Welbeck Welfare 0-2 Ollerton Town
Saturday 5th April 2008
Central Midlands League Premier Division
Elkesley Road Ground
I had two games planned for this afternoon and neither were this one. I made my what is now customary change of plan at 1pm and decided on this fixture - mainly due to the fact that Welbeck had scored 91 and conceded 99 goals this season so far. And no it is not a misprint!
At the start of play Ollerton are leading the division with the home side occupying 11th place in a twenty team division.
According to the trusty (?) sat nav it should take around 75 minutes to get to Meden Vale which is the village in which the club are located - take note do no follow any direction signs to Welbeck itself. The trusty (?) sat nav took me up the M1 to junction 27 then across through Mansfield and out the other end - wrong choice there me thinks Mr Tom Tom. Getting through Mansfield was shall we say a pain in the backside without resorting to swear words, a different route home is a definate. The weather throughout the day was very hit and miss - at times glorious sunshine but also equally cold wintery showers - lovely!!!!!! I arrived at the ground about fifteen minutes before kick off and parked on the road outside the ground. The ground has the backdrop of a working colliery - hence the name of the club, and added to the atmosphere of the place. It is something that will live long in the memory of my groundhopping. By complete coincidence I met up with "Mr Central Midlands League" Rob Hornby for the third time this season - we better stop doing this Rob or both of our better halves will start getting suspicious! I managed to buy a copy of a wonderful programme for £1 and then paid £2 to watch the game. There is no cover at the ground and only hard standing on one side of the pitch nearest the colliery. It does have a large grass bank on the far side which gave an excellent vantage point of both the pitch and it's backdrop. Also at the game while talking to Rob we met another groundhopper, Stickypalms who also has his own blog "The Groundhopper" - see link on right hand side of page, and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting up with someone who you only know by a pseudonym and talking football about places that either of us had been - I recommended some clubs in Leicestershire and likewise was recommended clubs in Nottinghamshire that I have not yet visited. I should also add thanks for Mr Stickpalms for buying me a coffee - cheers, much appreciated.
Now to the game itself...Ollerton got off to a flyer when they were awarded a penalty inside three minutes which was duly despatched - still no nil-nil for me this season...hooray :-) No further goals were added but in reality the visitors should have been several goals to the good at half time which can be attributed to three (normally the case) factors - poor finishing, good goalkeeping and poor control. Though to be fair to Ollerton two early forced substitutions due ton injuries didn't help their cause and disrupted the flow and momentum. Inside two minutes of the restart Ollerton should have killed the game off but their no. 10, having forced the keeper to make a good save blasted the follow up over the bar when it seemed more easier to score. This then saw Ollerton begin to get frustrated and Welbeck get back into the game and looking likely to get an equaliser, but on 72 minutes the crucial second goal game when some excellent work on the left hand side by the full back saw him put in a low cross for 'a player' to make it 2-0 and game over. Further goals were hoped for but alas were not forthcoming and the final score remained at 2-0 to Ollerton and with it their place at the top of the Premier Division.
Another Central Midlands League club ticked off this season - for the record six and third in succession.
