Dunkirk 1-0 Boldmere St Micheals

Today was a chance to kill two birds with one stone. Tick off another Nottinghamshire non league ground in the afternoon then take in our first Nottingham Panthers game in the evening. In fact i could have made it a real sports marathon with the Japanese Grand prix qualifying and Rugby World Cup action in the morning but that would have required me to get up stupidly early so it didn't happen. In the end i didn't miss anything really. Vettel grabbed pole and England bombed out to France in the quarter finals. Same old same old you could say. I decided to watch The Morning line whilst finalising plans for today and drinking a splendid cup of Earl Grey tea.

The plan was to get the 11.03 to Worksop then change and get the 11.38 to Nottingham have a couple of drinks then grab a bus out to The Ron Steels sports ground; home of Dunkirk FC. Unfortunately for the first part of the journey i had the presence of a few Grimsby fans on the train on their way to watch their side lose at Mansfield Town, but the journey after Mansfield was pleasant enough. Which is more than can be said for the weather as it was pissing it down. Oh well it doesn't rain in pubs as they say and from the pictures i had seen Dunkirk had a couple of stands to take cover under.
I got the directions to the ground courtesy of Mr Rob Hornby who told me i needed the 48 bus to Clifton which could be caught from one of the bus stops just a couple of hundred metres for the train station. Another benefit of this bus stop is that it is a mere stones throw away from the Canalhouse bar, so i decided to chill out with a couple of bottles of Brooklyn lager.

I left the pub at just gone 1.40ish thinking i had left plenty of time to get the bus,find the ground and enjoy i pint before the kick off. It was only when i got to the bus stop that my plans started to unravel at a rate of knots.
I as i came out of the pub i saw a 48 bus pull away but i knew that they ran every 10 minutes or so so i wasn't too concerned. It had also stopped raining which was a another plus. However i hadn't factored in the unpredictability of the Nottingham City buses. The next bus just flew straight past even though it was hailed down. So it meant waiting for the next one which arrived at about 2.05. It was a doubledecker so just like an overenthuastic school kid i bombed straight up to the top deck. The bus takes you through the Meadows before heading over to Clifton. I knew i needed the stop before Clifton Bridge and thankfully there is an indicator telling you which stop is next. If it wasn't for this then i could have been well buggered. Its not a long journey on the bus maybe ten minutes or so but it always seems longer when you haven't got a clue where you are going.
After getting off the bus you head through the subway but like a muppet i managed to come out of the wrong exit. The map i had printed out in the morning was pretty useless and i ended up in the middle of an industrial estate. After about 15 minutes of walking (it always seems further when you are wearing a thick ice hockey jersey) in totally the wrong direction i turned back and had another go and instantly worked out where i had goofed. After taking the other exit out of the subway. I saw Old Lenton lane on the other side of the roundabout. If you ever try to find the ground and end up outside car show room selling Ferrari's and the like you are completely in the wrong place.

Sometimes when i am not at Lincoln games i have good choice of games to go to, sometimes i am restricted. Today i had a choice of three matches within about 300 yards of each other as there are three grounds next to each other on Old Lenton Lane. The first ground you pass is that of CML Southern division (Step 7) Bilborough Pelican who were hosting Blidworth Welfare in the Notts senior cup 1st round. Next along is Greenwood Meadows FC of the EMCL (step 6). Who were at home to Anstey Nomads. Then the lane turns to the right you go past a posh looking restaurant on your left hand side and you see The Ron Steel sports ground home of Dunkirk fc who ply their trade in the Midland Football Alliance which is step 5 of the footballing pyramid and on a par with the NCEL Prem which Retford United play in.

I had just about made it in time. Dunkirk's clubhouse and changing area is outside the ground and the players were just coming out to do battle. I paid my £5 at the turnstile and a £1 for the programme. As you enter there is a stand that looks like it is half built immediately to your right hand side.

If you follow the ground round the other covering in the ground is on the far touch line in the form of a large covered standing area and another small seated area. The rest of the ground is uncovered but there is hard standing all around the ground.

There wasn't a huge number of people watching the game which was understandable, what the weather had been like for much of the day. Most of the ground was covered in leaves given that much of the ground is tree lined and that we are now well into Autumn. One more thing to bear in mind is the only toilets in the ground are outside the ground (hope that makes sense) in the clubhouse. From what i have read the positioning of the clubhouse was a major reason as to why the club didn't join the NCEL as the NCEL wouldn't have allowed for a club to have its changing rooms outside the ground.

Looking at the table both sides were locked in lower midtable with only a point separating 13th placed Dunkirk and BSM in 15th, so a tight match looked to be in store and so it ultimately proved to be. It started to look promising when Dunkirk's Craig Meakin beat the offside trap and blasted home in the first minute of the game. The defence complained about the goal but it looked ok to me.
This was the first time that i had ever seen a match in this league so i didn't really know what to expect in terms of quality. The game was quite niggly and littered with free kicks most of which were met by verbals from whichever team conceded the free kick. Dunkirk were playing a high line up the pitch which BSM nearly capitalised on a couple of times but the Dunkirk keeper was alert to the danger. Dunkirk have a skillful front line who made some neat off the ball runs but were at times out-muscled and stopped in their tracks by some crude defending. Neither side created many clear cut chances but the visitors just about shaded the first half in terms of possession. But it's goals that count and Dunkirk had the only one of the first half. Everybody seemed quite friendly and a couple of people came up and asked me how the Panthers were doing this season. As i got to the ground late i decided to check out the clubhouse at halftime.
HT 1-0
Dunkirk's clubhouse has a real football feel to it and i really liked it. There is a hatch selling hot food and drinks and a separate bar that sells beer. At one end of the clubhouse is a large screen that was showing the re-run of the GP qualifying from earlier in the day. Taking pride of place on the walls are framed shirts of former Dunkirk former players who went on to play for Nottingham Forest and Notts County. Wes Morgan and Jake Sheridan.

Also hung on on the walls are pennants form non league football clubs. Spot any familiar ones by any chance?

Although i didn't have a pint, (shock horror!) i did purchase a smart looking pin badge for £3, I then chilled out and read the programme. And what a programme it was. It had plenty of information about Dunkirk and the club's history and aims for the future and as well as a good section on the away side. What i was impressed with the most was the news and round ups from all the other leagues that involve local non league clubs; from step 4 to the NSL, from U19'S to reserves Tables, fixtures, and results it's all in there folks. The editors deserve a huge amount of credit for putting together a great publication and all for a quid. I enjoyed the round up of the Notts intermediate cup first round results; I am both well aware and concerned that that makes me sound rather sad, maybe i need to get out more.

Not having a pint did allow me to be out of the clubhouse in good time for the second half. Lincoln were losing 1-0 at Tamworth, some things never change do they.
The second half continued in pretty much the same vein as the first with the game following very little pattern, being littered with freekicks, and both sets of players complaining about pretty much everything going. Then about halfway through the second half came the talking point of the match. A through ball was played and a Dunkirk player gave chase to it and in doing so collided with the on rushing goalkeeper who gathered the ball but got a clip from the striker in the process. In my view the striker had every right to go for the ball and the contact didn't look that heavy. The BSM keeper saw it totally differently though and when they both got up went head to head with the Dunkirk striker and appeared to butt him a couple of times. I do have to say though that i was stood behind the incident so i couldn't totally judge how much contact there was but there certainly seemed to be intent. This then sparked a mass brawl with players wading in left right and centre, with pushing and shoving aplenty.

OFF OFF OFF!!!!

In my view the ref handled the incident very well. He calmed down the situation then consulted with the linesman on the nearside and issued the keeper with a red card and the striker with a yellow. After the brawl a couple of other players can count themselves lucky not to have been carded.
It would appear that BSM didn't have a keeper on the bench as an outfielder took over in goal. Given this you would have thought Dunkirk would have adopted a shoot on sight policy but the stand in keeper didn't have a whole lot to do. The home side had some good chances from corners and free kicks but managed to head them wide. If anything it was the visitors who looked the more likely to score as they built up a head of steam and tried to force the equaliser, but luck just wasnt with them today.
FT 1-0

Stand in keeper

As i strolled back to the bus stop i got a call from Felice at the Lincoln match. We had lost 4-0 and had a man sent off again. I asked him how it was "Absolutely f##king Sh#te" was his assessment. I think that pretty much sums it up.

The bus stop back is short walk from the one you alight from but thankfully i wasn't waiting to long for the bus back and was back in the town centre for just gone 5.20 and then after meeting up with my better half ambled over to the Pit and Pendulum and prepare for the big hockey match.

What with all the excitement i hadn't had much to eat today. A sausage roll picked up from the shop next to Retford station being my total fuel for the day ahead. So after the pub we headed down to the lace market chipshop for a large portion of lamb donner and chips, which was, as normal, delicious if a little heavy on chilli and mayo but you can't have everything can you.

The hockey match didn't go quite the way we thought it would. Edinburgh have up till now been the whipping boys of the EIHL this season and last year recorded an 18-0 loss in Nottingham. However they went 1-0 and 2-1 up in the first period. I was pretty glad when the Panthers went into the first break even. The second Panthers goal being the goal of the night for me.
It wasnt really until the last 5 minutes of the 2nd period that the Panthers started to pull away from Edinburgh when we scored a couple of goals in the last few minutes.
The Panthers took their foot off the gas a tad in the third period and ended with a final score of 7-3 although i felt the scoreline was harsh on Edinburgh and doesn't tell the full story.

All in all a decent day an to good games. All i need to do is block the Lincoln result out and all is well.

Adams sporting world results

Tamworth 4-0 Lincoln City
Winterton Rangers 2-4 Retford United
Pittsburgh steelers 38-17 Tennessee Titans
Nottingham Panthers 7-3 Edinburgh capitals
Nottingham Panthers 3-0 Braehead Clan