Goal Sports v Ryedale

7.30pm 14 April 2025

Beckett League, Trophy and Print Cup, First Round
Goal Sports 2 Ryedale 0 (att 30)

This was my first experience of the Beckett League, although I'm sure a 3G pitch at a sports centre near Scarborough is atypical for a league that's predominantly North Yorkshire village teams.

But being a floodlit venue, the later kick off time allowed me the opportunity to get to it after work, on an evening when other games were thin on the ground.

It was actually a return visit of sorts. I'd seen short-lived Scarborough Town play on a grass pitch at the same Pindar Leisure Centre back in 2009. That pitch ran parallel to the one this game was on.

I'm not sure what the criteria is for teams to enter the Trophy and Print Cup, which is named after the sponsors. Goal Sports, who were in the Scarborough League before it folded, have finished bottom of the division one, while Ryedale may yet finish bottom of division two.

Unsurprisingly then it was a game between two sides who looked low on confidence. There was plenty of effort and endeavour, but shots on target were few and far between.

Eventually, with about 15 minutes left, Goal Sports broke the deadlock. They'd looked just the better of two evenly-matched teams, and having scored once they very quickly added a second.

The 3G pitch is a typical set up, with a spectator around along the central part of one side. The playing surface looked quite new and, refreshingly, only had football markings.