Trent Vale Road

RADFORD 0-4 BILBOROUGH PELICAN

Saturday 23rd July 2011

Pre-season Friendly

Trent Vale Road, Beeston (12noon kick-off)

After my original plan of Barnsley v Feynenoord fell by the wayside about ten days ago it was a case a looking for alternative arrangements for today. A few choices stood out and I had decided on the way home from Pinxton last night to head south to Biggleswade for their friendly against Wealdstone. Having checked the weather report rain was forecast in the Biggleswade area during the afternoon, so decided to stay local and take in a "double". The first part is at the old Siemens ground in Beeston which is to the west of Nottingham city centre. I don't know whether any club uses Trent Vale Road at present but it has been home to the now defunct Notts Senior League (NSL) side Siemens FC and current NSL side Boots Athletic. Boots now share the facilities at the Rolls Royce Sports & Social Club in Hucknall with fellow NSL side Hucknall Rolls Leisure.

The venue is a large sports ground that consists of three football pitches, cricket pitch and tennis courts. The one that Siemens and Boots used is furthest away from the clubhouse. The area around the ground consists of residential housing, allotments, a caravan park and the Beeston Marina. Today the sports ground was a hive of activity with games on all three pitches with slightly different kick-off times, with this game being played on the right hand (westerly) pitch. There is nothing to distinguish the three pitches from each other with all of them having no dugouts and none of them were roped or railed. To be honest it is not somewhere I would have chosen to go if it was my only match today, with the only benefit it being another new venue I have seen football at. 

I have no idea why Radford are playing this friendly here (away from their normal home in Nottingham itself), and also kicking off early. Whatever the reason it gives me the chance to visit two new venues either side of Nottingham. The second of which is the Bill Stokeld Stadium, home of Northern Premier League side Carlton Town.

The two teams play one division apart with Radford playing in the East Midlands Counties League and Bilborough Pelican re-joining the Central Midlands League in the summer after a spell in the NSL. As you can gather there was no admission charge nor was a programme issued. The game was pretty poor compared to last nights excellent game @ Pinxton and I did wonder what I was doing here watching this. Pelican looked the better side though it wasn't until the latter stages of the half when Danny Blanchard scored their opening goal on 39 minutes. A minute later and Pelican were 2 up when a ball across the face of the Radford goal from Blanchard allowed a team mate to score from a narrow angle. The second half was a case of how many Pelican wanted to score and in the end they got just two - the first was a thunderous thirty yard belter and the second was an overhead scissor kick. Obviously friendlies don't mean a lot, but on this performance it would appear to be a season of struggle for Radford while I expect Pelican to finish in the top six of the CML Southern Division.

A lovely drive now followed across to the other side of Nottingham for game two of the afternoon. 

Attenborough

ATTENBOROUGH 1-3 BILBOROUGH PELICAN
Saturday 19th September 2009
Notts Senior League Senior Division
The Village Green

Today is another case of making the most of the warm weather to get up early and take in a game. My chosen destination is Nottingham and specifically the suburb of Attenborough which lies to the west of the city. The fixture of choice sees me take in another Notts Senior League game between Attenborough and defending champions Bilborough Pelican. The home side were founder members of the league when it was formed in 2004 with their best finish coming in the 2005/06 season when fourth place was achieved. Bilborough Pelican are currently in their third season in the league joining in 2007 after a spell in the Central Midlands League. Both teams were previous members of the now defunct Notts Alliance. The ground and facilities are shared with Attenborough Cricket Club with both pitches overlapping. For match days the club rope off the pitch though there is no hard standing and spectator cover and no admission is charged or programme issued. Behind the ground is Attenborough Nature Reserve which is a complex of flooded gravel pits and islands and covers 145 hectares. It provides an ideal habitat for birds, plants and other wildlife and is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

www.attenboroughnaturecentre.co.uk

The drive up to Nottingham is as routine as it comes and would have took around 45 minutes to get there, but an accident between the East Midlands Airport exit and junction 24 caused a short delay and I arrived at the ground with about five minutes to kick-off.

At the start of play both teams were sitting in mid-table though with the hosts having played two games more. Pelican started the stronger of the two teams and nearly went in front after only a couple of minutes when the keeper produced a fine save from a shot from outside the box. It took only ten minutes for the first goal when Danny Blanchard scored with a shot on the turn from 12 yards or so to give the visitors a deserved lead. Two minutes later and it would have been two-nil only for the assistant to rule the goal out for offside. Attenborough got a lucky break on 22 minutes when Dave Constable equalised with the ball falling kindly to him following a long punt up field. Another excellent chance went begging one of the Pelican forwards put the ball wide when one on one with the keeper. The half ended with both teams cancelling each other out – Attenborough playing the long ball game and Pelican the short passing game. The second half saw the home side dominate the proceedings in terms of possession, chances and territory, but were hit with a sucker punch on 77 minutes when Sean Allen scored from close range to put them in front. Six minutes later and the game was effectively over when Liam Thompson made it 3-1.