Calverton Miners Welfare 4 v Blidworth Welfare 3 - CMFL South

Saturday 29th December 2012

at Kinton Fields, Hollinwood Lane, Calverton

Central Midlands League (South)

Calverton Miners Welfare  (2) 4
Jack Caulton 4,
David Reedman 44
Luke Attenborough 54,
Alex Clarson 70,

Blidworth Welfare  (0) 3
Jason Dawson 49
Rowland Carter 60,
Ryan Cheetham 86,

Admission £3, Programme £1
Attendance 32

Weather, bloody horrible
Left click pictures slightly enlarged versions

A lot of scheduled fixtures in the area were called off today, because of the persistent precipitation we've been having, but this pitch hosted two 90 minute matches in one afternoon.
Calverton's reserves played on it earlier, in a game that kicked off at noon.
The groundsman's face was a picture of extreme distraughtedness after the second game.
BTW, I'm copyrighting the word distraughtedness, so don't even think about trying to usurp it.
I wouldn't imagine that the animals queueing up in pairs on the pitch to board the ark, stood waiting for them behind the far end goal, would've helped his plight very much either.
The weather of late, certainly seems to be on course for 40 days and nights of rainfall, of Biblical proportions.

There are 17 teams in the CMFL South, these two both reside in the bottom five.

The hosts are currently 13th in the table, while the visitors occupy bottom place, having picked up just 4 points out of 17 games.
I wasn't anticipating a classic, especially once the pitch began to cut up, as it inevitably did, but I was pleasantly surprised when both teams actually produced a half decent game.
Which given the ingredients and the elements, was something of a minor miracle ... maybe today was the day, when the last pair of mating Unicorns left in the world, would actually take their second chance to catch a lift with Noah.
They currently reside on the Sherwood Forest Farm Park site, that stands in between Edwinstowe and Gorsethorpe, so they didn't have far to travel today.

Calverton were ahead inside four minutes, when Jack Caulton, ran on to a through ball played through the right channel, had a quick look over his shoulder to make sure the Blidworth defence weren't following him, confirmed that they were indeed missing in action, steadied himself and drilled the ball into the net from ten yards out.

The home side's centre forward (AKA number 9, I don't have his name to hand), ought to have added a couple more as the first half unfolded, but he couldn't quite find the final touch after getting himself into some great positions, in and around the visitors six yard box.
The visitors too, had a one or two openings, as both teams got muddy and slid about on the difficult pitch, as the groundsman looked on in horror, through his fingers.
Blidworth almost held on to prevent any further damage to their top heavy, goals against column, until half time, but David Reedman, lashed home an unstoppable shot, from just inside the visitors area, two minutes before the break, after Blidworth had tried passing their way out of difficulty, instead of just whacking the ball away from the danger zone.
HT - Calverton 2 v Blidworth 0

I stayed under the roof the second half, but suspected that any further goals were more likely to be scored at the other end.
But there is a good reason why my nickname isn't Nostradamus and once more, another prophecy was rubbished, as Ryan Cheetham, got a goal back for Blidworth, right at the beginning of the second half, before mouthing "Your predictions are crap son" in my direction and raising his right index finger to his lips in a 'Shhhh!' gesture (that is a lie, that I invented to embellish my word count, btw).
On 53 minutes, 'Calvo' re-established their two goal advantage, when Luke Attenborough, squeezed the ball home just inside the right hand upright from 12 yards out, via the keepers outstretched arms.

On the hour, Blidworth were on the verge of making a game of it again, when Rowland Carter, beat the Calverton keeper James Wright to a Gregg Smith cross and headed the ball over him, to make the score 2-3.
The game was end to end stuff, with a flurry of goalmouth action and I'm happy to report that I had inadvertently, chanced upon, a very entertaining game.
Blidworth certainly weren't playing like a bottom of the table team.

As the visitors pushed forward for an equaliser, that very nearly came, when James Wright had to keep a Jason Dawson effort out at full stretch, Calverton counter attacked.
Gareth Briggs saved Luke Attenbrough's initial shot, but Attenborough got to the rebound and pulled the ball back across the face of the visitors goal and Alex Clarson tapped the ball in from close range.

On 85 minutes, Blidworth set up a grandstand finish (well, not actually a grandstand, but a decent sized roof on stilts, that keeps the rain out, none the less), when Ryan Cheetham, scored a third goal for the visitors, who were then unlucky not to grab a point right at the death when Jamie Plawecki smashed free kick against the right hand post in added time. 
FT - Calverton 4 v Blidworth 3
Calverton are still 13th in the table.
Blidworth are still rooted to the bottom, but Blackwell Miners Welfare, 4 points above them, have let 18 more goals in so far this season, so it's not all doom and gloom.
The visitors new manager Lee Cook will have seen plenty of positives to build on today.

Next up:
New Years Day - Weather permitting, I'll be at Alfreton Town v Mansfield Town in the BSBP.
Failing that, plan B is Gainsborough Trinity v FC Halifax Town.
And then, I'm going abroad for a Thursday night game.