It's been a turbulent few weeks at Oops Towers, and I can't promise there won't be further periods of radio silence in the future. But don't look a gift horse in the mouth, eh?

So, choices choices choices. Believe it or not, some thought goes in to these ramblings. Well, I say thought, but it's more a case of killing time on a Friday afternoon with an excel spreadsheet. That said, the spreadsheet gave me options for this afetrnoon. Of course, Retford away at FC United of Manchester was the stand out. But as some of you may know, the love affair with North Notts' finest is waning of late. But no tears, dear reader (despite the fact that as I write this they are 4-1 up). Instead, think of the opportunities.

And by way of seizing those opportunites, I ended up five minutes from home, enjoying my first visit to Wood Lane, the home of Church Warsop Miners Welfare, as they and Phoenix Sports stood toe to toe in the Black Dragon premier Division. The home side, third going into the fixture, with games in hand, boast the league's top goalscorer in Simon Johnson, whilst the visitors, fifth before kick off, had one of the top defensive records. Who would win out? Ooh, the anticipation.

Being slightly wet behind the ears, it took me a while to work out who was who. The football wasn't pretty, and as is typical one or two individuals sought to compensate for the footballing shortcomings with bluff and bluster. But as time wore on, what transpired to be the away side created a couple of good chances for themselves. But poor decision making lead to these being wasted without ever really testing the somewhat sturdy keeper. And then, slightly against the run of play, Church got themselves a free kick on the edge of the box.


The calm before the storm

Up stepped the afore mentioned Johnson, and with the aid of a deflection, he left the keeper scrambling. You'd have thought that would have settled the nerves of the home team, but they contiuned to be unable to pass three passes together. Sports on the other hand were fairly composed, without ever looking in charge. To this spectator, the obvious tactic for Warsop was to give the ball to "Yogi" on the right flank, who not only was as quick as the proverbial off a shovel, but also was up against a full back who from a distance could be Peter Crouch's body double. But without the grace of movement. Granted, the nippy little fella was less interested in the more physical aspects of the game than an anorexic is at a wedding buffet. But still, even on the heavy pitch, given the chance he could have had the home team out of sight. As it was, it was left up to "Maggot", a cocky number 10 in the mold of one Mr M Godber, albeit less physical, to put the game beyond doubt.

As the second half started, Warsop began to knock the ball about with much more confidence, but failed to really test the lanky keeper. At the other end, the mouthy home keeper was too busy berating his defenders to collect a corner, and Sports were right back in it. For mere moments. Maggot just went down the other end and restored Church's two goal cushion. With fifteen minutes or so to go, some good work on the edge of the home box ended up being blasted goalwards, ensuring a nervy last quarter of an hour. Truth be told tho, neither keeper was ever really tested, asides from the goals obviously. But despite promising approach play by both teams, the stats of shots on, or even off, target, would not reflect kindly upon the industry further back up the field.

Wood Lane is a reasonable place to pass an afternoon, if the heart desires. There is capacity for a steady rise up the levels, and, if they maintain their position at the head of the Black Dragon Premier Division, there's no reason they can't push on next season as well. The NCEL may not be the promised land for some, but it's as good an aspiration as any to have from this position.

One other thing, since when did bandannas become acceptable on portly middle aged men?


Dumpy's Rusty Nuts?