A few words on the week so far! Monday saw me take in an U21 game at Blidworth, the home team entertaining Handsworth Parramore in a North Midland Development League cross division game. These are games are designed to pad out the season (no points, no league table) - the South division now has only 5 teams since Eastwood CFC withdrew, whilst the North division has 6 teams. After paying my entry fee and grabbing a few words with Danny Staley and Scott Rogers, it was off pitch-side to catch the action. The game was a little uninspiring initially, with both teams struggling to keep hold of the ball. Blidworth did take the lead in the 32nd minute through Josh Leonhardt., but three goals in the final four minutes of the half saw Parramore go in 3-1 to the good. Goals from Harry Mitchell (41), Luke Gee (43) and a penalty from Alex Rippon in stoppage time.
The second half was only a few minutes old when a seemingly innocuous challenge left Parramore's Isaac Marbridge lying on the ground with a broken tibia and fibula. In obvious pain, Kevin Elshaw, the visitor's physio was superb in calming Isaac down and reassuring him. The Referee abandoned the game when the extent of the injury was made known to him. An ambulance was called and after the paramedics administered painkillers and gas and air, Isaac was whisked off to hospital. I sincerely hope he recovers fully and will be able to resume his playing career sooner rather than later.
The Stags reserves were at home to Notts County Reserves on Tuesday afternoon, home being the splendid newly opened RH Academy facility. Friends galore at this game, including Steve Davies from Walsall who I hadn't seen for a few years. Tom Fielding opened the scoring for the home team with just ten minutes played, and it stayed at that way until, with ten to play, Sam Osborne levelled for the Magpies. With just three to play the visitors grabbed all three points, a free kick deflected past Stags keeper Sam Wilson by Will Patching. F-T 1-2. The sat-nav took me a strange way home, and I ended up going through Harlow Wood – complete with Cops on camera. A big thanks to all the oncoming motorists who flashed their lights, ensuring the spies went home without me on their capture list!
Tuesday evening was a trip to the Lido home of Clipstone FC, who were entertaining Sherwood Colliery in an East Midlands league cup game. This game was a rematch after the initial game was deemed null and void for some reason or other. Can’t go into details because I don’t know them!
Sat with Richard Lane for this encounter and although we chose a decent place in the sit-downs to view proceedings, it was with some amount of miff that we had to relocate after the yellow no standing hatch markings became invisible to a few spectators and they duly blocked our view of a quarter of the pitch. I tried sarcasm, but to no avail – some of my best efforts going to waste!
Liam Theakstone scored the games first goal with fifteen played, but Brad Cox levelled for Clippo a few minutes later. H-T 1-1. Ten minutes from the restart, we were actually debating whether the spectre of extra-time was going to come into play when Colliery added a second through Gareth Curtis. Curtis then went on to complete his hat-trick with goals in the 90th and 91st minutes, giving the score a less than realistic look, as Clipstone played some good stuff at times against a team some 28 points ahead of them in the league table. F-T 1-4
Wednesday it was the short journey to Coronation Park, the home of Eastwood CFC. This game was a National U19 Alliance league fixture against Kettering Town and was played in awful conditions – continuous rain and a biting wind not much fun to play in. The young Badgers netted goals on 11, 15 and 17 minutes, then Kettering woke up and made a game of it for the remaining 73 minutes. They had some decent chances but couldn’t find a way past Eastwood keeper Randy Bonsu. F-T 3-0.
A bit damp at Eastwood!!
