Monday, 13 January 2014

Match 26. Brantham Athletic v Norwich United

Saturday 11th January 2014 @3pm
Thurlow Nunn Premier Division
BRANTHAM ATHLETIC 2-0 NORWICH UNITED
Brantham Leisure Centre, New Village, Brantham, Nr Manningtree
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Admission: £7
Programme: £1.50
Attendance: 52
Refreshments: Guinness, £3.10. Hot dog, £2.
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The ground is found off the A12, using the A1070 junction which crept up on me, unsighted so I had to turn at the next junction and come back.  The A1070 is about 5 miles from the ground on a winding road.  I could see the floodlights as I came up to the main junction in Brantham.
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I entered the ground through the wooden turnstile hut and the clubhouse is immediately to the right, with the nearside goal on the left. There is a makeshift seated stand in the corner of the nearside goal, with a further covered wooden bench seated stand halfway down the far touchline.  The pitch is railed on 3 sides and has a roped 4th side in front of the shared cricket pitch side.  Some Step 5 league ground committees would be moaning about the lack of hard standing and fenced off side, but 3 sides are perfectly adequate for Step 5 football.
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The first goal arrived half way through the first half. An attack down the right hand side allowed no7 Cole to cross and find no9 Grimwood unmarked 10 yards out and drilled it to the near top corner of the net, wrong footing the keeper. Despite the lead, the forwards were getting nowhere up front so the manager changed the formation, with no10 and no9 swapping the target man duties which allowed Grimwood to be in the right place to intercept a pass that was not really his to win, he then poked the ball forward into the path of no11 Nobbs who was running in behind the right back and shot first time into the net. In the second half, both sides cancelled each other out, not helped by the constant stoppages by a whistle happy ref who liked a good chat with each player it seemed, meaning the match ended at 4.57!
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