Thorne Colliery 1-2 Retford United

The back end of last week was tough, as has my life since suffering a text message dumping during lockdown  in May (But that’s a story for another day) thankfully i have some awesome friends in my life to drag my sorry ass along when required.

In a non COVID world i would have been roughly 4000 miles away in the USA for a long overdue holiday to Pittsburgh,and on Saturday instead of taking in a local CML North game i would have been at PNC Park in Pittsburgh to see the Pittsburgh Pirates (The worse team in baseball no less).take on the Kansas City Royals. Even though i knew back in April the chances of getting to the US were a big fat zero, what could have been has been on my mind all week.

Up until the Thursday we had intended to follow the FA Cup to watch West Bridgeford v Lincoln United. However United have had an outbreak of the “Rona” and thus had to withdraw from the competition. Thankfully there is always another option so we chose to tick off another new ground and take in the match between Thorne Colliery v Retford United. The opening game of the Central Midland League season (Step 7 of the non league game)

Saturday morning was very much a case of “The morning after the night” before kind of morning having partaken in drinking a few beers on Friday. Thankfully i live next to the White Lion a, cracking pub that has recently started doing cooked breakfasts on a Saturday morning. I didn’t go for the full Monty though and settled for a sausage sandwich and a cup of tea for £2.50 and it was the best £2.50 i have spent for a while.

After reading the paper, another couple of cups of tea and an hour on the dart board it was time to head off to be picked up for today’s adventure. Felice was driving this week and he was on fine form when he picked me up. His Arsenal were leading 1-0 at Fulham and after winning the FA Cup last year his hopes are high for the Gunners this season. He will even renew his membership next year if fans are allowed in. As it was quite warm there was no sign of his Arsenal jacket but i would imagine it’s a bit snug nowadays anyway. It was good to see that Baz had survived a late fitness test to make the game after his arse had been on fire the previous night much of which was spent on the toilet apparently.  

The journey over to the far side of Doncaster was largely uneventful with the time being filled up listening to the build up to the Lincoln v Oxford game on BBC Radio Lincolnshire. It may have been the start of the EFL season but i just can’t get overly excited about it all till fans are allowed back into the stadiums in some numbers.

Thorne's ground is in a leisure area of the town. Next to the football ground is a cricket pitch, and just around the corner is a rugby ground with a small children’s play area thrown in for good measure. The turnstiles went open when we arrived and the players of both sides were warming up on the cricket pitch. As always the Retford fans were out in good numbers and looking forward to the game. Thorne's ground is dominated by one large old school style stand with standing around the rest of the ground. There is quite a lot of room to expand should the club ever need to. The ground was very clean and tidy and you can tell that it is well looked after. The turnstiles opened up about 2.30 ish with entrance being the standard £3.00. The standard COVID procedures were all in place and well managed by the club officials. As soon as we entered the ground my two cohorts heading straight to the food cabin and were soon scoffing away. The prices were reasonable and by all accounts the food was very nice, with me watching my figure i just had a cuppa.

I am not going to claim to be an expert on the CML North or even have a semi decent amount of knowledge on it. But i do know a half decent side when i see one and overall i think we saw two sides today that will be much nearer the top of the table than the bottom come May. I felt Retford had more of the ball in the first half but never really looked like doing much with it in the final third. A few minutes’ before the break the Badgers did have what looked a decent shout for a penalty but the ref was unimpressed.  

It was good to grab a word with legendary Retford DJ and blog fan Ian Beach at halftime along with the old warhorse Dave Wathell who wasn’t overly impressed at what he had witnessed in the first half. It takes a very special team to impress Dave. He judges all sides against the Spurs side that won the double back in 1961. He did most of the home games that season.

Just a couple of minutes’ into the second half the home side took the lead when a Retford defender turned a cross into his own net at the near post. It’s hard to blame the defender in all honesty. He had to go for it with a striker bearing down on him. To be honest i would rather praise the quality of the ball in as appose to blaming the defender. In hindsight this kick up the arse did Retford a real favor as they took control of the match and starting to look a lot better thanks mainly to some excellent wing play. They got the equalizer on 83 when Mark West was fouled in the box. West then picked himself up to dispatch the penalty giving the keeper no chance.

On 87 minutes Retford grabbed the winner! A shot from distance was only split by the Thorne Keeper and allowing skipper Tom Brook to slot home the winner. The spill brought back memories of watching Felice commit goof after  goof in his old 5 a side days and getting a lot of stick from his teammates in the bar after while drinking his pint of Shandy Bass. Ah the late 90,s. What fun they were.

Overall i have to say it was a good day out. A decent old school ground that had a real charm about it and two teams that looked to play football. If you haven’t ticked this ground off i highly recommend you do.

Other scores of note.

Lincoln City 2-0 Oxford

Fulham 0-3 Arsenal

Newcastle 2-0 West Ham

Kansas City Royals 4-3 Pittsburgh Pirates (MLB)