uninspiring venue

Castle Donington Town 2-3 Loughborough United
Saturday 31st August 2013
North Leicestershire League Division 1
Spittal Park, Spittal, Castle Donington, Leicestershire

My plans for my football fix on Saturday were limited to somewhere local, and preferably an early kick-off. With this in mind my attention turned to the fixtures in the North Leicestershire League and the Leicester & District League, but nothing really stood out for me. Probably not really surprising considering that I have watched football at 125 venues with Leicestershire & Rutland, but then on the Friday I noticed a change of venue for the above fixture. With confirmation from both teams via their twitter feeds that this was the case my decision was made. Castle Donington Town normally play their home games at Moira Dale on the east side of the village, but due to a clash with the local cricket club it was being played at Spittal Park. Spittal Park is a large multi-sport and multi-pitch recreation ground on the north side of the village. It is home to their numerous junior and ladies sides plus the local rugby club, who were also at home this afternoon.

I found the easiest way to get to Spittal Park was via the M1 and A50, and instead of going into the town turn right at the second traffic island after leaving the A50 and go round the top of the industrial estate. Spittal Park is signposted and you turn off Back Lane onto Spittal. The entrance to the sports ground is on the left hand side and the football club parking at the bottom. There is a large building that houses changing rooms, toilets and a clubhouse, though sadly the latter was not open so chance of refreshments. The game was played on the pitch on the east side of the venue and they roped it off on one side. The only furniture was a couple of benches though a grass bank behind one goal gave a decent vantage point in which to watch the game. As expected, with this being the 14th level of the English pyramid there was no admission charge or programme issued which is the norm for this level of football.

The game was one in which both teams showed plenty of endeavour, but there was very little quality and clear cut chances in the opening forty five minutes. The home side nearly scored in the opening twenty minutes when the bar was struck following a long ball over the top of the United defence. It was on twenty three minutes that CD made the breakthrough when a ball over to the left hand side of the penalty area was hit first time into the roof of the net. United had enough possession but rarely troubled the home keeper and the half ended 1-0. With around ten minutes gone in the second half the home side made it 2-0 and, following a poor back pass, the United keeper struck his clearance against an oncoming forward, who then had the simple task of rolling the ball into an empty net. This set back seemed to galvanise the visitors who then set about the task of trying to turn defeat into victory. With fifteen minutes to go they were awarded a penalty kick but it was well saved by the Donington keeper. Far from being downhearted they continued to pressure the home defence, and were rewarded with a goal with ten minutes remaining. Game on, and just three minutes later they made it 2-2. United were not finished and they completed a remarkable turn around scoring the winner with just two minutes left on the clock. Joy for the visitors, but the home side were left wondering how they ended up losing a game in which they were in total control.

Websites / Social media:

North Leicestershire League - official website - FA Full Time site

Castle Donington Town - official website - twitter

Loughborough United - twitter

46 photos taken during the first half can be viewed in the slideshow below:

Allenton

ALLENTON UNITED 4-0 CASTLE DONINGTON TOWN

Midlands Regional Alliance Premier Division

Saturday 13th February 2010

Rolls Royce [Merrill Way], Derby

My trawl through the grass roots clubs of the East Midlands continued this afternoon with a visit to Derby based club Allenton United for their game against Leicestershire side Castle Donington Town in a premier division clash in the Midlands Regional Alliance. Allenton play on one of the myriad of pitches that surround the Rolls Royce complex on the southern edge of the city. The site in which they play on is accessed through Gate 1 which is on Merrill Way, just before the junction with Moor Lane if coming from the Chellaston area. There is two football and two rugby football pitches on the site, with Allenton using the pitch nearest the changing rooms. Both rugby pitches were also in use today. There were no catering facilities for spectators on the site, while the pitch in use was roped off.

The game was not one that will not live long in the memory. Allenton were clearly the better side and had I felt a touch off arrogance at times, this confirming each team’s respective position in the league table – Allenton in 4th and CD in mid-table. The home side did most of the pressing and scored the opening goal on just nine minutes when their number nine rounded the visiting keeper and put the ball back across goal for it to be headed home. The remainder of the half was pretty uneventful until Allenton were awarded a penalty on 37 minutes but was blasted over the bar. A few minutes before half time and a case of handbags broke out only for the referee to send off one player from each side, when I felt a booking each should have been sufficient. Allenton doubled their lead five minutes into the second half when the number 9 slotted the ball past the keeper from ten yards out. The final two goals came in the last ten minutes, firstly from the penalty spot on 81 minutes scored by the home keeper and the final one with just three minutes remaining. One note to make is that both goalkeepers made two or three good saves each in the second half, while Castle Donington struck the woodwork late on in the game.

Admission / programme: none
Attendance: don’t know as I didn’t do a head count
Google maps driving time / distance: 43 minutes – 31.6 miles

Monday night mauling

Castle Donington Town 1-6 Newmount
Monday 20th April 2009
Midlands Regional Alliance Premier Division
Moira Dale Recreation Ground

Admission / programme: none
Attendance: 25 (approx)

Football is not something that you associate with the north-west Leicestershire town of Castle Donington but of the Donington Park motor racing circuit and East Midlands Airport.
www.donington-park.co.uk
www.eastmidlandsairport.com

It was decided to take in a first ever fixture in the Midlands Regional Alliance (MRA) due to wanting to meet up with my dad who works at Rolls Royce in nearby Derby, and thus we duly met at the Donington Park services just of junction 23a of the M1. Lunch was had in the Tudor Hotel in Castle Donington itself – no alcohol as I was driving, and we arrived the the recreation ground on Moira Dale with around 15 minutes to kick-off. There is limited off-road parking which was made doubly difficult as the reserve team had a fixture on the second pitch at the same time. No admission was charged or programme issued to the ground which is also home to the town’s cricket club, the main on the left hand side was only roped off on one side nearest to the cricket square. Refreshments were on offer with £1.80 getting us a tea and coffee in proper mugs and two chocolate bars.

With having watched six games in the comparable Leicester & District League (LDL) this season I was interested in the standard of football on offer as both leagues sit at the same level of the non-league pyramid. The MRA is I suppose an unofficial feeder league to the Central Midlands League while the LDL is one of three feeder leagues to the Leicestershire Senior League. At the start of play Castle Donington Town (founded in 1885) sat in mid-table while visitors Newmount, who I later found out are from Derby and play their homes at Mackworth College are in a relegation battle at the bottom of the table. On this basis you would expect a home win – wrong. Play was cagey at the start and it took a while for the game to get going and it was the visitors who went closest on 16 minutes when the woodwork was struck. Newmount struck the first blow when the opened the scoring on 26 minutes with a low drilled shot into the keepers left hand corner. As expected this woke the home side up but 8 minutes later found themselves 2 down when the number 10 prodded the ball home after an excellent cross from the left hand side. Just two minutes later and it was 3-0 when the number 10 found himself one on one with the keeper and finished with aplomb. The hosts got themselves back into game just a minute later through an own goal – game on now. Wrong again. Despite having probably more possession and creating the same number of chances it was the visitors who took theirs, scoring three more goals in the second half on 63, 68 and 88 minutes to wrap up a convincing victory.

Overall I was very impressed with the standard of football on offer and was good as anything I have seen in the LDL this season and will definately making future visits to clibs in this league in future seasons. The club compete in the Leicestershire Junior Cup and this season reached the semi-finals. Their results are as follows:

Round 1: Belgrave (H) Won 7-5
Round 2: Barrow Town Reserves (A) Won 9-2
Round 3: Birstall United Reserves (H) Won 2-1
Semi Finals: Kirby Muxloe Reserves (N) Lost on penalty kicks
http://www.clubwebsite.co.uk/castledoningtontownfc/

The town does have another Saturday side in the form of Castle Donington F.C. who are currently in the first season as a senior team, plying their trade in the North Leicestershire League. The club play their home games on Spittal Park Playing Fields in the town.
http://www.castledoningtonfc.co.uk/