Floodlit Pitch

  Warm Welcome. Now that the end of the season is here, for the majority of the leagues, I thought I’d mention my first competitive game of the season. There’s very few Northern League grounds I’ve ticked off, in fact Mike Amos, former Northern League Chairman, once told me my extremely low number of Northern League grounds visited was “piss poor” for someone who calls himself a “groundhopper”. He was right, there isn’t many I’ve been to so in order to add to the total I decided to go up to Tow Law Town for their opening game of the season. The Northern League were one of the first competitions to get underway this season, starting on Friday 28 th July, it was the following day when I visited the wonderful Ironworks Ground. When telling my north-east based work colleagues I intended going to Tow Law they mentioned I’d need my “big coat”, “Tow Law has its own climate” they said. It seems to be what it’s most famous so, big coat in the boot, hat and gloves in the camera bag I set ...

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 the...

  Derbyshire Senior Cup 1st Round Shirebrook Town (red & black) v Clay Cross Town. 174 days after Buxton lifted the Derbyshire Senior Cup this season’s competition gets underway. Like most County Senior Cup competitions the Derbyshire version is mostly midweek, which does create an atmosphere under the lights but it doesn’t help with the action photos, though that could be a training need. Two of the three 1 st round ties started on October 10 th , South Normanton Athletic hosted Belper United in a reversal of last season’s 1 st round tie, and the game I chose to attend, Shirebrook Town at home to Clay Cross Town. Two clubs linked to coal mining and, by coincidence, the hosts were formed in 1985, a landmark year for the mining industry. I’ve been to Shirebrook a few times but I always need to refer to the sat nav to get me there so it’s out with the trusty Non-League Club Directory for the club address and off we go. Langwith Road. Originally named Shirebrook Colliery t...