Saturday 19th November 2016 3.00pm
East Midland League Premier
Radcliffe Olympic 5 Anstey Nomads 1 HT: 3-1 Att: 41 Entrance £5 Prog: £1 Coffee £1
Yeomons 3, Litchfield 36, 70, 90+5, Smith 43 : og 18
from Recreation Ground, Wharf Lane
I fancied travelling East on this Saturday, as the M6 north is all but impassable 24/7 now. Even late at night when all the traffic has dispersed, workmen close one lane to make sure the traffic is still heavy, then they close another lane when it gets even less busy; and if that doesn’t stop the traffic then they’ll just close the whole damn stretch.
I live a stone’s throw from the source of the river Trent. While the Trent wends its tortuous way towards Radcliffe, through Burton, Barrow and Aston, following the path gravity laid out for it, I chose the A50, A453 and A52 to arrive at the same place 64 miles later. Radcliffe-on-Trent is not to be confused with nearby Ratcliffe-on-Soar, with its famous power station. And it’s certainly not to be confused with Radcliffe, near Bury, of Radcliffe Borough FC fame.
Radcliffe-on Trent is due east of Nottingham and has a population of around 8,000. The football team was founded in 1876 and as far as I can tell have had no other names. They joined the EML from the Central Midlands League in 2008-09.
Their Recreation Ground backs on to the rail line and is just down from the river Trent.
The ground is not particularly enclosed. It lies at the end of Wharf Lane. You can clearly see the whole ground from the openly access Wharf Lane Recreation Park with playground. The near side is cordoned off with crush barriers.
A covered stand with seats that was a very long bench delineated with marker was the only structure in the small ground.
The game was another fine EML instalment. Anstey Nomads, believe it or not from the score, were at times excellent and could’ve scored a lot more. On another day with the wind blowing in a different direction they might have won it. The scoreline was a little flattering on Radcliffe, but they did put punish some poor defending.
The Groundhog 