FLASHBACK: GEDLING TOWN 3-1 CARLTON TOWN, pre-season, JULY 2010...

Old, Blue, Billowed & Blew

Gedling Town’s Ground, July 2010

Alongside the River Trent, Gedling Town’s Ferrymen were to play a pre-season game against their near neighbours, the Carlton Town Millers, from the Evo-Stik League. And stuck was my satnav, in the environs of Stoke Bardolph, flickering like the screen of a hand-held game but insisting that I turned right in 85 yards: off a flyover… Eventually I closed in on the destination through Burton Joyce village and I was impressed by the vista of the river’s gentle summer flow and landscape beyond.

The Trent...

Parking in the inn’s car-park, I chatted to a gardening Irishman from Watford, as one does, found my way into the ground via a closed blue gate, next to a sign which denoted the players’ and officials’ entrance but nobody stopped me as I meandered through the blue outbuildings. Nobody asked for money, either, there were no programmes, nor were there any refreshments and nobody seemed to care in the slightest that I had intruded. The occasional cloud darkened the bright but very windy July afternoon, the pitch was grassy, the breeze powering from end to end. Dugouts nestled in front of a covered standing area, with two seating areas flanking the centre section. Presumably, the Irishman’s tidy garden lay beyond…

All blue...

I got in...

The dugouts...

I stood opposite the dugouts, which were blue, on a plain, uncovered side, backed by a wooden fence, behind which were practice pitches. Heavy rain and flooding could be a problem, I thought, being so close to the Trent but maybe the players were ferried in by boat in such circumstances. Blue boats, probably. I never did find the latrines, bar the Disabled facility, which was in the car-park. Naturally with a blue door… The V.I.P. lounge, or hut, was thriving. It was blue too. The ‘official’ entrance was soon opened and it was also painted quite brazenly blue. Machinery, namely a large tank, a blue skip and random exits apart, it was the wilderness end which totally drew my attention. 

Loo...

More blue...

Interesting monstrosities...

The bin awaits, clam-like...

Signage...

A broken fence panel of sun-dried wood lay forlorn to reveal the nettle-invaded, undulating countryside beyond but behind a low, blue, surrounding wall, behind the goal-frame, there were seven stanchions. Seven, russet coloured, vertical bones, bent near their tops, no longer supporting a shelter above or a wall behind. They weren’t blue though: a catastrophe… Rubble lay beneath them. Out of sight, maybe. Out of mind, certainly.

Oops... Knocked down because they weren't blue?

Spare ribs...

 The wind blew, Gedling’s ex-referee secretary’s white, slim legs ran one of the touchlines and despite the cries for Carlton by a pair of babies in a double-pushchair, Gedling ran out 3-1 winners over the Millers’ two experimental teams. The children’s father, wearing a Carlton scarf and shirt, simply moved the children on to quieten them down and when he acknowledged me with some embarrassment, I guessed that my initial self-consciousness about talking into my Dictaphone would soon dissipate. It did. Gedling were victorious in bright yellow, Carlton were left feisty blue in faces, wearing first red and then secondly claret. 

The Carlton fan-club...

Lonely walk...

I left my satnav switched off and found my own way home…  

NO! THE FLAG WAS YELLOW...

Ferrymen Leave Carlton Stranded

Gelding Town 3 Carlton Town 1

Pre-season Friendly, 17-07-10. 

Att: below 100! Actually, below 50…

Carlton began this game the livelier displaying better, more workmanlike passing, as Gedling’s defence reeled from the speed of the diminutive Cox and the frustrating talents of McDonald. Baker was sluggish for the hosts and was often baled out by defensive partner Davis during 25 minutes or so of ascendancy, against a strong wind, by the visitors. Goalkeeper Bodkin was rarely tested however and the Ferrymen began to force themselves into the contest before half-time, taking a surprising 2-0 lead.

MacDonald had managed to make the left bye-line for Carlton but his shot, after working an opening, was hacked off the goal-line by defender Littlewood, who failed to last the first-half. Gedling’s Jepson used the wind to strike a couple of free-kicks, one of which was off target from 20 yards but the second was from his own half of the field and ‘keeper Marshall was forced to catch the dangerous effort precariously under his crossbar. 

Marshall struggled to deal with a long punt by his opposite number but was not tested by Abbis’s efforts, most of which were low and off target, spoiling some trickery at the edge of the penalty-box. Carlton were still looking more likely to strike when Gedling netted a fine first goal. And Carlton’s resolve was severely shaken.

Large collected a well aimed long pass towards the right by defender Davis and proceeded to turn inside his rather sluggish marker and although his shirt was tugged back, the winger pushed a short pass for Middleton, who controlled the ball, 16 yards out, right of centre and lashed a fine left-footed drive into the top left-hand corner of goal. Before the deafening roar had died down, er, well, the polite applause, in fact, Gedling had scored a second time. Tall midfielder Ellison capitalised upon support from the foraging Abbis on the left flank and cut into the penalty-box to drive hard at Marshall, who beat out the angled effort, only for Ellison to slide a calm rebound, again angled, under the flailing ‘keeper.

Middleton thought he should have won a penalty, McDonald drove selfishly at Bodkin and even after many half-time substitutions, Carlton’s early second-half efforts brought little in the way of rewards. Lacking height, Carlton didn’t really threaten Gedling’s Baker aerially and Davis looked too comfortable as the game wore on. The lack of understanding between the visitors’ triallists was evident, despite the stronger wind and the lowering sun, both in their favour. Gedling found too much space on their offensive right but only exploited it when Ellison was replaced and Large played there, showing one or two neat touches. He linked well with Abbis to set up Spiers for a low shot, which veteran replacement goalie West pushed aside then after Davis’s wild slice of West’s huge punch dropped onto his own goal-frame, decent play again by Large, involving Middleton too, led to a third Gedling goal, at a time when Carlton were firing disappointing blanks, like one of their un-numbered shirts. The goal was created on the right, a defender messed up, as West advanced and the ever-watchful Abbis gratefully accepted a loose ball and rolled home neatly from 16 yards. 

Carlton’s Kitchen drove a long shot straight from the restart but saw the ball strike a post but the fayre was becoming inevitably ragged as more substitutions were made. Finally, though, Carlton troubled the scorer when Gedling’s stout defender Epps was hustled by Simms for the visitors and the replacement drove the ball across the edge of the penalty-area from the left, from whence ricochets led to McDonald picking up possession and working enough space to fall and poke a 12 yard effort past the advancing goalie and into the bottom right corner of the net. Ascendancy again for the visitors! Naylor and Simms set up Durrant on the edge of the 18 yard box but from 15 yards, the finish was ugly and high, before Capewell headed Jepson’s corner only just too high from 8 yards for Gedling. Hodgkinson drove off target for the hosts and substitute Labatte was freed by a smart pass from Large again but rolled his cross-shot beyond both Ryan and the far upright.

As the game hurried to a close, Carlton’s Corrigan picked up on a Jepson clearance and shot hard from distance but Bodkin blocked the effort, Corrigan moving in and being denied a second time by the ‘keeper, in a situation not dissimilar to the one Gedling scored their second goal from, earlier. Leggett showed calmness for Carlton after the break, Cox was lively before the break and McDonald showed promise but for Gedling, Large and Davis were the strong performers, although Abbis and Middleton formed a useful partnership in attack, both scoring too. A useful workout for the Ferrymen but a sinking feeling for Carlton… 

Gedling Hulk

It was like they had been dragged,

Lugged, tugged

From the river,

Once hidden by meaty hull,

Or sleek stern, transporting bulk 

On Trent’s placid waterway

To industrial soot and back again;

The bent posts, the supports, the skeletons now

Stripped of their hulk…

It was like they had been marooned,

Aground, drowned

In the river,

Once sodden by draughty squall,

Or corrupt storm, spilling bulk

On plain’s flooded walkway,

To institute dereliction and waste;

The twisted stanchions, the bones, the ribs,

Scrapped in a sulk…

Gedling Town FC. Broken shed behind a goal, reminding me of wrecked boats along the River Severn- The Purton Hulks.