Carlton is on the outskirts of Nottingham and as everybody knows Nottingham is the drinking and sporting capital of the East Midlands and always a good day out for a few beers. Nottinghamshire county cricket club have won the County championship last summer, The Mighty Nottingham Panthers ice hockey club won the challenge cup last season (and smashed Sheffield all over the ice 5-2 on Friday night in Sheffield). Shame i went to the first game in Notts on Wednesday night when Sheffield fluked a 3-1 win.
For me the best pub in Notts near the station is the Canal house bar which serves a great range of beers from all over the world. I can thoroughly recommend the Brooklyn Lager. Outside is probably the best sign outside a pub i have ever seen. And one i agree with 100%
The plan was simple enoug; train to Nottingham, then train to Carlton. Bus back from Carlton then train home and i must say everything went pretty much to plan. Nottingham city centre was full of Southampton fans ahead of their match at Notts County. There were actually a few County fans on the train to Notts all excited about welcoming yet another new manager to the club. Notts must be the only club with a higher turnover in managers than Lincoln in the past 3 seasons. How long will Paul Ince last? The man whose ambition it is to manage Inter Milan.
Carltons ground is about a 15 minute walk from the train station. There aren't any pubs around the ground so you are limited to the clubhouse that is inside the ground. It was 7 quid on the gate and £1.50 for the programme. Nottingham Forest ladies also play their home games there. As it was only about 2pm i headed straight to the bar and sunk a few pints while watching Soccer Saturday. Surprisingly enough the point of discussion was the Merseyside Red Sox crappy form and how much time should Roy be given to sort the mess out. Quite how anybody can get rid of one of Europe's most experienced and respected coaches after 10 or so league games is beyond me. He totally rescued Inter in the mid 90's; taking us from bottom of the league to the UFEA cup final in a season. Maybe the Liverpool board want him out so they can bring Chris Sutton in, such was the fantastic job he did at Lincoln? After about 5 minutes i had had enough of Phil Thompsons whining and grabbed a copy of Balls Mania, Nottinghamshires top sports paper to read. They seem to have stopped the babe of the week article, bad times. The beer was £2.80 per pint and was average at best. Not a patch on the stuff you can get in the city centre.
There were a decent number of Shepshed fans in the bar, in fact there didn't seem to be any home fans about. The ground can be descibed as basic. The only cover in the ground is a small seating area behind one of the goals. The bar, food hut and club shop are all on the side that you enter the ground. There is hard standing all the way round and that's about it. I must say i was a tad disappointed with it but when you look in the programme and see how quickly they have shot up the leagues in recent years you can understand why this ground suffers a bit in comparison to others in this division i have been to; Lincoln Utd, Brigg Town, Goole town etc etc. Carlton seem to be a club on the up though. Its just a shame they can't get many through the gate. (93 was the attendance given out and a good 20 or so of them were away fans.)
Carlton impressed me a month or so ago when i saw them beat Grantham Town 2-0 and they looked very good again here today. Shepshed got off to a dreadful start conceding their first goal after 4 minutes (which is still 3 mins and 14 seconds longer than Lincoln held out at Wycombe) When Carlton sprung the visitors offside trap. Goal number two came two minutes later and the third arrived on 11 minutes from a great header. We had to wait till the 28th minute for the fourth goal which came from the penalty spot. I didn't see what the penalty was given for as i was busy getting a portion of chips and mushy peas topped with mint sauce. They were first rate and well worth missing the offence. I did see the Penalty being converted making it 4-0.
Shepshed did get one back a 7 minutes later from the penalty spot again but any chance of a comeback was short lived as Carlton added two further goals on 35 and 39 to go in 6-1 up at half time. It was one of those games where everything Carlton hit went in.
Half time was my cue to head for the bar. Lincoln were trailing 2-1 away at high flying Wycombe, could we do what we have failed to do all season, score two goals in a match away from home or even get an away draw?
In the second half some Shepshed fans decided enough was enough and started their own game of football on one of the 5 a side pitches behind the stadium. A few others stayed in the bar. I must admit with the game as good as dead i spent about half of the second half in the bar watching the scores coming in, hoping for a second Imps goal. Carlton made it 7-1 on 69 although i didn't see it so i can't comment. With 15 minutes left i watched the rest of the game from outside instead of through the bar window and saw Shepshed get their second goal. This was met with great cheers from the traveling away fans and chants of "were going to win 8-7" and "You're not singing anymore" to the group of Carlton fans with a drum and a trumpet. Its good to see humour like this in defeat and for me sums up non league football. A nice day out, a few beers and a bit of football.
I would say that having seen them twice this year that Carlton Town are the best pound for pound side i have seen. This win lifted them up to second in the league and on the evidence of the two showings i have seen they will take some stopping. Shepshed slumped to bottom. I hope they turn it around as they have a great group of supporters but it could well be a long season for them on this showing.
Quote of the day comes from a Shepshed fan who said after the 7th when in. "Fuck me lads don't let in anymore we can't count past 7!"
Oh and the Imps got the draw!!!
Admission £7
Programme £1.50 not the greatest but far from the worse.
Badge £3
Food chips mushy peas and mint sauce. £2 very good. second only to Gainsborough.
Ground 5/10
Match quality 8/10
Clubhouse and beer 5/10 Good to see a Victoria Zizkov pennant in the bar.
Great post, pal. I came across this as I was searching for pictures of the ground, but decided to read through. Really enjoyed it!
ReplyDeleteI hope you don't mind, but I've pinched one of your images from the stand for a blog post of my own, appealing for more fans to pack into Stoke Lane. If you have any qualms about me using it, let me know and I'll take it down immediately.
Cheers, Nick