RADFORD FC (Selhurst Street)

UNITED COUNTIES LEAGUE DIVISION ONE, RADFORD 2-1 BLACKSTONES, ATTENDANCE: 90

I was originally heading to Selhurst Street prior to the Nottingham Forest vs Everton game back in December but a frozen pitch put paid to that plan, so today was the perfect opportunity to try again.

Radford is part of Nottingham and is a couple of miles north of the centre city. The football club was Founded in 1964 as Manlove & Alliots FC, who were an Engineering firm situated in Radford. After the firm transferred to Scotland in 1970/71, the club changed its name to Radford Olympic before moving to Saturday football for season 1979/80, joining the Central Alliance League. The club were one of the first amateur teams to carry a shirt sponsor, a local pub, the Pheasant Inn, hence the nickname of The Pheasants.

Radford then joined the East Midlands Regional League the following season and then moved into their own home at Selhurst Street for season 1981-82. In season 1982/83 Olympic finished Champions of Division One and moved over to the Central Midlands League. The club remained in this league until 2008 when they became founder members of the East Midlands Counties League. Now known as Radford, after dropping the Olympic in 1987, the club remained in the East Midlands Counties League until it was disbanded in 2021, when the club became members of the United Counties League.

Stamford based Blackstones were the visitors to Radford this afternoon in this United Counties League Division One encounter and the question 'who'd be a goalkeeper?' was definitely asked today!

There wasn't a lot between the teams (8th vs 7th at start of play) but the unfortunate Simon Dalton certainly helped Radford this afternoon. The Blackstones no1 misjudged a cross from Mitchell Tait (after 3 minutes) and the ball sailed into the back of the net. 

The worst was yet to come. A tame effort, from outside the box, from Josh Gardner (25) appeared to be comfortably gathered by Dalton but somehow the ball squirmed underneath his body and trickled over the line.

Inbetween the goals Radford's Conor Moore made a tremendous clearance off the line when it looked like certain goal.

To be fair to Dalton he kept his side in the game in the second half as Radford countered as Blackstones pushed forward. The visitors finally got their goal through Ed Thorpe (84) and at that point it seemed the equaliser would soon follow but Radford held on.

GNG OADBY TOWN (The Riverside Ground)

FA CUP EXTRA PRELIMINARY ROUND, GNG OADBY TOWN 1-3 BOTTESFORD TOWN, ATTENDANCE: 72 (h/c)

The FA Cup got underway this weekend as 416 clubs headed off on the road to Wembley. I managed to watch two of the 208 ties and for the first of my choices, I headed the outskirts of Leicester.

My decision was heavily influenced by the weather as the first named storm of 2023 (Antoni) made it's way across the country. Fortunately Oadby had tweeted early doors that the pitch had passed an inspection and the game would be going ahead, so off I went along the A50. 

GNG Oadby Town, of the United Counties League, were hosting Bottesford Town, of the Northern Counties East League. Another little quirky aspect to this encounter was that both teams are nicknamed 'The Poachers'. Who would nick this tie?

Oadby Town moved into The Riverside Ground in 2020, after they vacated their Wigston Road home, and adopted the name Guru Nanak Gurdwara Oadby Town in recognition of the local Sikh community that had helped the club when they were on the brink.

The cup tie ended up being a comfortable win for Bottesford, especially as the second half wore on, after a even opening period.

The homesters lost their 'keeper with a broken finger after 7 minutes, the damage sustained as he attempted in vain to keep out Jack Griffin's header. The outfield player who went in goal was (arguably) MotM and kept it down to just the 3 with some excellent saves. This was after Jay Bruce (24) had equalised for Oadby.

Joe Wood (30) and Joe Simpson (47) put Bottesford in a commanding position, and they would have certainly added to their goal tally were it not for the heroics of the stand in 'keeper. Oadby's fate was sealed minutes before the end of the game when they were reduced to 10-men, a defender recieving a red card for a bad challenge.

Given the appalling wet weather today, it was especially pleasing just to get a game in today.

NEWPORT PAGNELL TOWN (Willen Road)

FA VASE 4th ROUND, NEWPORT PAGNELL TOWN 3-1 FAKENHAM TOWN, ATTENDANCE: 616

I left the north, I travelled south, as the FA Vase reached the 4th round stage. Perusing the fixtures this was the tie that stood out like a sore thumb. Ground needed. Check. Teams from different leagues. Check. Huge anticipation from both clubs and supporters. Check. In the end it was a no-brainer to go online, buy a ticket and head to Willen Road.

Traffic was kind and I arrived in Buckinghamshire in good time,  so there was time a pre-match stroll into town and to take a walk over the cast iron Tickford Bridge, which has stood over the River Ouzell since 1810 (pictured below). Of course the name Newport Pagnell was famously put on the map in 1960 when Newport Pagnell Services became the first fully open motorway service station in the UK.

 Tickford Bridge  

The Football Club was founded in 1963 as Newport Pagnell Wanderers and set up home at Willen Road in 1972, when they changed their name to Town. The club has spent most of it's history playing in either the United Counties League (UCL) or the Spartan South Midlands League. This season they are competing in the UCL Premier South, where they are currently in the top three.

Newport Pagnell Town were looking for another deep run in the Vase, to hopefully surpass their best performance of reaching the quarter finals back in 2016 (where they lost to eventual winners South Shields) whilst opponents Fakenham Town, of the Eastern Counties League, were looking to reach the 5th round for the first time in their history, having fell at this 4th round stage last season.

This tie certainly caught the imagination of both sets of supporters with a 600+ plus crowd in attendance, including a coach load from Norfolk. The clubhouse was doing a roaring trade and I just had to partake in a pint of ale from a brewery (Phipps) from 18 miles up the road. Very nice!

The game got off to a lightning fast start with Newport finding themselves 2-0 up after just seven minutes. After four minutes, a corner was flicked on to the far post where Jordan Wright, was able to get ahead of his marker to sidefoot into the roof of the net. Then, after seven minutes, a ball into the box was headed on into the path of Danny Webb and his looping header went over Fakenham 'keeper Tom Coombe and into the goal.

The Ghosts eventually composed themselves and worked their way back into the game, creating a few chances but none which truly tested Swans 'keeper Martin Conway, but Newport had chances on the counter attack including one effort which clipped the crossbar.

Fakenham came out for the second half and looked determined to get themselves back into the tie. After 56 minutes they finally got their reward when Josh Hazell scrambled the ball over the line. Game on! Well that was the thought but in truth the game petered out and an equaliser didn’t seem likely.

There were a couple of minutes remaining when Ghosts midfielder Lewis Sturnam was sent-off after receiving his second yellow card. This sealed Fakenham's fate and with the last action of the game Mo Ahmed rounded Tom Coombe to score a third for The Swans and to cue the start of the celebrations.

A very good day in Newport Pagnell. And I never lost my bag...

The half-time cakes were delicious 😋 

SELSTON FC (Parish Hall Ground)

FA VASE 1st QUALIFYING ROUND, SELSTON 2-1 BARROW TOWN, ATT: 122

After my initial plan of York City vs Hereford fell victim to an outbreak of Covid-19 in the away camp, the finger of fate led me to Nottinghamshire for an all United Counties League FA Vase tie between Selston and Barrow Town.

Selston is a former mining village 13  miles north of Nottingham. Selston Football Club was formed in 1968 as a Sunday league club before moving into the senior game in 1986 when they joined the Central Midlands League. They moved to the Midlands Regional Alliance in 1992 but rejoined the Central Midlands in 1997. They won promotion to the Supreme Division in 1999 but were relegated back to the Premier in 2002.

The first team went into abeyance for three seasons, as the club concentrated on its youth set-up, but returned in 2006 to re-join the Midland Regional Alliance, winning the Division Two title in 2008 before moving to the Nottinghamshire Senior League in 2011. In 2015 they rejoined the Central Midlands League, winning the South Division title in 2016 and again 2017, and they were then promoted to the East Midlands Counties League.

After the restructuring of the non-league pyramid in 2021 they were transferred across to the Premier Division North of the United Counties League.

Selston play their home games at the Parish Hall Ground in the centre of the village. The ground is three sided, as it is shared with the local cricket team.

This Vase tie was an entertaining game to watch. Barrow will probably be wondering how this game got away, but it proved the old adage that it's not how you start it's how you finish. 

The Riversiders were much the better team in the first half and, after taking an early lead when Nick Reeves (8) headed home from a corner, they failed to capitalise on their advantage. 

Selston equalised somewhat against the run of play after 19 minutes, when Lucas Brough broke clear but his effort was saved by Randall but the rebound fell to George Layton who fired home, despite the Randall recovering to get a hand on the ball. Even at 1-1 the visitors still looked the more likely as their two wingers were causing all sorts of problems for the Selston defence.

In the second period Selston nullified these threats and, after taking the lead on 65 minutes, when Layton drilled home his second of the afternoon, they were quite comfortable in seeing the game out as Barrow simply ran out of ideas.

An enjoyable game to watch on a pleasant afternoon in Nottinghamshire.