12.30pm 1 July 2012
Stan Brewster Memorial Tournament, Group A
Codnor Miners 4 Ripley Town 2 (att 56)
The point at which the old football season ends and the new one begins is a common subject of debate among groundhoppers, especially at this time of year. The start of July seems a reasonable point to kick off 2012/13, but if I'd had a ticket for this evening's Euro 2012 final then the game in Kiev would been my last of 2011/12.
Codnor, champions of the Matlock and District League's second tier, wasted no time making their mark on the new season. They raced into a 4-0 first half lead against a Ripley team who, in theory at least, play a rung or two higher in the Midlands Regional Alliance.
The visitors saved face with two late goals, both well taken by a substiute who perhaps should have been on from the start.
I'd expected this match, along with the other Group A game between Crib, a Sunday side, and Newton FC, to be on adjacent pitches in the grounds of the Derbyshire Police HQ in Ripley. Having been once before, I'd planned to watch whichever game was on the pitch I hadn't been to last time.
But thanks to rabbits damaging the police pitches, the fixtures were instead moved a few miles away to Codnor's home in the oddly named village of Denby Bottles. There's only one pitch at the Denby Institute ground, so the two games kicked off at 12.30 and 2.15.
As you'd expect at a venue usually hosting Matlock and District League football, there are no spectator facilities, but the very narrow pitch is fully enclosed, and I'm sure I'll be at many worse grounds than this before 2012/13 reaches its conclusion.
Stan Brewster Memorial Tournament, Group A
Codnor Miners 4 Ripley Town 2 (att 56)
The point at which the old football season ends and the new one begins is a common subject of debate among groundhoppers, especially at this time of year. The start of July seems a reasonable point to kick off 2012/13, but if I'd had a ticket for this evening's Euro 2012 final then the game in Kiev would been my last of 2011/12.
Codnor, champions of the Matlock and District League's second tier, wasted no time making their mark on the new season. They raced into a 4-0 first half lead against a Ripley team who, in theory at least, play a rung or two higher in the Midlands Regional Alliance.
The visitors saved face with two late goals, both well taken by a substiute who perhaps should have been on from the start.
I'd expected this match, along with the other Group A game between Crib, a Sunday side, and Newton FC, to be on adjacent pitches in the grounds of the Derbyshire Police HQ in Ripley. Having been once before, I'd planned to watch whichever game was on the pitch I hadn't been to last time.
But thanks to rabbits damaging the police pitches, the fixtures were instead moved a few miles away to Codnor's home in the oddly named village of Denby Bottles. There's only one pitch at the Denby Institute ground, so the two games kicked off at 12.30 and 2.15.
As you'd expect at a venue usually hosting Matlock and District League football, there are no spectator facilities, but the very narrow pitch is fully enclosed, and I'm sure I'll be at many worse grounds than this before 2012/13 reaches its conclusion.
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