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)

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

Game 525

Staveley Miners Welfare 1-0 Tadcaster Albion

Northern Counties East League Division 1

Saturday 26th January 2008

Inkersall Road

Nearly a week after the game I finally I have time to put some words onto the screen and also I received some photos of the game and ground from my dad.

The original plan was to visit Olney Town with my dad but his partner decided she wanted to come out for the day, which we duly did along with my wife. Neither of the women likes football by the way! Due to this change I decided to look for another fixture with a reasonable sized town not visited before nearby. Staveley fitted the bill perfectly being only a few miles from Chesterfield. The trip up the M1 to north Derbyshire was an easy journey took about an hour and a quarter.
Chesterfield is a pleasant town with some nice buildings though the one that stands out is the church (the name of which eludes me) with the crooked spire. Lunch was had in one of the well known pub chains that you see in a lot of town centres across the country and the food and beer was as you would expect. I am one of these people that likes to try different lagers, pils and pale ales - and surprisingly did not have anything different for sale.

Staveley Miners Welfare play on Inkersall Road - I can't tell you anything about the place as we followed the directions of the sat nav. Admission was £3 and a further £1 for a programme - no arugments for those prices and I counted around 50 people in attendance. There is a stand on the right hand side of the ground which I would guess seats 200 and a covered terrace stand behind the far goal. Hot food and drink are available in one of the portakabins which has about 6 tables in. Merchandise was also available - hats, scarves, shirts and jackets. No badges for sales as yet - it is something that they are looking into.




The first half was pretty even in terms of possession though the home side created the better chances and took the lead on 15 minutes. Staveley also had a shot cleared off the line when one of their players rounded the visiting keeper and looked destined to score. From the resulting corner the woodwork was struck.

The second half saw the home side dominate and created numerous chances but through good goalkeeping and poor finishing, failed to take any of them and add to the score.

Overall a nice friendly club and well worth a visit.

Game 509

TEVERSAL 2-2 COVENTRY SPHINX

Caernarvon Street, Teversal

F.A. Cup Extra Preliminary Round

Saturday 18th August 2007

One word that sums up the day - rain! I'm sure the seasons have got mixed up because this is definately not weather for August - more like November.

Teversal's ground is situated in the Teversal Grange site in the village west of Mansfield, and is a tidy compact affair. You enter the ground behind one of the goals with the majority of the cover to left hand side in the form of both a seated stand and standing area. There are also two small bus shelter type structures behind the far goal. The club house is small and contains a bar (which was showing Sky) and a kitchen area which served hot food and drinks which is on the right hand side. A portakabin houses the board room and is located next to the club house.

It cost £4 to get in with £1 for a programme (though they were sold out when I got there - a club official offered to get one re-printed for me and forward it in the post) and badges were on sale at the game for £2.50.

The game itself was an even match throughout with the visitors causing problems early on for the home side. Teversal gradually got more and more into the game and took the lead through an Andy Woodcock header on 32 minutes. Few clear cut chances were create by either side with defences dominating.
Half Time: 1-0
The second half started with Teversal having the better of the proceedings and increased their lead further on 57 minute when Dean Short scored - how I don't know as I was ordering a burger at the time. Coventry hit back inside two minutes when Craig Martin scored from a penalty kick - I missed the offence happening as I was waiting for the afore mentioned burger! This goal seemed to galvanise the visitors and they found another gear and equalised on 74 minutes through Wayne Pulford. A couple of good saves from the home keeper followed and the home woodwork was also struck but further goals never materialised.
Final Score: 2-2 (Attendance: 104 - from Midland Alliance website)