No game Saturday morning, so it was off to the Saturday afternoon game at the Parish Hall home of Selston FC, who were hosting Graham Street Prims in an East Midlands Counties League fixture. There has been quite a lot written in twitter feeds re this game, in particular, the officiating, so no need for me to go into much detail – suffice it to say that it wasn’t a classic, and all three teams were really off their game!
Matt Harris netted the games first goal on 13, firing the ball across Selston keeper Alfie Smith-Eccles from some 15 yards out. Rhys Dolan equalised with 25 minutes played, hitting a screamer that Andy Fretwell had no chance of saving. A couple of minutes later, the home team were down to 10 men after Kyle Hempshall was dismissed. There was a bit of a coming together and Kane Hempshall was being surrounded by opposition players – seeing this made brother Kane race from 20+ yards to help clear some of the surrounding pack. Unfortunately, in doing so, he pushed one of the Prims players to the ground, and although it appeared Ref Mr. Guise didn’t see the incident, his assistant Mr.Webster did – and after a quick consultation, the Selston no. 5 was given a straight red. H-T 1-1
No further goals, not much football played to be brutally honest – the only real incident was a two-footed challenge from Prims’ Lewis Tooley that saw the game's second straight red card with 5 minutes of the game remaining. F-T 1-1. Not a lot to add really – a game probably best forgotten!
Sunday morning it was a visit to the Nabbs Lane playing field, to see a Notts Sunday League Premier Division game. The term “local derby” really applied to this fixture – the Nabbs Lane pitch is just a few yards down the road from Town’s Watnall Road ground!
Before kick-off I had to inform Referee Andy Benner about some dog-shite in a corner of the pitch – this is a real problem locally. Dogs running loose, or owners not bothering to pick up and bag their pets crap. This creates a potential for the transfer of roundworm eggs from the deposits to be ingested, giving rise to several illnesses, one of which, Toxocariasis, could possibly culminate in blindness. I know footballers aren’t likely to get the stuff in their mouths, but hey, shit happens! Town were ahead with 9 played, Elliott Christie somehow managing to nod the ball over the Flys’ keeper from 15 yards and watch as it slowly crossed the line. H-T 0-1. The scores were level on 49 when Conor Whiles fired a 20-yard free-kick accurately past Town keeper Mike Randall.
With 15 minutes remaining, Christie made a poor challenge on the Flys' no. 5, and was quite rightly cautioned for the tackle – however, the centre-half didn’t seem to think that punishment was enough, and when he’d hauled himself from the ground, he raced in and flew at the big man with fist flying. Obviously, Mr. Benner had no alternative other than to show a straight red. The 10 men did go ahead soon after though, Robbie England lifting the ball over the outstretched arms of Randall. Town fought back and secured a point in the second minute of added time, Alex Stolarski racing into the box and firing across the home keeper from the corner of the 6-yard box. F-T 2-2.
The afternoon game was the FAWNL Northern Premier fixture between Nottm Forest and Middlesborough. Met up with Mr. Mac and Pete Chappell inside Coronation Park, but they headed for the seating area on the far side, while I stood behind the Chewton Street goal with “Burnley” Dave. As it turned out we had perfect views of all the goals, all three scored a few yards in front of us!
A couple of images from the game
Middlesborough's winning goal
