourself on a stopping train. The 1721 arrives at 1815 and the 1751 arrives at 1850 which is about as late as I would want to leave it. Coming back there are direct trains at 2211, 2233, 2305, 0006 and 0023 depending on how big a night you want to have in Oxford. Adult return tickets are currently available for £20 on an off peak day return although that is not available on the 1722 and, word of warning here, the next ticket up from that is £46.50 return so I would advise buying in advance and making sure you get the right train. The station in Oxford is the thick end of four miles from the ground - the number five bus runs from the station, stand R2, out towards it every eight to ten minutes on a Friday night with a journey time of 25 minutes. Taxi ride is estimated by the guide to come in at about a tenner.

Pubs: As well as the lack of rail services another disadvantage of out of town grounds is the lack of watering holes. The Priory is closest to the ground behind the open end and is ok for away fans according to the guide, though potentially crowded on a matchday.There’s a bar in the bowling alley if you fancy that and beer is usually served in the ground though that may not be the case at a friendly.

Tickets: As usual for pre-season games there are no advance sales - tickets priced £10 adults, £5 seniors and unaccompanied juniors and £1 for under 16s with an adult are available at the turnstiles. Away fans are usually given half the north stand (down the side) at The Kassam although whether that will still be the case for a friendly remains to be seen.

Links: >>> Detailed fans' guide to The Kassam >>> Official site

Photo: Action Images

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