My first midweek match of the season took me to Nottinghamshires most westerly footballing outpost to watch Staveley Miners Welfare lock horns with Handsworth fc at Teversal in the second match of the Teversal Tournament. This outing had been planned the week before and i was looking forward to ticking off another one of my Nottinghamshire grounds to do. Its always fun visiting new grounds but even better when they are Nottinghamshire ones.
The journey down to Teversal took us around the outskirts of Mansfield where it would appear that the theory part of the driving test is to watch half a dozen or so episode's of wacky races and the practical test doesn't exist. Even with this and the fact that Mansfield is the traffic light capital of the UK we still arrived at Teversals Carnarvon street ground at 7.00pm
All games in the tournament are £2 to enter and a programme had been produced covering all eight teams who will be slugging it out to get their hands on the trophy being sold for £1.
Also being sold on the gate were club badges in two different designs along with the Northern counties east league (NCEL) badges. As a keen badge collector it was great to be able to purchase one without having to ask about for them like you do at alot of clubs. I have lost count of the times i have asked if a club has any badges for sale only for the person behind the bar/on the gate or wherever to have a half hearted rummage about while chuntering to themselves that they are sure they saw them somewhere at the last home game but can't find them tonight. This invariably leads to me purchasing them off either E-Bay or from an online catalogue and the club loses out on funds. I know some clubs can be short on staff at times but you don't have to have be Sir Alan Sugar to realise that if you sell badges on the entry gate when folk have their cash out you have a much better chance of selling a badge than if they are in a box or bowl in a cupboard in the clubhouse somewhere. Clubs could learn alot from Teversal i feel.
First point of call was the "Tevie bar" for some alcoholic refreshments and to allow my travelling companion to part with some of his winnings from the previous night's raffle at the Teversal v Kirkby first round game. Two pints of lager came in at £5.10. The bar has a very good old school feel to it with Pennants from clubs as far ranging as Lincoln United to Sparta Prague in it, along with a couple of signed Teversal shirts. All good stuff as they say. The match between England ladies and Japan ladies in the women's World Cup was on the TV. England led 2-0 which is how it stayed. It also meant England topped the group. How often can we say that about an English team at anything?
As the programme covered the whole tournament, coloured team sheets were handed out and were of a very high quality. It's always helpful to be able to see who is on the pitch. Pre match the tannoy system blasted out tunes courtesy of Mansfield 103.2 and they were all dreadful. It was a relief to our ear drums when it was switched off as the teams walked out. As they did the theme tune that all the sides walked out to during the 2010 world cup was played. It sounded fantastic on the TV for the World Cup final but somehow lost a bit of magic when played in humid west Nottinghamshire at a pre season friendly.
As it is still very early in pre-season both sides had a mixture of first team players, reserves and youth teamers on duty tonight. Staveley are very much a club on the up. They pretty much walked the NCEL division one last season and are well fancied to have a good season in the NCEL premier division (Where they will face Retford United) Off the pitch the impressive improvements at their ground suggest that they intend to climb the footballing pyramid even further.
They were quickly out of the blocks and took the lead through Shaun Tuton when he poked home from inside the six yard box on 7 minutes. The same player made it 2-0 on 16 minutes when he showed great control to bring the ball down, turn the defender and slot home again from close range. We were stood at the other end of the ground so i can't say for sure how far out he was but you get the idea. At this point you got the feeling Staveley would run away with it but Handsworth steadied the ship and fought their way back into it. No' 9 Chisanga Nshindano was doing well up top but support was a bit late arriving to feed off his good work. Paul Turner got Handsworth back into the game with a cool finish from the edge of the box on 43mins and it looked like we had a game on our hands again as we headed into the break.
HT 2-1
At halftme we took a stroll around the ground. There is hard standing all around the ground and a small seated stand on the opposite side of the ground from the clubhouse and changing rooms.
The only other covering in the ground apart from the seated stand is a small covered area at the far end of the ground from where you enter. I have no idea what this part of the ground is called but lets call it the "Tesco end"
We viewed the second half from the seated area. Any hopes of a Handsworth come back took a set back on 48 minutes when Shaun Tuton completed his hat-trick. Handsworth battled on but apart from a shot that smacked the crossbar and a few good runs from Carter Mpwaya, Stavley kept them at arms length. At 3-1 the game started to wind down a little and both sides made several changes with Handsworth's Dan Williams showing some good touches. Tuton got his and Staveleys 4th late on which was harsh on Handsworth.
FT 4-1
So Staveley go on to play hosts Teversal in the semi final while Handsworth will face Kirkby Town in the consolation round.
All in all a good evening at a nice little ground and another Nottinghamshire ground ticked off.
Admission £2
Programme £1
Badge £3
Chip Buttie £1.90 7/10
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