Tuesday 19th September 2017
Toolstation NCEL Division 1
at Cannon Park
Retford United (1) 1
Toolstation NCEL Division 1
at Cannon Park
Retford United (1) 1
Gragjan Klimczak 43
Winterton Rangers (0) 2
Luke Anderson 52, 90 pen
Admission £5. Programme £2. Attendance 96
"Back to life, back to reality, back to the here and now, yeah"
Sadly, Melissa Bell who sang that lyric on Soul II Soul's 1989 hit single; Back to Life (However Do You Want Me), passed away last month aged just 53 years old.
"Straight back down (come down). Come back down (come down). Straight back down y'all. Straight back down to Earth"
Even more sadly, Ben Volpeliere-Pierrot, the lead singer of Curiosity Killed the Cat who charted with: Straight Back Down to Earth in 1987, is 51 and still alive.
Both tunes would strike a resonance with the Retford United faithful after tonight's 'same old, same old' performance, following Saturday's upturn in fortunes, with the Badgers chairman Simon Brammervic filling the shoes of Mark 'Willy' Wilson who left the club last week following a slow start to the season.
A whole host of eyebrow raising candidates are being linked to the Cannon Park manager's position, as the rumour mill goes into full swing.
Indeed, there were a couple of very worthwhile candidates watching on at tonight's scrappy encounter against Winterton, who were apparently: "Just here to take a game of football in"
But it be wrong of me to comment on any of those names, for a variety of reasons, the main one of which being is... that whatever, whoever and whenever the new guy turns out to be, it's none of my business.
I can only imagine that, at the present time, the club would struggle to match the sort of budget that one apparent contender has had to work with during previous stints in the hot seat elsewhere at this level, but then again, I don't actually know what the financial state of health at the club is like at the present time, so I can't make any kind of informed judgement or even speculate on that topic of conversation either, other than to say; that if any club has had a very recent short, sharp, shock about where living outside their means will inevitably take them, then it would have to be Retford United.
Of course, there could be a white (haired) knight, lurking around in a not too distant corner, who is about to mount his trusty steed and gallop into action, bestowing financial gifts upon this ailing Bassetlaw football club. But... even if I did have any cast iron information pertaining to any of the above, I can rattle on for ages without actually saying 'owt when discretion is required.
Indeed, there were a couple of very worthwhile candidates watching on at tonight's scrappy encounter against Winterton, who were apparently: "Just here to take a game of football in"
I can only imagine that, at the present time, the club would struggle to match the sort of budget that one apparent contender has had to work with during previous stints in the hot seat elsewhere at this level, but then again, I don't actually know what the financial state of health at the club is like at the present time, so I can't make any kind of informed judgement or even speculate on that topic of conversation either, other than to say; that if any club has had a very recent short, sharp, shock about where living outside their means will inevitably take them, then it would have to be Retford United.
Steer well clear of other peoples private stuff, especially where the paths of football and politics
cross.
Retford United finished the night just one point above the bottom two clubs in the NCEL Division 1: Brigg Town, who have played the same amount of games as the Badgers and Dronfield Town, who have two games in hand over both of their fellow stragglers. But, the struggling, manager-less Cannon Park club have a vastly inferior goal different, compared to those two teams. In fact, there is only one club in both of the NCEL divisions combined, who have a worse goals against ratio than United's... and that is the Premier Division's bottom club Clipstone, who have lost their opening ten games of the season so far.
All of the early pressure tonight belonged to Winterton, but they couldn't quite find the code to unlock the Badgers in the final third.
One thing that both teams had in common tonight was that they fielded young novice keepers and though Retford's James Gamble is used to having to do more than his fair share of defending as well as manning his post, Jake Harris in the Rangers goal will have picked up some valuable experience tonight, particularly in the first half when he recovered well to deal with a couple of initial errors of judgement.
Jack Khalifa drilled a free kick from inside the D straight at the visitors wall and in the ensuing scramble to clear his lines, Harris scuffed his clearance into the path of Gracjan Klimczak, but quickly readjusted his footing and managed to deny the Retford striker a clear strike at goal. Unorthodox and slightly fortuitous the Winterton keeper might well have been, but: job done nonetheless.
One thing that both teams had in common tonight was that they fielded young novice keepers and though Retford's James Gamble is used to having to do more than his fair share of defending as well as manning his post, Jake Harris in the Rangers goal will have picked up some valuable experience tonight, particularly in the first half when he recovered well to deal with a couple of initial errors of judgement.
Jack Khalifa drilled a free kick from inside the D straight at the visitors wall and in the ensuing scramble to clear his lines, Harris scuffed his clearance into the path of Gracjan Klimczak, but quickly readjusted his footing and managed to deny the Retford striker a clear strike at goal. Unorthodox and slightly fortuitous the Winterton keeper might well have been, but: job done nonetheless.
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| 'IT': Ian Turner, top lad, proper character, handsome devil and always welcome within the Parish of East Retford |
Liam Bennett knocked the ball forward into the Rangers area and the spin on it deceived Harris, but when he completely fluffed his clearance he soon took on the responsibility of clearing the ball.
All footballers make mistakes and get caught out by the odd awkward bounce or two, in each and every game, it's how they respond to these things in the immediate aftermath that ultimately makes or breaks them.
Winterton attacked the Retford goal with the clock ticking down towards half time, but Luke Pickering preserved the home side's clean sheet with a last ditch clearance and the Badgers then rubbed it in by breaking from box to box swiftly and taking the lead, when Klimczak forced a great reflex save out of Harris but netted from the rebound.
"Unlucky young 'un... you should hold onto it in future!" Shouted out Mr Hindsight, with a sarcastic and smug grin on his face.
I'd like to see him hold onto a ball hit with that kind of ferocity from such close range, without catching it in his big gob!
HT: Badgers 1 v Rangers 0
Right after the restart, Retford attacked the Rangers goal, but Klimczak's shot dipped narrowly over the bar and onto the roof of the net.
"He's worth a fair bit that Gracjan Klimczak y'know!?"
"Really! How much d'ya reckon then?"
"Seventy four on a double word score, even more on a treble!"
Tsk! I'm missing Hollyoaks on the telly to expose myself to these comedians tonight.
But soon the laughter in the 'Compost Corner' area of the 'Brian Wilkinson Care in the Community Stand" was curtailed, when Anderson raced forwards after a long ball played into his path, spotted that Gamble was sprinting from his line and nicked the ball past him a fraction before the young keeper could kick clear.
"Get forward further off of your line next time!" bellowed the 'Hindsight guy', who had been slaughtering Gamble for charging too far off his line for the last three home matches.
The 'experienced' Paul Grimes, the visitors player manager was proving to be a proper pain in the bum for the home side's defence, but the Badgers withstood a wave of second half attacks attacks and it looked for all the world as though both sides would have to content themselves with a point apiece, but inside the very last minute, James Dean-Allinson kept the ball under close control as he jinked into the Badgers penalty area and as he steadied himself to shoot Kyle Wesley left a foot in and clipped the Winterton substitutes heel.
It was an easy decision for the match referee Matt Maddison to make and Anderson won the game with late, late spot kick for the visitors.
FT: Retford United 1 v Winterton Rangers 2
Safe journey home to my pals from Winterton (and the surrounding area) and good luck to Retford United in their quest to bring in the right person to turn their season round ASAP.
