Nettleham

NETTLEHAM 3-4 PINXTON
Saturday 25th September 2010
Central Midlands League Supreme Division
Mulsanne Park

Following on from the noon kick-off at Winterton I made the thirty mile drive south down the A15 to Nettleham for their Central Midlands League (CML) game against Pinxton and arrived with around fifteen minutes to kick-off.

Nettleham is a large village located four miles north-east of Lincoln between the A15 and A46 and has a population of around 6,500. The football club play on Mulsanne Park which is located on the southern edge of the village. The ground forms part of a larger sports complex which includes cricket, tennis and further football pitches. The cricket and football club share the pavilion which includes bar, catering facilities and pool table.

The following history on the club is taken from their programme:

"It is believed that Nettleham FC originated around 1905 and played on land (part of the old Nettleham Hall) situated outside the village. Changing rooms were located in the Halfway House, a pub at the entrance to the village. Following World War 2 the club relocated to the Bill Bailey Memorial Field, near the village centre playing there for over thirty years. The first twenty-five were without changing facilities, only one narrow pitch and in relatively poor condition owing mainly to its use by the village children. 

1979 marked a vast improvement in facilities with the opening of the new sports ground, Mulsanne Park, named after the twin village near Le Mans) with the use of three pitches, pavilion facilities with dressing rooms and showers thereby allowing the introduction of junior football teams. These new facilities jettisoned the club forward. In 1981 they were admitted into division two of the Lincolnshire League and immediately gained promotion to the 1st division.

They ultimately gained membership into the Central Midlands League in 1988 and promotion to the supreme division in 1990. Locally they have twice beaten Lincoln United at Sincil Bank to win the Lincolnshire Senior B County Cup.

In recent years the club's amateur status has contributed to some real relegation contests. Against opposing quality players paid for their involvement the club is proud of their achievement in maintaining their current status.

Off the field has been equally difficult with significant bank loans being entered into to provide continuing enhancements to facilities - ie new floodlights, fencing off the lower pitch and building a new stand. All loans are now fully paid.

Following the recent award of Charter Standard status Nettleham FC can now offer footballing opportunities at Junior, Intermediate, Girls and Senior Ladies levels and would welcome any interested members to participate and hopefully serve the club through differing age groups with aspirations to represent this club at senior level."

Nettleham went into this game in fifteenth place recording two wins in nine league games, while Pinxton sit top being unbeaten in their six league games played. The game was an absolute cracker with Nettleham taking the game to the visitors and certainly giving as good as they got playing some decent football to boot. Pinxton played an attacking game as well but was more of a direct style with the words "get it on 'em" coming from the dugout. Pinxton opened the scoring on the twenty minute mark when Craig Housley headed home a free kick. Six minutes later and Housley doubled his tally when he hit a powerful shot into the roof of the net from ten yards out, despite the close attention of the keeper and a couple of defenders on the line. Pinxton added a third on thirty-one minutes through Ben Bacon as he went on a run that took him past a couple of defenders before putting the ball past the keeper into the corner. Nettleham didn't let their heads drop and continued to push forward but the half ended 0-3. The second half was a complete turn around as the hosts took the game to Pinxton from the off and got one back on 58 minutes. The visiting defence was caught napping and their number seven produced a low finish past the keeper. An own goal around the seventy minute mark gave Nettleham a second and the belief that they could get something from the game, and they deservedly drew level just five minutes later when Shane Beesley drilled home a free kick into the bottom corner. Pinxton had to play the last ten minutes or so with ten men when their number eight was sent off for two bookable offences, the second of which was for kick the ball away. The hosts continued to press and always looked likely to take all three points. As often is the case with football a sucker punch occurs. This time it was deep in injury time and the end of the game when Nettleham were awarded a corner. The keeper caught the ball and Pinxton broke up field with devastating effect, Housley fed one of the substitutes who rode a couple of challenges before rounding the home goalkeeper and finishing from a yard out. Cue mass celebrations from the Pinxton players and bench and deflation from Nettleham.

One of best games I have seen in a while and a major kick in the teeth for Nettleham who were, in my neutral opinion the better side on the day. To come from three down and half time, to then equalise and only to lose it right at the death is a real sickener and something they in no way did deserve. 

Admission: £3

Programme: £1

Attendance: 25 (h/c)

Match rating: 4 1/2*

Coffee, sausage roll & kit-kat: £1.90

Winterton Rangers

WINTERTON RANGERS 0-1 NOSTELL MINERS WELFARE
Saturday 25th September 2010
Northern Counties East League Premier Division
West Street

Today is a bonus in the fact that I can get two games in without changing my original 3pm kick-off to suit. I found last weekend that Winterton Rangers of the Northern Counties East League (NCEL) had a wedding reception at their West Street ground , so had brought forward the kick-off time for their game against Nostell Miners Welfare to 12 noon. This still gave me enough time to head south down the A15 to Nettleham for their 3pm kick-off against Pinxton in the Central Midlands League.

All Saints Church (source: Wikipedia)

Winterton itself is a small town in North Lincolnshire located five miles north of Scunthorpe and has a population of around 4,700 inhabitants. The drive up to Winterton took around two hours and the route took me up the M1, M18 and across the M180 to the outskirts of Scunthorpe before heading north to Winterton itself. The town is easy to find with it being signposted from the end of the M181 and the ground is pretty much in the middle of the town on West Street. The ground is set back from the road itself and you pull into a small car park. A turnstile greets you and takes you to the right of the near goal. It is a tidy affair with a seated stand along the left hand side and a small covered stand along the right. The clubhouse is behind the near goal though there is ample room between it and the pitch, for example unlike at Oadby Town where the clubhouse comes very close to pitch side. One thing also to note is that the pitch was in excellent condition and the best I have seen this season so far.

The club were founded in 1934 and joined the Scunthorpe & District League in 1945 winning the league championship in their first two seasons. Four more championships followed in 1950, 1952, 1963 and 1964 before they joined the Lincolnshire League in 1965. Five years were spent in the Lincolnshire League before they made the step up to the Yorkshire League. They were crowned champions of the Yorkshire League three times in the 1970’s before they became founder members of the Northern Counties East League in 1982. Unfortunately just two years later the club disbanded due to financial difficulties, but were re-formed in 1986 and were accepted into division two of the NCEL. In 1989/90 they won the division two title and two years ago were league champions itself while last season they finished in 6th place. Opponents Nostell Miners Welfare were formed in 1928 and have played in the Wakefield & District League and West Yorkshire League before joining the NCEL in 2006. At the start of play both sides were locked in the bottom half of the table with only one point and two places separating them in the favour of Winterton.

For the first half I decided to stand behind the near goal in the hope of getting a few decent photos but lack of goalmouth action in the Nostell penalty area made this difficult. Also the biting wind made it feel a lot colder than it actually was and after around half an hour moved round the side. The game during the opening period was difficult to watch at times and I felt the visitors from Yorkshire played the better football with Ernest Boafo looking particularly dangerous. The two best chances came from the home side, with one being a free kick that was tipped over by Gavin Ainsley in the Nostell goal. The second half was a lot better in terms of watch ability as the game opened up right from the start with both teams played more adventurous football. It was both keepers that kept the score goalless with Ainsley thwarting Winterton’s Liam Wilkin. Jack Ward then kept Nostell at bay when he saved from both Mark Thompson and Ernest Boafo before Boafo then headed against the bar from the resulting corner. Clifton Firth then clipped the outside of the post and it seemed I was destined for a first 0-0 since the spring. The winner came with eleven minutes from time from Lee Maturine which was a relief to us neutrals in the ground, though Winterton will feel hard done by as they had (what looked like from my view point) a perfectly good goal disallowed and a stonewall penalty turned down by the referee.

Overall it was a visit that to a friendly club and to a ground that I liked a lot that was not on my immediate radar. It was also good to meet up with Chrisb and Bertie188e who like me post on Tony’s Non League Forum.

Admission: £5

Programme: £1

Team Sheet: free

Attendance: 60 (official)

Coffee: £1

Sausage Roll: £1

More photos of the game can be found here: WRFC

Sources:

Northern Counties East League

Winterton Rangers FC

A History of the Scunthorpe & District Football League by Vic Duke (ISBN: 978-0-9559212-0-9)

Measham Imps

MEASHAM IMPERIAL 2-4 LONG CLAWSON

Saturday 18th September 2010

North Leicestershire League Cobbin Trophy 1st Round

Measham Leisure Centre

Another Saturday and another change of plan!!! Originally it was to be Winsford United in the FA Vase but a change in circumstances meant Gary and I ended up at the 1.30pm kick-off between two division three sides of the North Leicestershire League (NLL). This was to be the lowest level of football both of us had ever seen with it being the twelfth level of the English non-league pyramid. The football club play behind the leisure centre in the village which is just off the main road that runs parallel to the A42.

Measham is a village in north-west Leicestershire and lies within the boundaries of the National Forest. It's name means homestead on the River Mease. The village is located roughly 3 1/2 miles south west of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, 5 1/2 miles south of Swadlincote and 14 1/2 miles north of Nuneaton.

I'm not sure when the current Measham Imperial were formed but believe it was in 2005 as Measham Welfare, joining division three of the NLL. In their debut season they finished last in the ten team division recording only three league victories. At the end of the season they changed the name to their current title and have remained in division three ever since finishing in 8th, 6th, 9th and 10th place respectively. There has been teams from Measham in the past playing football at Leicestershire Senior League (LSL) level within the county. Firstly Measham Town competed in the competition between 1921 and 1927 a recorded a best finish of 5th place in the 1923/24 season. Secondly Measham Imperial, and (I pressume) are a different club to the present one joined the LSL in 1935, winning the 1948/49 division two title, and were LSL champions in 1953. The club then (again confirmation needed) changed their name to Measham Social Welfare and recorded two runners-up finishes in 1962 and 1963 before resigning from the LSL in 1975.

Prior to today Measham had played two league games so far winning one and losing one while opponents Long Clawson had only played one game which ended in a 2-0 defeat. The game in all told was not a bad one with the second half considerably better than the first. As expected the standard was not brilliant but one thing at this level you cannot knock is the commitment from the players. Long Clawson nearly scored straight from kick-off when Stephen Abbot forced a save out of the Measham keeper. The first half was a fairly even affair and it was the home side that opened the scoring on twenty-eight minutes, when a smart through pass was controlled by Jason Squire and he slotted the ball past the keeper. Two goals in the space of just minutes turned the game in the visitors favour, firstly a free kick on thirty-eight minutes caused confusion in the home defence and the ball was smashed home from six yards out from Abbot, and secondly from the penalty spot when Abbot sent the Measham keeper the wrong way for his second of the game. The first period of the second half saw both sides guilty of missed chances and would be unfair of me to single out any particular individual!!! Long Clawson gave themselves a two goal cushion on 63 minutes when a cross was headed home past the outstretched keeper from Matt Church. Two minutes later and the home side got back into the game when a corner was headed home from Carl Collen to make it 2-3. The final goal of the game came with ten minutes remaining when a shot from Long Clawson's Alex Fairbrother took a deflection that beat the keeper at the near post.

Admission / programme: none

Attendance: 12 (head count)

More photos of the game can be found here: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/allroadsleadsomewhere/MeashamImperialFC

*** - Goalscorers taken from the North Leicestershire League's weekly report page.

Land of the Eagles

ARNOLD TOWN 2-4 HALL ROAD RANGERS

Saturday 11th September 2010

Northern Counties East League Premier Division

Eagle Valley

A few choices today but none that jumped out at me that were within a short drive of my dad’s house in the eastern suburbs of Leicester. In the end the short drive to Arnold Town’s new ground was chosen for their Northern Counties East League (NCEL) encounter with East Yorkshire side Hall Road Rangers. I had visited Arnold’s old ground in town twice and both times happened to be with dad also. The second of the two games was back in November 2002 when they hosted Harrogate Railway Athletic in a NCEL Cup match and despite leading 3-0 after half an hour lost the game 3-6. A repeat of the number of goals today will be most welcome!!! Another useless fact is that Arnold will be only the third club that I have seen a more than one ground. The other two are Leicester City (Filbert Street and the Walkers Stadium) and Hinckley United (Middlefield Lane and the Marstons Stadium).

The club were formed in 1989 through a merger of Arnold FC and Arnold Kingswell FC. Their debut season saw them compete in the supreme division of the Central Midlands League (CML) and 3rd place was achieved. Three seasons later and they were crowned CML champions and secured promotion to division one of the NCEL. Success came instantly in their new surroundings as they lifted the division 1 title at the first attempt and with it came another promotion to the premier division of the NCEL. The first season in the top flight saw them record their best ever finish when they finished runners-up behind champions Lincoln United. The club have been present in the premier division ever since and last season finished in 8th place in the twenty team division. Opponents Hall Road Rangers were founded in 1959 and come from Dunswell which is just to the north of Kingston-upon-Hull. They joined the Yorkshire League in 1968 and won the division 3 title on two occasions in 1972/73 and 1979/80. In 1982 they became founder members of the NCEL and were division 2 winners in 1990/91. A runners-up spot two seasons ago secured promotion to the premier division.

Arnold moved into Eagle Valley a few years ago having been forced to vacate their ground on Gedling Road in the town. The ground is a couple of miles north of the town centre and they received funding for it from the Football Foundation. It took around 45 – 50 minutes to get there from my dad’s house in the Humberstone Green area of Leicester and is very easy to find. If coming from the north and east of the city head north east on the A46 towards Newark, then take the A6097 towards Doncaster, cross the A612 island then after passing the Calverton turn-off, turn left at the island onto the B6386 (signposted Arnold & Nottingham) and the ground is on the left after the golf club just before the junction with the A614. You enter the ground through red gates into a pot-holed car park with the clubhouse and changing rooms in front of the main floodlit pitch. Either side of the main pitch is a number of other pitches which cater for the clubs’ reserve and junior sides. Before the game there is no access to the clubhouse from the compounds of the ground.

We arrived at the ground around forty minutes before kick-off and thus went and had a drink and bite to eat with a pint of “Extra Pale Ale” from the Nottingham Brewery going down very well. Entrance to ground is via a single turnstile and admission cost £5 with a further £1.20 for a pretty decent home produced programme. There are two areas of cover here with one seated and one standing – the seated one is on the clubhouse side which straddles the half way line and is called the Ivan Long Stand, while the other stand is on the opposite side of the ground between the two dugouts.

At the start of play both sides were at the wrong end of the table with Arnold recording just one win in their opening five league games and visitors Hall Road notching up one point from four league outings. This showed in the opening half hour as putting it mildly...dire. The only save (and chance) of note in this opening period came on twenty three minutes when a shot from Arnold’s Tony Law was tipped over by Michael Burley in the Hall Road goal. With the game seemingly having 0-0 written all over it Arnold took the lead on thirty four minutes when the ball was played back across the goal from the right and Darren Bettison scored with a first time shot at the far post. Two minutes later and the visitors caught the home side napping when Adam Walker lobbed the ball over the advancing Michael Kelly. Hall Road took the lead for the first time right at the end of the half when a free kick was turned in by Lee Macklin, though from our perspective it appeared to be an own goal. Arnold came out in the second half with all guns blazing and Chris Freestone equalised on forty-nine minutes when his shot was fumbled by Michael Burley into the goal. Arnold continued to dominate in terms of both possession and territory and created a number of chances, but were hit on the counter-attack on seventy one minutes when Hall Road scored with their first chance of the half through substitute Paul Palmer. Arnold pressed for a deserved equaliser but were hit again on the counter-attack right at the death when Palmer drilled the ball across goal and Chris Wilson was in the wrong place at the wrong time as he turned the ball into his own net. This gave a gloss on the scoreline that in my neutral opinion the visitors did not deserve.

Admission: £5

Programme: £1.20

Bottle of beer: £2.80

Tray of chips: £1

Coffee: 80p

Attendance: 50 (official)

Match rating: 2 ½ / 5

more photos can be found here: matchday photos

Winterbourne Utd

WINTERBOURNE UNITED 4-1 CLANFIELD

Saturday 4th September 2010

Hellenic League Division 1 West

Parkside Avenue

Today sees me catch up with a friend in Cheltenham, and it is the first time we have met up since April when we attended the Hednesford Town – Banbury United game. We agreed on this weekend as Cheltenham Town are playing away this afternoon @ Barnet and said friend is a season ticket holder down at Whaddon Road. Our original choice was to visit the nearest non-league club to his house, Cheltenham Saracens for their FA Vase encounter with Western League Hallen. Often though, and this being no exception plans change which isn’t helped due to my indecisiveness. The reason today though is that I had found out that Winterbourne United are vacating their ground in the summer and moving to Oaklands Park, Almondsbury. We had both visited Oaklands Park in the past and as I was going to be within an hours’ drive of Winterbourne, I checked the Hellenic League fixtures to see if they had a home fixture this afternoon and bingo!

Winterbourne is a large village / small town in South Gloucestershire just to the north of the M4 motorway and had a population in 2001 of 8,623. The town is 7 ½ miles north of Bristol with Swindon 37 miles to the east and Gloucester 32 miles to the north.

The football club were formed in 1911 as Winterbourne Wasps until the outbreak of the First World War. After the war the club reformed as United after joining forces with Watleys End, Winterbourne Down and Kendleshire. The club joined the Bristol & Suburban League and finished runners-up four times during the 1930’s. In 1950 they joined the Bristol & District League and after making steady progress they were crowned league champions in 1968, a season that also saw United become Gloucestershire Intermediate Cup and Berkeley Hospital Senior Cup winners. With this came promotion to the Bristol Premier Combination (BPC). It was only three years before they collected some silverware in their new surrounding when in 1971 they won both the division two title and Cossham Hospital Premier Cup. The BPC became known as the Avon Premier Combination (APC) and in 1992 they won the APC cup and also finished runners-up to Highridge United in the league. The runners-up spot was good enough for the club to be promoted to the Gloucestershire County League (GCL). Just four seasons were spent in the GCL before they were relegated back to the BPC, but they bounced back into the GCL after only one season away as they were BPC champions in 1997. Their fourth season back in the GCL saw them lift the championship trophy and promotion to the Hellenic League Division 1 (West). The club have been division 1 west winners twice (2005/06 & 2007/08) but were not allowed promotion to the premier division due to their ground not being up to standard.

The drive down to Cheltenham was easy with the motorways (M69, M6, M42 & M5) behaving themselves and I arrived around 11am, this included a stop in Bromsgrove for a breakfast at the Pit Stop cafe on the A38. We then met up with his dad and went to the Four Mile Inn between Gloucester and Stroud for lunch sitting outside in glorious sunshine, and then it was the final stint down the M5 and across the M4 to Winterbourne itself. I was expecting their ground on Parkside Avenue to be basic but not this basic – the pitch was railed off on three sides with permanent dugouts in place while the cricket side had a temporary rope along it. There is no hard standing, no cover and no floodlights while they have use of a small club room. To be honest it is the most basic ground at step 6 (level 10) that I have been to and is more akin to step 8 here in the midlands.

The game was Winterbourne’s first home game of the season and their four games on the road had brought a mixed bag of results with one win (v Launton Sports), one draw (v Easington Sports) and two defeats (v Headington Amateurs and Tytherington Rocks). Opponents Clanfield were unbeaten before today securing two wins and two draws from their four games played. The match started off with Clanfield taking the game to the visitors, playing some good football and creating the early chances. Winterbourne only had a few scraps but Ashley Knight forced the visiting keeper to make a good save when the tipped over a thirty yard shot. The visitors had a couple of penalty appeals turned down early on and a couple of efforts were cleared off the line. It was no surprise when Clanfield took the lead on the twenty minute mark when Dan Bishop hit a low shot into the bottom corner from outside the penalty area. Winterbourne woke up a bit and took the game a bit more to their visitors and deservedly took the lead four minutes from time when they hit Clanfield on the counter attack. Ashley Knight played a through ball to (?) who coolly slotted it past the advancing keeper. A minute later and the same player nearly put the home side ahead but his shot went wide of the post. The second half saw Winterbourne have more possession and take the game to Clanfield. They took the lead on 64 minutes with a goal of the season contender from Ashley Knight, who having seen the keeper off his line lobbed him from fully forty yards out - excellent vision and execution. Two minutes later and he made it 3-1 when his shot from outside the penalty area took a slight deflection and wrong footed the keeper. This knocked the stuffing out of the visitors and it was the hosts who completed the scoring fifteen minutes from time when Ben Dowdell was fed a square pass, took one touch into the penalty area and smashed the ball into the back of the net. No more scoring and we set off for the journey home, arriving back in Cheltenham around 5.30pm and I was back in Leicester around 7.45pm.

Admission: £3 (including programme)

Attendance: between 40 and 50

Match rating: 3*