Job done!!

Tuesday 26th May 2015 - kick off 12 noon

Venue: maggie's Nottingham

We visited the Maggie's centre in the City Hospital campus to present our cheque to Fundraising Organiser Helen Studholme and volunteer Janet Kitson. It may look to be a decent sum of money, but £850.00 seems such an insignificant amount when you witness the level of support that is on offer. 

Kev - you always have to get a sneaky one in, don't you!!!

As soon as we walked through the door, we were greeted like old friends - even though we had never previously met any of the people involved with the centre - and it's wasn't about the money either - I reckon we could have gone in with a tenner and still have received the same welcome. 

Wear the baseball cap - or else!!

Me, Janet and Kev

Me and Janet

A.N. Wallis donation totalled £138.00 -  thank you so much for your support

Me and Helen promoting the Wallis brand!!

Maggie's is place to drop in when lives are affected by cancer - and it was so poignant meeting Sharon Dent there today of all days.  Sharon and hubby Chris have both donated generously to the maggie's fund, and such an irony that they find themselves in need of the support that is on hand at the centre. Heanor Town fan Chris is a real gentle giant (I dubbed him the "Tall-Lad" a few seasons ago), and I'm sure all involved with the club, and anyone who knows him will join me and Kev in wishing him all the very best, and hope to see him back at the Town Ground sooner rather than later.....

We would like to take this opportunity thank everyone who gave so freely to the fund. These donations made a massive difference to the final tally, but Kev and I both worked hard throughout the season to get in as many games as we possibly could - actually managing 130 matches with 533 goals - not too dusty, eh?  

Hope all our blog friends have a great summer - will no doubt be seeing you at pre-season games when they begin early July - until then.........

Tall Lad - you will remain in our thoughts until we meet again. See you soon!

maggie's Nottingham

Dear friends.

We will be presenting a cheque to maggie's Nottingham for £850.00 on Tuesday 26th May 2015.  The astounding total makes the hard work throughout the season seem worthwhile - we only started the season with £250.00 in mind!!!!  

Thank you to everyone who helped us to reach this total - but special mentions go to A.N.Wallis and Kev Goodman for their continued support throughout the season, even when things got a little rough in December.

My highlight? Kev's ice bucket challenge - if you haven't seen the video, click here!!!!

Click to enlarge

Basford Utd 4-2 Clifton FC

Sunday 17th May 2015 - kick off 3:15pm

Venue: Eagle Valley, Oxton Road, Nottinghamshire

Competition: East Midlands Veterans League Cup Final

Referee: Mr. Aidan Jackson

Scorers: (40 minute halves)
Basford:  Chris Freestone (4, 32), Martin Carruthers (6, 72 pen)
Clifton: Roy Sharp (49), Aaron Wright (67)

Line-ups

Not too accurate as it turned out!

This was the final game of the "ontheroad"  blog, season 2014-15, and not a bad game to finish on. A few familiar names taking part in this game - and plenty of skill still evident. Never seem an EMVL match before - league or cup, so this was a new experience. The Arnold Town club-house was rammed - there had been another EMVL cup final earlier in the afternoon and  quite a few were staying on for the second game.

Great to see old friends Michael Kilbee and Malcolm Fox again - Malc is the league secretary and provided me with a team sheet. Unfortunately the players decided not to wear the corresponding shirt numbers, so please forgive any inaccuracies.

Basford - resplendant in a Victor Sandler Forest kit!!

Matt Nowak went close to putting Basford ahead in the second minute, but was foiled by a neat save from Carl Spibey in the Clifton goal. Basford did open the scoring just 60 seconds later - a defence splitting pass found CHRIS FREESTONE and the striker ran in one-on-one with Spibey before calmly slotting the ball to the keeper's left and into the back of the net. Two minutes later Basford took a quick throw down the right and Nowak collected the ball, took it to the byline and fired it across to the far stick where MARTIN CARRUTHERS was on hand to score the simplest of tap ins.

Carruthers' neat turn drew a foul on the edge of the Clifton box on 32 - FREESTONE stepped up and fired the ball  home, with a little help from a deflection off the wall. Five minutes later Clifton were reduced to ten men after one of their players aimed the "C" bomb at Referee Aidan Jackson. The Clifton no.19 was dismissed, but I thought it was the no.11 who was the perpetrator. Despite protests from the player and spectators nearby, the Ref was unrepentant and the no. 19 had to leave the field.  H-T 3-0

Clifton took full advantage of a slow start by the Basford vets after the restart, and reduced their arrears with 9 minutes of the second half played. ROY SHARP collected a neat through call before taking the ball into the area and firing across Scott Miles and into the inside side-netting. David Clarke had a great chance to kill off any further Clifton thoughts of an unlikely comeback on 60, but fired way over the bar from about 5 yards out after Carruthers picked him out in front of goal. 

Looked to be a costly miss as 7 minutes later Clifton did grab their second - a stunning AARON WRIGHT pile-driver from 25 yards that left a Basford keeper Miles waving it bye-bye as it flew past him! Any worries that we may be headed for extra-time were dismissed on 72 when CARRUTHERS fired home from the spot after a Clifton defender was penalised for handling in the box.  F-T 4-2

Admission: no
Programme: no
Attendance: 105
Charity: £4.50

Santos FC 5-0 Nottingham Community

Saturday 16th May 2015 - kick off 2:30pm

Venue:  Main pitch, Greenwich Avenue, Basford, Nottingham

Competition: NAA Premier Division

Referee: Mr. Simon Hudson

Scorers: Jamie Humphries (38), Jamie Foster (41), Connor Scott-Parkin (45), Carl Wilson (52), Keiran Wheat (90)

 

This was the penultimate game of "ontheroad" season 2014-15, just the "Vets" final tomorrow afternoon at Arnold Town to go.  Last week Santos needed to win their final two games of the season to secure the NAA Premier Division title. Part one was successfully completed at Stoke Lane, so they were left with just second bottom team Nottingham Community to contend with, and for the first 30 minutes or so, it looked like the visitors might spoil the party as they gave as good as they got in the first half an hour or so.

Santos striker Carl Wilson had the games first opportunity in the 3rd minute, but after turning in the box the prolific hit-man fired just wide. Jamie Foster had a shot tipped over on 14, but after that it was the visitors who looked the most likely to score the first goal.  Mustafa Mansur saw his looping shot acrobatically tipped around the post with 16 played, then Mark Foster saw his goal-bound effort cleared off the line by Toby King.

 

Great save...

Foster had a low drive saved well by Santos keeper Jack Payne on 30, but all of a sudden the home team seemed to wake up and when and Jamie Humphries received the ball from Wilson just inside the box, the striker flicked it up and hammered a fierce volley that brought a superb save from Nottingham keeper Toby Hedges.  More pressure forced a corner, and poor marking allowed JAMIE HUMPHRIES time and space in front of goal to power home a header from Keiran Wheat's terrific ball in.

Humphries (out of shot) heads home

JAMIE FOSTER side-footed the ball past Hedges and into the far corner three minutes later after the visiting defenders failed to clear their box. Right on half-time Santos went three up, CONNOR SCOTT-PARKIN hitting a shot from 25 yards that flew over the outstretched arms of Hedges before dipping and dropping into the back of the net.  H-T 3-0

Tom Fortune to Jamie Foster....

...Foster gratefully accepts

CARL WILSON was the League's joint top scorer before kick-off and needed just one goal to become outright topgun. He had very few chances in the first period - but he converted his first chance of the second after he was gifted the ball 20 yards out and held off a challenge from Alex Pinto before bulging the back of the net.

                                 

Wilson celebrates

This fourth goal all but took the wind out of the Community sails, and left Santos in cruise mode. They had plenty of the ball but were seemingly, like the rest of us, waiting for the final whistle so the celebrations could begin. KEIRAN WHEAT added the Santos fifth on 90, his cross from the right flying past everyone and nestling in the far corner. F-T 5-0

Footnote:  Santos player Luke Williams suffered an horrific cruciate knee ligament injury when the teams met in the first game of the season in September. Apparently he collided with a post when trying to stop a shot from crossing the line. Fitting somehow that Luke was back in the yellow and blue for this game - the final game of the season - and against the same opposition. It's a funny old game......

Admission: no

Programme: no

Attendance: h/c 39

Charity: £3.75

Pics: courtesy Kev Goodman

Nottingham Community FC

West Bridgford 0-1 Wollaton FC

Wednesday 13th May 2013 - kick off 7:30pm

Venue: Greenwich Avenue, Basford, Nottinghamshire

Competition: NSL Senior Cup Final

Referee: Mr. Craig Ford

Scorer:
Ryan Bowen (24)

Line-ups

Another flipping one-noner .... with this and the Junior cup game, maggie's benefited to a total of just £2.00 - and that included ten bob from our referee friend Eddie Pidduck! Never mind - with just two games to go, it really is no longer an issue - whatever happens on Saturday and Sunday, the cheque for maggie's will be £850.00 - guaranteed!

Shake

Wollaton have already been crowned NSL Premier League Champions, just ahead of West Bridgford, so we thought this would be a tight game.  West Bridgford had the better of the chances in the second half,  but Rikki Turner had a good evening in the Wollaton goal - a couple of top class saves and a little help from the woodwork ensured that RYAN  BOWEN's close range header on 24 would secure them the league and cup double.  

End of season malaise, I'm afraid.  No notes taken so no match report - but we were in good company again and that's always a bonus.  See you next season chaps!!!

Admission: £3.00 / £2:00 concession  

Programme: £1.00

Attendance: TBC

Charity: £1.25!! Thanks Eddie!

Pics - Kev "the daftlad" Goodman

The 3rd team

Linby CW Res 0-1 Kimberley MW Res

Tuesday 12th May 2015 - kick off 7:30pm

Venue: Greenwich Avenue,  Basford,  Nottinghamshire

Competition: Notts Senior League Junior Cup Final

Referee: Lewis Saunders-Johnson

Scorer:
Luke Hodgeman (65)

Line-ups:

Not a lot to say about this game -  Kimberley won the trophy thanks to a solitary 65th minute strike from LUKE HODGMAN, the no.8 latching onto a Jack Tucker through ball before rounding Glenn Guyatt and slotting home.

Linby did create chances, but Luke Price didn't have his shooting boots on, failing late in the second half to convert relatively easy chances, and right at the death Matt Falconer got his head to a left wing corner, but managed to head over from just a few yards out.

Admission: £2.00
Programme: £1.00
Attendance: 181
Charity: £0.75

Kimberley MW Res

Linby CW Res

The 3rd team

Nettleham LFC 2-1 Peterborough Northern Star LFC

Sunday 10th May 2015 - kick off 3:05pm

Venue: Coronation Park, Chewton Street, Eastwood, Nottinghamshire

Competition: East Midlands Women's Football League Cup Final

Referee: Gareth Davies

Scorers:
Nettleham - Zuzana Pramukova (8, 13)

Peterborough - Chanade Henderson (74)

Squads:

I was originally going to watch Mansfield Town Ladies take on FC Reedwood , but changed my mind when I discovered the venue was Brunts Academy, a location unknown to me. I opted for the East Midlands Women's Football League cup final instead, played at the home of Eastwood CFC. Mansfield won their game, the final fixture of the season, by four goals to one.

There had been a game earlier on the Coronation Park pitch, Cleethorpes Town Ladies losing out 2-4 to Ellistown Ladies in the EMWFL plate final. There was possibility of me getting to that game -  and anyway, I've not taken in a single Sunday morning game this season.

You never know what to expect with women's football, but the teams contesting this final finished 1st and 2nd in the league, so the hope was that the game would be a tight, skillful affair. Well, the game was okay, but not the spectacle or action-packed game that we had hoped for.
Final League table

The teams line-ups were announced over the P.A. system, but it was impossible to understand what was being said.  It is a good P.A. system at Coronation Park, so what went wrong is anyone's guess!

I didn't bother taking many notes - to be quite honest there was not a lot to write about! Nettleham went ahead in the 8th minute when ZUZANA PRAMUKOVA was allowed room in front of goal and headed in a cross in from the right. Five minutes later, the Peterborough back line was breached again, this time PRAMUKOVA firing in the loose ball from close range after the keeper had blocked a fierce shot.
H-T 2-0

 Zuzana Pramukova in action

Peterborough made a much better fist of it in the second period, and their hard work and relentless pressure paid off on 74 when CHANADE HENDERSON headed home from a right wing corner. It was Alamo time at the Plumtre Road end of the ground as the Peterborough lasses strove to grab an equaliser that would have sent the game into extra-time. Unfortunately for them, the Nettleham defence was determined not to let this happen, and after three minutes of stoppage time, Mr. Davies brought proceedings to a close. F-T 2-1

Admission: £2.00

Programme: £1.00

Attendance: no idea, but there must have been a couple of hundred present

MOM: Peterborough's Sofia Aragosa, apparently. 

Charity: £2.25