Tuesday 30th September 2008

Arnold Town v Parkgate FC -- NCEL Premier Division

With Arnold's new state of the art facility "Eagle Valley" not quite ready, the Eagles played this "home" game at Gedling Miners Welfare Ground on Mapperley Plains. A wild, windy and wet night, but very colourful - the teams lined up with Arnold in all purple and their visitors Parkgate in all orange..!!

"Evening Post" Brian was at the ground - did he want to talk about football ? No.. just the fact he had to PAY for his coffee !!

The game was fairly even to start with, and the Referee was having a decent game - the Parkgate Manager didn't agree though. He was lipping from the first minute -- I have been to hundreds of games, but this vile, loud, abusive, foul-mouthed nasty piece of work was probably in the top ten of the worst I have actually shared a football ground with. He was chipping away at the ref, his assistants as well as the Arnold Management..... his antics actually caused one man and his young son to move from their seats, and one lady asked him to moderate his language because he was upsetting her. The Referee warned him in the 19th minute, and he seemed to calm down a little. The Respect campaign seems to have had an some impact on players, but some Managers are in need of a little work yet!! ( have to admit though, the WKD side of me found him quite amusing!!)

As for the football, Broster in the Arnold goal saw the ball graze the outside of his far post in the 11th minute, but it was the home team who opened the scoring on 17. Brewster made a terrific run before slotting the ball to Mitchell - the former Mansfield striker turned and fired past the Parkgate keeper from 12 yards.

Parkgate took the game to Arnold and caused one or two heart-stopping moments, but Clarke and Hudson were giving inspired performances at the heart of the Eagles defence and the half ended 1-0.

Mitchell doubled the Arnold advantage just 35 seconds into the second period. As the ball was played forward, it bounced off Mitchell's marker straight into his path and he controlled well before curling the ball round the keeper and into the net.

Mitchell completed his hat-trick on 65. Carruthers and Mitchell both looked well offside as they ran onto a through ball, but as Carruthers o shoot, Mitchell nicked the ball off his boot and fired it home.... Carruthers looked a bit miffed to say the least!!

The Parkgate no. 9 shirt was shown a 2nd yellow and red soon after, and straight away they reduce their arrears, Spooner sliding in at the far post.

With 5 to go, Arnold put the game to bed, Wilkins on hand 6 yards from goal to fire through a ruck of players. F-T 4-1

This result saw Arnold move to second in the league - they are only 2 points behind leaders Liversedge, but amazingly for the end of September, they have three games in hand.

Very impressed with the Eagles, and Parkgate were not a bad outfit - I have to say though that the team from Rotherham will not make many friends while "Mr. Foul-mouth" remains on their Management team....

Official attendance was 83, but there seemed to be a lot more than that ....

Admission £5.00

Programme £1.50

Wednesday -- Gedling Tn v Graham St. Prims

Saturday - Rainworth v Dunkirk

Saturday 27th September 2008

Gedling Town v Hinckley Downes -- EMCL

It's nice to have an afternoon down by the Riverside..the sun blazing down, the geese enjoying their feed, and an another EMCL game to look forward to..

Down by the riverside !!

A minutes silence was very well observed prior to kick off - RIP Jimmy Sirrell

The teams did their utmost to ruin the afternoon though, serving up nothing of interest in the first 30 minutes or so. The highlight of the first half-hour was seeing one of the Gedling Management team being escorted from the pitch by Referee Mr. Smith....mind you, Mr. Smith had been subjected to a torrent of verbal from this particular person .... respect? Not on this occasion.....

On 33, we were treated to a goal out of nowhere - Hinckley left-back Chris Bradshaw popped the ball forward from just inside the Gedling half, and looked on in amazement as it arched its way over Gedling keeper Dave Wardle and nestled in the back of the net. The linesman I'd been having a natter with reckoned that with the angle, the ball must have travelled 60 yards, but my guess is about 45 yards....

The goal shook up Gedling a little and they came out of their shell and began stroking the ball about nicely. They were level right on half-time .. After some more great attacking football, the ball fell at the feet of Aaron Large who calmly fired home from 12 yards. H-T 1-1

Hickley's Luke Bradshaw and Gedling's 2-goal hero Aaron Large

Decided to try a hot dog from the tea-bar ... very nice it was too, and only £0.80p ... probably the cheapest you will find anywhere.

Hinckley regained the lead 10 minutes after the restart - again a somewhat lucky goal -- this time Colum Nugent punted the ball goalwards - the flight deceived Wardle who could only stand and watch as the ball sailed over his head into the net.

Gedling poured forward as they strived to level, but it seemed it was not to be their afternoon, especially when, after great combination play between Gill and Large, Spiers looked certain to score - no luck - his shot flicked off the ground and hit the bar before going safe.

Rob Gill was taking the corners from the right for Gedling, and two of these set-pieces lead to goals. The space between the corner flag and the perimeter fence is only about 5ft, but the big centre-forwards 78th minute kick found Large in the 6 yard box and the ball was bundled home. Two minutes later, another Gill corner was met by the head of substitute Ben Allison (one of the smallest players on the pitch), and he rose like a salmon to power the ball home.

The winner !! Allison powers home Gill's corner

A great fightback by the home team, but in reality, Hinckley offered very little, and apart from the two goals, rarely troubled Wardle. F-T 3-2

Tuesday - Arnold Town v Parkgate at GMW..

Friday 26th September 2008

Dunkirk FC v Heanor Town FC -- EMCL

With Kev missing out on a Saturday game this week, the fact that Dunkirk were playing on Friday night was just too good an opportunity to miss. Apparently, the Dunkirk manager has a big 40th birthday party to go to, so the game was brought forward - it also proved a good move gate-wise. Over 120 present for this EMCL fixture...

Not seen Dunkirk since their CML cup final win at the end of last season - we were at Heanor a couple of weeks ago - and the Derbyshire team looked fairly ordinary.

Theo Smith started on the right wing for the Boatmen, and his cross in the 4th minute should have been converted by Aaron Brady, but the no. 9 missed the ball completely and it was forced out for a corner. We saw an inventive free-kick from the home team seconds later - the ball driven low through the wall to Brady who turned and finished well - the effort though was ruled out as Brady was a foot or two offside.

There was some neat play by both teams as the game settled down - though it took a great save from Heanor keeper James Belshaw on 30, to keep the scores level. Again the dangerous Brady broke through, and one-on-one with Belshaw maybe should have scored - but a great block by the keeper foiled the striker.

H-T 0-0

Dunkirk opened the scoring just 7 minutes into the second half. Theo Smith nut-megged Robbie Mawer, chased the ball to the by-line and crossed. The player immediately let out a groan that said he wasn't happy, but his groans turned to cheers when Juraj Senko appeared from nowhere at the back post to dive and head home. No matter what Smith may have thought, the ball in was a belter, but the defending left a lot to be desired!!

Smith scored Dunkirk's second goal after a terrible defensive error by the Heanor left-back. The ball just needed hoofing out of the corner, but the fulll-back tried to be clever and fluffed his kick. The ball went straight to Brady who fed Smith some 12 yards out. The winger controlled, turned and smashed the ball past Belshaw - the keeper once again let down by some inept defending.

After Smith had scored his goal, he disappeared onto the left wing and into relative obscurity - maybe the Dunkrik management wanted to hide him from the watching Hucknall Town manager Mick Gallaway - who knows!!!

With 10 to go, Heanor caused a few hearts to flutter. Graham Wells hit a speculative shot from miles out, and we all thought it was travelling harmlessly out for a goal-kick - it actually clipped the inside of the post and nestled in the back of the net ... no-one actually thought the ball had gone in and no-one was more surprised than Wells - except maybe Dunkirk keeper Wheater-Lowe!!

Finger biting time for the Dunkirk faithful, but their team held on to claim all three points. F-T 2-1

Heanor were a lot better than the last time we saw them, but if they keep defending as poorly as this, they will find the EMCL a difficult place in which to reside...

Saturday : Gedling Tn v Hinckley Downes EMCL again....

Friday night out!!

Dunkirk FC v Heanor Town FC -- EMCL

With Kev off maggot drowning tomorrow, Dunkirk were kind enough to rearrange a league fixture for him tonight so he could get his footie "fix" !!

In reality, his good lady wife is off out on the razz, so the chance to take in this fixture could not be passed up.

Wednesday 24th September 2008

Hucknall Rolls Leisure v Awsworth Villa --- NSL Senior Division

Unusual for me to venture out on a Wednesday evening, but I had the chance to take in another mid-week game and to meet up with "Stickypalms" again. Kev was too knackered to attend.

Sticky introduced me to "the Taxman" - a real pleasure meeting him - a real gent...

There were only a few hardy souls knocking about before the teams made the route march to the pitch, but as the game kicked off the numbers swelled and a good guess would be 50-60 in attendance.

Taxman and Sticky had seen Awsworth play already this season, but NSL was a whole new experience for me... this was my first NSL game -- I knew none of the players, and had no idea what standard of play to expect. I did know the Referee though .. Mr. Malcolm Cassidy - we worked together at Hucknall Sports and in the YEL some years ago. Handled this game very well.. that is three games on the trot where the Referee has been up to par...wonders will never cease!!!

Both teams were on 10 points before kick off - placed 8th and 9th respectively in the Senior Division table.

The visitors really powered forward from the kick off, and for the first 10 minutes Rolls were not in the game. They did gradually work their way into the game, although young Awsworth keeper Jack West was not tested over-much -- a decent punch and a couple of easy catches as Rolls took control. It was 0-0 until the 42nd minute - then the Rolls keeper and his centre-half lost concentration allowing Kieran Saxton to nip in and score. 90 seconds later the score was 0-2 -- the no. 10 shirt fairly lashing the ball past the static Rolls keeper from 20 yards. In the first minute of stoppage time, the Awsworth no. 6 fired across the keeper to make it 0-3 at half time... 3 minutes of madness from Rolls, but gave us something to talk about during the interval.

Rolls reduce the deficit 3 minutes after the restart, their no. 10 capitalising on poor defending to tap home. Although this appeared to panic the Villa defence, Rolls were unable to take advantage and the visitors calmed things down a little and on 66 made the points safe. Saxton showed the ball to three defenders and beat them all before crossing into the six yard box where the no. 6 was waiting to tap in his second of the game. Rolls tried to rally, but the Villa defence was a little too good on the night, and it ended : Hucknall Rolls Leisure 1 Awsworth Villa 4.

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at the standard -- another very enjoyable game in very good company.

Saturday - changed plans -- Kev's off to drown some maggots, so I'm "Billy no-mates". I'm hoping to go and see Gedling Town v Hinckley Downes .....

Tuesday 23rd September 2008

Blidworth MW v Rolls Royce Leisure -- CMLS

Bit of a panic about 7pm -- looked on the Blidworth website and saw the advertised ko was 7:30pm... thought we'd struggle to get there by then, but a bit of a flyer up the old Blidworth Waye and we parked up at the Welfare at 7:25 -- made a bit of a dash to the ground( well,,,, we walked a bit faster than usual) only to find kick off was 7:45pm !! To be fair, Craig on the gate did apologise - he edits the clubs website and hadn't updated it.....

So after paying our £3 to get in, we went for a cuppa only to be told that the milk had gone off, and someone had nipped to the local shop to get some more....

As the teams walked onto the pitch, one of the Rolls lads said " how big's this pitch?" He had a point, the pitch is huge!! Must be at least 80 yards wide by 110 yards long -- a real good test for my specs.....

No team sheet or programme or tannoy, so I have no idea who scored the first three goals, just the shirt numbers.

The teams both looked very young, but both played some nice football, with Rolls having the better of the first 25 minutes - then the home team scored. A mistake by the Blidworth keeper lead to the ball being hoofed down the pitch. It somehow found it's way to the home no.11, who eased it past the Rolls stopper. Even though Rolls kept up the pressure, their shooting was a bit wayward to say the least - the only thing that was hit was the advertising sign on the stand behind the goal!! Blidworth doubled their lead on 46, the no.7 firing in from close range. H-T 2-0

Got the long awaited cuppa at half-time - large cup for £0.50 - very nice it was too because it was decidedly chilly at pitch side. Had a chat to Blidworth webmaster Craig during the interval - he has agreed to link to this site from theirs, so I'll add a link to their site on here - fair enough......

Back to the game. It took Rolls five minutes from the restart to reduce their arrears, the 7 shirt tapping home at the far post. A fantastic save from the Rolls keeper kept it a 2-1, a great reaction tip onto the bar from a fierce close-range shot.

Blidworth did restore their 2 goal advantage on 62. A free-kick was awarded after a reckless challenge by the visitors left back on the corner of the box. The ball was fairly whacked into the box by "Bucko" and striker Liam Best met it with a stunning diving header that the keeper never saw. Worth the £3 entry fee was that!!!! Great goal, and the left back well and truly punished for his recklessness.

No more goals, but both teams kept us entertained right until the end. Marvelous stuff, many thanks to both teams - and a mention for the Referee - this was the second game in a row where we both agreed the Ref had a good game... F-T 3-1

It was a cold night, and the first mention of big coats this season -- looks like a trip to Matalan for a new one for me - winter is just around the corner!!

Weds -- Hucknall Rolls Leisure v Awsworth Villa - first NSL game of the season

Saturday 20th September 2008

Kimberley Town v Gornal Athletic -- F.A. Vase 1st QR

We thought there may be a decent turnout for this game, but the fact that there were spaces in the car park at 2:45pm told us differently. As it was there were about 35-40 in attendance, and not too not many of those were from Gornal.

Paid our £3 to get in and £1 for a programme - Kev headed straight for the food bar - he'd had no dinner. He opted for a couple of sausage rolls, but didn't seem over-enamoured by them. Have to say though, they didn't take long to disappear!

Met "Stickypalms" at the ground - Sticky is the author/editor/writer of the excellent blog "The Groundhopper"

Today it was a bit of a blessing that he turned up because the football on offer was not exactly nail-biting stuff and we had chance to have a decent chinwag......

Kimberley had one early chance - but the ball ended up in the side netting. It was a good job the Gornal boys had left their shooting boots at home because they were given quite a few opportunities, but the phrase "couldn't hit a barn door" came to mind on more than one occasion !!! The ball was flying everywhere but goalwards, and when the visitors did mange to get the ball in the home team penalty area, last ditch defending and poor finishing ensured the first half ended goal-less. H-T 0-0

"Sticky" likes his footie - you can tell that from his blog .. he arrived at the Stag Ground fresh from watching his son playing in a youth game. How times change - when my lad played youth footie, the games always kicked off at 3pm ( 2pm in winter), and the opportunity to watch an adult game as well my lads game was never there....the times I've opted to go to Field Mill rather than go to watch my son play!!!

Anyway, Sticky did give us the "strange moment" of the day ... actually taking a photograph of a can of Vimto...surreal !! That was his second can, I caught him on a pic earlier with phone in one hand and Vimto in the other.

The second half of the game saw the visitors up the pace a little, and the Kimberley keeper was called into action on several occasions. He could do nothing though about the opening goal on 69. A shot at goal was blocked and when it was played back in the box to Nicholls, he calmly walked the ball around the keeper while the home defence stood appealing for an offside flag that never materialised.

The goal did seem to galvanise the home team slightly but they still failed to unduly trouble the Gornal custodian. Kimberley's 17 shirt had their best effort, a firece goal-bound drive that deflected off his own no. 10 and went out for a goalkick. Gornal did manage a second goal ( 90+3) - again the keeper was left hopelessly exposed and one-on-one, the no. 15 netted with ease. F-T 0-2

Enjoyed the afternoon - it was lovely and sunny, the company was pleasant, but the general concencus was the game wasn't the best we have seen, still -- it gets you out of the house.........

More images from the game

Tuesday -- Blidworth MW v Rolls Royce CMLS

Tuesday 16th September 2008

Rainworth MW v Stourbridge FC FA Cup 1QR replay

As I was driving to the ground, I had a horrible thought ...did we once say we were going to avoid FA Cup replays?

Well, this game had the makings of a real upset, so we just had to be there!!

Arrived at the ground, and parked right outside - perfect... paid the obligatory £5 to get in ( the FA have set this figure I believe), and followed Kev to the snack bar -- nothing for me again, but Kev sampled the pie and peas and gave them a thumbs up.. although there is not a lot you can do to spoil a Pukka pie!

Stourbridge had apparently made several changes to their starting eleven, and according to one of their subs we were talking to, they were a bit stronger than they were in Saturday's game.

It took just 9 minutes for the visitors to notch the first goal. A long throw ( a la Stoke City), was misjudged by the home defence leaving Nathan Bennett an easy tap in at the near post.

Rainworth didn't let heads drop though, and were playing some decent stuff - and in the 24th minute they were awarded a free-kick 25 yards from goal -- Lee Wilkinson hit a sweet curler past Solly in the Stourbridge goal to level the scores. The keeper never even moved!

The Referee was having a half-decent game and on 35 he over-ruled his assistant and waved play on after an infringement by a Rainworth player - a good decision for the visitors because the ball was then played into the box where Ryan Mahon was on hand to flick home at the near post.

3 minutes later it was 1-3. A misdirected punt upfield by Stourbridge keeper Solly was collected by Sam "Rocky" Rock - the winger played a neat one-two with a colleague, entered the Rainworth penalty area and was promptly fouled. James Dyson made no mistake with the spot kick.... H-T 1-3.

After having a great bit of banter with the Stourbridge bench, we decided to relocate on the opposite side of the pitch -- attracting the one real Stourbridge "eccentric" -- blimey, what an accent !! To call it a thick Black Country accent would not half describe it -- imagine Jasper Carrott on valium. This bloke had a one-sided chat with Kev -- I could hardly understand him at all ... well, every other word was "effin" this and "effin" that, but apart from that it the topic of conversation will have to remain a mystery.

Rainworth played some good passing football early on in the second period, but barely troubled Solly - a hasty push out from a Whitehead corner but apart from that he was not over-worked. Mind you, Stourbridge did defend with 7 or 8 players a lot of the time, so Solly did have decent cover.

Things brightened up a little when it was announced that Malcolm McDonald was replacing Julian Brown -- until tannoy man Gordon realised he'd mixed up the names -- Malc Brown was replaced by Julian McDonald !! There was still lots of huff-and-puff from the home team, but the Stourbridge outfit held on and took the £3000 prize money. F-T 1-3

Saturday -- Kimberley v Gornal Athletic in the FA Vase - a game that should have been played ages ago...

Saturday 13th September 2008

Heanor Town v Greenwood Meadows -- EMCL

These teams finished 11th and 19th respectively in the CML Supreme division last season, but were asked to take the move from step 7 (CMLS) to step 6 (EMCL), basically because they had facilities that fitted the criteria for the new league.

This was to prove a very satisfying trip across the county border - glorious sunshine, birds singing and a decent game of football thrown in as well!! The Town ground is a new venue for us - there is plenty of on-street parking just outside the ground, so not too much of a hike for my old legs!! Quite a surprise awaited us inside the ground.. it's a real mixture of green, green grass, steel towers and concrete paths.

The players have a long walk to the pitch - I think the changing rooms must double up as a pavillion for the cricket team - there is a cricket pitch ajoining the football pitch - adding to the overall "green-ness"...

Greenwood started the game as league leaders, and looked a very tight, compact and competent outfit -- and they break very well out of defence. It was one of these breaks that lead to the opening goal. A great run in the 11th minute by Ashley Whitt ended when he was brought down on the edge of the Town area. As Heanor delayed building their wall, quick thinking Meadows skipper Luke Bishop fired the free-kick past Jamie Belshaw in the home goal .. very rare to see a Referee allow a quick free-kick to be taken, but how refreshing to see initiative rewarded.

Craig Meakin was creating all sorts of problems for the home defence, and at 17 this young man looks to be a bit of a find...

Heanor's best effort of the half, and there weren't many, came from the left foot of skipper Bobby Mawer - a 25 yarder that flew just past Scott Clay in the Meadows goal. H-T 0-1

Heanor had the better of the early exchanges in the second half, with Matt Timson coming close and one effort cleared off the line, but Greenwood stood firm and absorbed the threat until they could get their act together and take the game back to their hosts.

It was not until the 80th minute though that Greenwood wrapped up the points - the Heanor defenders all missed the ball as it was played across the area from the left, but Ashley Whitt was "Johnny-on-the-spot" - sticking out a leg to steer the ball home. F-T 0-2

£4.00 to get in with £1 programme and £1 raffle.

Kev did a head count and came up with 50-60 in attendance - the official figure was 59 .....he also sampled a chip cob, and was less than enthustic about it.... I decided to stick with my Lucozade and Crunchie!!

We were in direct sunlight for most of the game, and I can tell you that it was very, very warm - very nice for mid-September. Overall a splendid afternoon - Kev went home to carry on with tiling his bathroom - I got the old gin and tonic out and sat and watched D**by C**nty, followed by Barcelona, followed by Sevilla, followed by Match of the Day...

Plenty of street parking

The Town faithfull

The bottom goal

The top stand

Concrete and tower

Concrete and tower

Green.....

And more green...

Yours truly

Tuesday 16th Sept - looks like a visit to Rainworth to see them replay their drawn FA cup match with Stourbridge - it was supposed to be a visit to the Stag Ground to see Kimberley Town take on Gornal Athletic in the FA Vase. but this is now rescheduled for Saturday 20th Sept..

Kimberley game off

Have to stop in and watch England now!!

Tuesday results

Hucknall Tn 1-3 Hinckley

Eastwood Tn 2-1 Hednesford

IlkestonTn p-p Boston Utd

Heanor Tn 5-4 Huck Rolls Royce

Calverton MW 4-1 Brocton

Forest Tn p-p Radcliffe Olympic

Glapwell p-p Belper Tn

Long Eaton 2-0 Liversedge - only 32 turned out to watch this game - I did say this was not on the "one to watch" list!!

Tuesday 9th September 2008

Eastwood Town v Hednesford Town - UniBond Premier Division

Rain more or less dictated where we were to get our midweek "fix" ..with some games called off and some in doubt, we decided to go to Coronation Park - the game was never in doubt, and their website called the pitch "perfectly playable". Arrived at the ground - had to park on the street - almost 400 in attendance again so all the available car parking spaces had been taken.

The nice young lady with the legs was selling the programmes again -- she is rather pretty, and is rather popular with the young ball boys at CP - one of whom spent the whole of the second half staring at her behind with his mouth wide open!!

I digress - we opted to stand in a corner of the Plumptre terrace and were afforded a great view - and we were ideally placed to see both first half goals. The first goal came from Hednesford centre-half Marshall on 35 - he receved the ball 40 yards from goal and was given far too much time and space, allowing him to set himself and fire a fierce drive past Goddard in the Eastwood goal. The shot was arrow straight and was past the stand-in keeper before he could react. No faulting the keeper, but no-one challenged the big defender as he lined up the effort.

The Badgers were only behind for two minutes though. Ther linesman near to us was undecided about whether to give a corner or not, when it clearly was (the Ref gave the decision eventually). Shaw's initial kick was cleared, but the ball sailed straight back to him on the right - he had no hesitation in lobbing the ball back into the box -- as it happened everyone misjudged the flight of the ball, and it ended up nestling in the back of the net. H-T 1-1

Good first period played at 100 mph - but the officials were poor throughout the half, and they were even worse in the second period...missing all sorts of all sorts and letting the Hednesford no. 4 get away with murder...shirt pulling, wrestling and even elbowing Rhead - on this occasion the ref was 10 yards from the incident and waved play on..bottled it big time.

Anyway, Eastwood scored what proved to be the winning goal just 6 or 7 minutes into the second half. Dunning's corner from the left was prodded home eventually by Holmes after a bit of a goal-line scramble ..

Hednesford poured forward to try and get the equaliser, but the Eastwood back-line were solid enough, and the away team resorted to shooting from long range, failing to trouble keeper Goddard over-much. F-T 2-1

Decent game played between 2 decent teams - I think both will be in the mix at the end of the season. Kev noted a distinct lack of "fun" at CP, and I suppose I have to agree, but with a reported wage bill of £9k per week some of the fun is bound to disappear as the pressure to do well takes over. Still, we both enjoyed the game and will be back at CP soon...

Wednesday -- Kimberly Town v Gornal Athletic

Saturday -- Heanor Tn v Greenwood Meadows

Where to go!!

Tuesday 9th September... what a nightmare !!

Hucknall Tn v Hinckley
Eastwood Tn v Hednesford
IlkestonTn v Boston Utd
Heanor Tn v Huck Rolls LRoyce
Calverton MW v Brocton
Forest Tn v Radcliffe Olympic
Glapwell v Belper Tn
Long Eaton v Liversedge

Hucknall are in the Setanta Shield, Eastwood and Ilkeston's games are in the UniBond Premier.

Heanor and Rolls is a vase game, as is Calverton v Brocton. We watched Glapwell on Saturday, while Long Eaton v Liversedge is never going to be high on the "one to watch" list!

My choice would be Forest Town with Calverton as 1st reserve ...watch this space!!

Update 6pm -- Forest Town game off

Saturday 6th September 2008

Carlton Town v Glapwell -- UniBond Div 1 South

As it's been tipping down, we had to decide on a game that would definately be played -- we chose Carlton v Glapwell because we were once told that "games never get rained off here" by a Carlton stalwart -- and on arriving the pitch looked superb, no standing water at all and not a sign of mud anywhere. It did rain on and off all through the game, but it had no impact on the pitch at all.

Glapwell started with Mansfield Town striker Danny Reet paired up top alongside veteran Neil Grayson, while Carlton's strike pair were debutant Steve Akers and Steve Chaplin.

Bumped into "Evening Post" Brian again -- he really does get everywhere!!

The game started fairly slowly, but after 15 minutes the home team seemed to wake up and began knocking the ball about. They forced a corner on 18, and the ball in from the left saw skipper Dean Cane on hand to finish at the far post. After the goal, things got a little heated with a few tasty challenges going in - but the ref was really laid back about it all, smiling and telling the players to get on with the game -- how refreshing!! H-T 1-0

In the opening seconds of the 2nd period, Neil Grayson was clear on the far post when Reets' ball found him, but the striker fired wide, prompting Matthewson in the Glapwell goal to ask me if I wanted to put a shirt on!! He has definately NEVER seen me playing - besides, as Kev pointed out, you'd need to sew two together ( thanks, Pal !!). As it was Glapwell out played the home team early on in the 2nd half, but a moment of magic from Carlton right winger Terry Hawkridge in the 73rd minute undid all the Glapwell efforts. The 18 year-old jinked and turned and left his marker for dead before firing in the perfect near post ball that Steve Chaplin met with the deftest of flick headers to double the Carlton lead - a really teriffic goal that needed to seen - my words do not do it justice at all....

Carlton should have cruised to victory, but Glapwell took the game to their hosts and were rewarded one of their subs was fouled in the area by home keeper Bercherini on 77 -- Neil Grayson made no mistake from the spot, leaving the Carlton faithful biting their nails for the final 12 minutes. The Carlton defence, lead superbly by skipper Dean Cane, was able to hold on and ensure the three points stayed at Stoke Lane. F-T 2-1

Excellent game played by two decent sides. Won the raffle ! Nice bottle of Pinot Grigio that I'm sure Kev's wife will enjoy -- I'm a red wine man myself...damn!!

Tuesday -- we were looking at Rolls v Sutton, but Rolls are in the Vase, so needs a bit of a rethink...

I would like to go to Ilkeston to see them take on Boston Utd, but it may be a bit of an issue parking... maybe have to take in Eastwood v Hednesford.........