Winter Warmers

Cold Evenings at County Cup Ties.

Action from Shirebrook Town v South Normanton.

More and more I find myself saying “I’m not the right age for.....” and then insert the latest thing I feel I shouldn’t be doing. Gardening was probably the first, circa 1990. Then there was the time, just a couple of years ago, when I did a cartoon styli slip on an icy car park and fell horizontally on my back. The latest is midweek winter football, as I stand at the side of the pitch taking photos wondering if it’s warmer anywhere else in the ground and thinking “I’m not the right age for this”.

Considering this thought has been in my head every time I’ve attended a midweek game in the cold this season I’ve managed 13 midweek games since the beginning of November. I never was very good at taking advice.

A few of these cold evening games have been in the Derbyshire Senior Cup, which is a competition I really like. As with all the senior cups throughout the country, it’s played in deepest winter so there’s been a few evening where I’ve been shivering pitch side indulging in the joy of watching local sides battle for the right to the Pride Park finale.

Pride Park, venue for the Derbyshire Senior Cup Final.

In our county there isn’t a dominant side who bats away all comers, the list of honours is quite varied. Although no one club dominates the competition, Gresley Rovers had a great spell in the 80’s & 90’s, winning 7 out of 10 finals. Prior to Gresley’s first of those 7 wins Buxton won the trophy 2 years running (1985-1987) and will be looking to repeat that this season as they have reached the final again following their great comeback win over Derby County’s U21’s in last April’s final.

The Bucks will be favourites and there’s no disrespect intended towards Heanor Town who will contest their first final tie in 45 years on Wednesday 17^th April, it’s purely down to the status of the clubs.

 The blog covered my visit to Shirebrook Town in the 1^st Round back in October and it was back to Langwith Road the following month for their 2^nd Round tie against South Normanton Athletic. South Normanton, one step below Shirebrook in the pyramid, were unfortunate not to progress to round 3.

That was my 3^rd trip to Shirebrook in just over a year and I really like the set up. The 2 sections of seating, which is on the opposite side to the main entrance, stands upon the grass banking to give an elevated view of the pitch. On the opposite side is a pitch length covered terrace, both ends are open with the best bit, for me, being the tea bar with it’s lovely selection of anti-diet food.

 

Langwith Road, home of Shirebrook Town.

In the first half South Normanton seemed happy to soak up pressure and take any opportunities that came from break aways, not a surprising strategy given the difference in status. Though goalless at half time it wasn’t long into the 2^nd half when the first goal arrived. Kiyani Clayton gave Shirebrook the lead with a cracking shot after getting the ball on the left wing he went past the South Normanton defender and let fly just inside the penalty area to put the ball in the top corner.

South Normanton's Ryan Hadley brings the ball down.

South Normanton, backed by a healthy travelling support, didn’t get phased by this setback and scored 2 goals in 3 minutes to take the lead. The equaliser came after Sam Jackson got the ball to the right of the Shirebrook penalty area and slammed the ball into the top right. On the hour an hopeful punt into the Shirebrook area saw keeper Warren Squires challenged by Jordan Macaskill and the ball fell to Josh Parfitt who was running into the penalty area and slammed it home, 1-2. Shirebrook felt the keeper was fouled but referee Cameron Stott wasn’t changing his mind.

Watching non-league football makes my ankles ache in sympathy for some of the challenges that happen. If I was out there getting tackled like that I’d be limping for weeks, and saying “I’m not the right age for this”. One such challenge did have a slightly comic reaction though as the tackled player shouted to the ref “he could have killed me” which brought back memories of being a kid and me Mam would say “you could take someone’s eye out doing that”.

Luckily, the player survived and the game carried on and as we headed towards the closing stages of the game it looked like Normo were going to hang on but on 87 minutes Shirebrook’s pressure  became too much, Josh Devereux turned the defender just inside the area and shot across goal to take us to penalties.

Now, I’m a fan of straight to penalties, particularly on cold nights like this, if no-one is going to get a winner at least the penalty shoot out will sort it out a bit quicker. It wasn’t until South Normanton’s final penalty of the initial 5 each that a player missed leaving Kieren Gatson to do the honours for the home side and take Shirebrook to Matlock Town in the 3^rd Round.

The 3^rd Round is where the senior clubs in the county enter and I managed to get to 2 ties. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to follow Shirebrook to Matlock, which was a pity as it’s not far for me to go and the Gladiators won that tie 2-0. For Shirebrook though things are looking very good for them on and off the pitch as they have a chairman who is investing in the side and there were rumours the club may be looking at moving to a new ground, more news on that front in due course no doubt.

The first of those 3^rd Round ties was, as expected, another very cold night that saw 327 of us turn out at Inkersall Road for the Staveley MW v Derby County U21’s tie. This was in November and from now until about March we could be watching football in the cold, very cold, or Baltic. Tonight it was the latter.

The colourful frontage at Staveley MW.

Staveley took voluntary demotion a couple of seasons ago from the Premier to Division 1 of the Northern Counties East League. The facilities at their Inkersall Road ground are fantastic, the actual entrance to the stadium is in bright blue and white stripes and once inside there’s one of the best club houses in the county. Showing live football and plenty of choice for food and drink to purchase there’s a glass frontage overlooking the pitch though that view could be blocked by those taking advantage of the seats on the decking. There’s cover on 3 sides with a covered terrace behind the near goal as you enter the ground and another similar structure behind the far goal. To the right is the main stand with some covered terracing as well as an elderly and disabled supporters stand. The side on the left is hard standing with the “Tower Bar” providing an elevated section, possibly for the media team or sponsors?

The excellent club house at Staveley.

There are a small number of Derby supporters who follow this side in the Senior Cup to help boost the gate and it was those supporting the Rams who were cheering first after an attack down the right wing was pulled back to the penalty spot and a seemingly innocuous strike fooled the keeper and rolled in by the near post.

 

Action from Staveley MW v Derby County U21's

I have to admit I don’t like seeing Derby County in the Senior Cup, they put out their under 21 team, who are very talented, but it’s not like a blood and thunder cup tie. They play possession football and bring it out from the back, similar to Gareth Southgate’s England, and no doubt, numerous top level clubs, but it’s boring. There’s more passes amongst the defenders and it seems to take an age for something interesting to happen. I find myself willing someone to get it forward and try and win the game or better still have one of those ankle crunching tackles and get the ball of them.

 It was from the Derby defence playing it around the back where Staveley’s equaliser came from. A poor pass out of the penalty area was intercepted and a foul was the outcome to prevent Staveley getting a shot away. Now as free kicks go this was a cracker, a lovely free kick went over the wall and into the left hand corner 1-1. So, on the coldest night ever (maybe), we had to stay a little longer for a marathon penalty contest that Derby won 10-9.

The Tower Bar at Staveley.

The 3^rd Round was completed over a period of 3 weeks. Five  days before Santa came I was at the Heanor Town v Alfreton Town tie. Alfreton made 4 changes from their usual side as players not usually in the reckoning made an appearance, including a lad called Harvey Wigglesworth who was signed in time to make his debut. Harvey wasn’t kept on and has recently joined Worsborough Bridge from Ollerton Town.

 

Heanor Town.

After knocking Alfreton out they did the same at home to Glossop North End in Round 4. Heanor’s Town Ground is still 3 sided despite cricket no longer being played here but there’s ample cover for everyone. A large covered terrace on the opposite side to the former cricket side and a covered seating and standing section behind the goal provides plenty of protection from the elements for supporters. The best bit about this ground is the tea bar which has a vast choice of refreshments and the club house which is well organised and is always busy on match days but provides entertainment for the locals and important revenue for the club at other times of the week too.

 

Cover behind the goal at Heanor

Heanor’s Semi-Final opponents, Long Eaton Utd, have also done remarkably well compared to recent seasons. They beat Chesterfield’s Academy side in the 3^rd round and I went along to their 4^th Round tie against Gresley Rovers which, inevitably, went to penalties on another cold night, United winning 5-4 after a 2-2 draw.

 

Action from the 4th round tie at Long Eaton.

As I stood pitch side waiting for the action to come down my way I got to thinking “am I old enough for long johns yet”. I don’t think there’s an age restriction on them so maybe something to look into, even better, some football club should get their logo on them and start selling them to us “nesh” folk.

 

Fashionable Long Johns - am I the right age to wear these?

Grange Park has an impressive main stand “The Big Jim Stand” and a covered 3 step terrace opposite this. The dug outs are also on this side and obstruct the view a little for those on this covered terrace. There is also a small section of covered standing to the left of the main stand, the rest of the ground has hard standing. A really good clubhouse and the fact that Nottingham Forest use the ground for their Women’s team are good revenue streams for the club.

The "Big Jim" Stand at Long Eaton United.

 

Grange Park - Long Eaton United.

I wasn’t able to get to the Buxton v Matlock Town semi-final, it was one of my “be a good husband” attempts as we went out for a meal with friends. It was really bad planning on my part as I failed to check the dates of the semi-final when making the booking and it clashed. Buxton winning that local derby 4-1.

In the other Semi-Final Heanor had a home tie against Long Eaton United, who are 2 rungs higher in the pyramid, though facing a return to step 4 as they struggle with the higher level.

Like the tie against Alfreton in the 3^rd round it was Heanor who seemed the hungrier for the ball. When they didn’t have it they battled to keep Long Eaton out and the quick moves forward when attacking helped them to the 2-0 win.

 

Sacha Markelic seals Heanor's place in the final.

Sacha Markelic scored both, a first half penalty and then, from a 63^rd minute Long Eaton corner, the ball was moved forward quickly to Markelic who took the ball round the keeper and scored into the empty net.

The crowd of 258 celebrating a great achievement for Heanor especially when you consider they started out in the 1st round. They've beaten teams from higher in the pyramid to get to the final and after putting out step 2 Alfreton they won’t fear Buxton, from the same level, in the final.

So, despite it being played in the depths of winter in a county which has the Peak District, and the weather that attracts, this Senior Cup competition has been another enjoyable journey to our clubs.

There's been cup shocks, some fantastic goals, really honest battling performances, great food in some lovely grounds and an historic element to this season thanks to Heanor's appearance in the final. The only downside is that more clubs could issue programmes, a few did, but not enough and for the younger supporters looking back on this competition it would have been nice to have mementos of the great games inspired by the Derbyshire Senior Cup.

Final tie, Wednesday 17th April 2024 at Pride Park Stadium, 19:30 ko.