Ilkeston FC 2-2 Notts County

Well the 2011/12 season is finally here, and not a moment too soon i say. Although i like a range of summer sports i still find Saturdays in the summer pretty boring and they drag like hell. In fact i have spent most of the summer Saturdays watching horse racing on TV whilst enjoying the odd bottle of beer.
But all that lark is behind me know as the 2011/12 season is now underway.

First up for me was the chance to see a little bit of non-league footballing history made as the newly formed Ilkeston FC took to the field for the first time to play the football league's oldest club Notts County.

Ilkeston Town FC unfortunately went bankrupt after just a handful of games last season. Now Ilkeston fc have been formed. They still play at the new Manor ground and wear the same colours. The "new" club has had to start two league lower than the old one (Evo stick south) but its great to see them back. I really enjoyed my trips to watch them over the last few years and its great to see them re-emerge.
Notts County were actually playing two games today. This one kicked off at 1.00pm and was followed by a match at Hucknall Town with a 3.15 kick off. This was done to enable Notts fans to take in both matches. We decided against it however. There is only so much Notts county you can take in a day.

Admission was a very reasonable £5 today and a programme was produced for a quid. I was pleasantly surprised at the programme because quite a few clubs don't do this sort of thing for pre season matches. Ok there wasn't a huge amount to read in it but any programme is better than no programme. As it was Ilkeston's first game back, the programme was quite symbolic and will mean alot to Ilkeston fans. However, judging by the huge amount of them that the guy selling them had left half over it looks like the club had over estimated the need for them. But from a fan's point of view its better to have too many than not enough to go round. So if you want a programme from the new Ilkeston's first match then i am sure if you contact the club they will have some left for you to purchase. I am glad i wasn't carting them about trying to flog them though as it was quite hot in Derbyshire. Hopefully this should mean that a programme will be produced for Lincoln's trip here in two weeks time in what will be the Imps first pre season game.

It was a lovely sunny day. The kind of day when its much better to be watching than running about playing. First point of call as ever was the club bar which is on the right hand side as you walk in through the turnstiles. Its quite large and does a very nice pint of Carlsberg. We got in about an hour before kick off and there was already a good mix of Ilkeston and Pies fans in. If you are planning on having a pint at halftime then you can order and pay for you halftime drinks before the game starts. Although the club coped well enough in the bar, the new system for obtaining food struggled some what. The food hut is positioned next to the bar and you get a ticket when you order your snap. This lead to quite a queue and i overheard people saying they had had to wait over 20 minutes for food.

The crowd today was over 1100 which i imagine is a lot bigger than league games, so i doubt the problems with food will arise normally. I am not sure what to expect for Lincoln's visit in two weeks time. I can't see us bringing as many fans as Notts County did (who made up 3/4 of the crowd i would say) Best to err on the side of caution and get your food early if you are planning to eat at the ground. Also on the food and drink note there is a small hatch serving food on the opposite side to the clubhouse/canteen. It only served hotdogs and drinks today but had hardly any queue. Worth bearing in mind as they say.

The best view in the ground is the seated area above the directors area in the corner of the ground next to the clock tower. It also has the advantage of being out of the sun. We did enquire about team sheets and were handed two. One for Ilkeston's first half team and one for their second half team. We were told that Notts County hadn't filled one in and werent going to. The only reason i could think as to why they hadn't was to protect their trialists' identites. Pies manager Martin "Mad dog" Allen was happy to chat to fans, pose for pictures and sign autographs etc etc. By his side was his assistant manager and former Lincoln player and manager John Schofield. Other former Imps on display were Keeper Rob Burch, Striker Craig Westcarr and new Notts signing's Jude Sterling and Jeff Hughes. It also appears that Imp's player of the season in 2000/01 Justin Walker is now the academy apprenticeship's manager at Ilkeston.

These sort of games are really just about getting players fit and looking at options. Notts had a mixture of first team players, youth and trialists on show. The game started at a gentle pace with Notts having the better of the play and creating a couple of half chances. It was the Robin's who took the lead though when Rob Burch in the County goal was caught out of position and Gary Ricketts finished. Some things never change do they?


former Imps keeper Rob Burch warming up

 Both teams created half chances with Ilkeston looking dangerous from set plays. County got through a couple of times but were let down by poor finishing. Had Lee Hughes been here i am pretty sure Notts would have been on level terms much quicker than they were. They made it 1-1 with the last kick of the half through Craig Westcarr.
Halftime saw us guzzle down a hotdog (£1.50) and take a stroll around the ground. As this is a new club i was hoping they had a new metal badge made up. The club shop appears to still in the development phase though and only had a couple of boxes of old programmes for sale. In a way what with everything the club has had going on over the last ten months this perhaps isnt a huge surprise. They were taking orders for new shirts however and very smart they looked too.

We viewed the second half from behind the far goal that Ilkeston were attacking, both teams made plenty of changes with the home side even changing their kit. Both sides also attacked more and created far more chances. Notts took the lead from one of their trialists after neat work on the left. Ilkeston were having joy using the long ball as the County back four took time to gel. The homeside were denied a stick on penalty and it looked as is Notts County would hold on. Then on 82mins Darryl Thomas latched onto a long ball from the right and finished well to make it 2-2 which is how it finished.

All in all this was a pleasant way to start the 2011/12 season. Both sides would have taken things from this game but i don't think you can use these types of games as an indication of how a team will perform in the upcoming season. Notts will have been glad to have given their squad a run out while Ilkeston will be glad to be back playing football again. I am looking forward to returning to the New Manor ground again in two weeks with the Imps although i will be a tad worse for wear as i intend to visit a good few public houses before the match. Happy days.

Admission £5
Programme £1
Hotdog  £1.50