Jolly Boys Outing

Colsterworth Sports & Social Club   2   Lincoln Moorlands Railway   7

Lincolnshire Sunday Cup – First Round

When the bus driver opens up the hatch for the players to get their kit bags out, and you spot the entire contents of Threshers stashed away, you know you’ve arrived at a proper Sunday football away day!

As far as Sunday games go, this one was a risky one, I mean, Belper to Colsterworth is a right old poke, we are talking about an hour and a half, but I’d like to think I’d done plenty of risk mitigation along with Socially Distanced Steve for this game. We’d checked the Grantham League website, we’d also checked the Lincolnshire FA website, and we’d even sent a message to Colsterworth via facebook and it seemed all was good.

That said though, when you are getting in your car at 8.30am on a Sunday morning, you can’t help but wonder if you are doing the right thing. So much can go wrong, for example, the game the previous day at nearby Cottesmore was abandoned at half time due to waterlogging. Of course, the lurgy can strike at any time, and also, lets be honest now, it’s a decent trek from Lincoln to South of Grantham on a Sunday morning, and the old ‘unable to raise a team’ thought does enter into the equation.

But, it was the Lincolnshire Sunday Cup, a competition that I’m sure sides take very seriously, so while it was a risk travelling, it was a calculated one in my book. Put it another way though, I won’t be going any further than this for a Sunday League game.

The journey was pleasant enough along the A52, round the ring road at Nottingham and then back down the A52 passing Radcliffe, Bingham and Bottesford before turning onto the A1 Southbound just as you are coming into Grantham.

Eight miles further along and you are then leaving the A1 and making the short drive into the very pleasant village of Colsterworth, and when I say pleasant, I can imagine that if you asks the locals where they come from, they will probably say ‘Vale of Belvoir’. I had a boss once who lived near Grantham, he used to say that, it’s a bit like me saying I live on the ‘Gateway To The Peak District’, no I don’t, I live on a 1960’s housing estate in Belper!

Anyway, it was very nice, and to be fair, this is a village I know a little bit about from a footballing perspective.  I seem to recall back in the 2000’s a side called Colsterworth United played in the Grantham & District League, and for one season they made the jump to the Lincolnshire League before departing. I’m not sure what happened to the club as we moved into the current decade but they certainly don’t seem to appear in league tables for the Grantham League, not in the past three or four seasons anyway.

Anyroadup, the gift that continues to give, the Nottinghamshire Senior League has acquired a team called AFC Colsterworth Sports & Social Club this season, plying their trade in Division Two South, albeit results have been somewhat mixed. The previous day to our visit they got spanked 13-0 by Grantham Town Academy in the County Junior Cup.

Now, a bit of research told us that another side linked to the Sports & Social Club were playing in the Grantham & District Sunday League, and this looked like a good opportunity, albeit a possibly risky one, to pay them a visit.

In fairness, they’d played every game scheduled so far this season, so I didn’t have any doubts as such about their commitment to the cause, it’s just the other factors that can come into play that were the concerns.

So, you drive down Old Post Lane and then to your left, next to some nice new houses is a driveway that loops round the edges of the sports ground, while at the very end is a small car park that sits between the main pitch and the clubhouse / dressing rooms.

It was very tidy, the pitch was in excellent condition, with dugouts on one side and a rope down the other. Two sides of the ground were banked up, while a couple of storage containers sat close to the pitch, presumably for equipment etc. In fact with the bar and the dressing rooms, it was a very good venue indeed and a real asset to the village and local football in general.

But, as you drive in, the best sight of all is two sets of players warming up, but, not only that, the away team has come on a bus, this must be a big game for them, or, they can claim the costs back off the gate receipts, minus the hosts clubs cost for stewarding and floodlights etc!!

I jest, but one or two had turned up to watch the game to be fair, but how did it go?

If you were from Colsterworth, not very well, especially not in the first half because you were 6-0 down at half time against a very competent Lincoln Moorlands side that in all probability had a number of players who turned out for the clubs Step 7 side in the Lincolnshire League. You could see the gulf in quality from outset.

It could have been more though, the slightly animated referee turned down two blatant penalties, and more chances went begging. Lincoln were very good, the hosts looked like they just wanted it over with.

I predicted double figures, I’ll be honest, but the second period was a different game to a large degree. Lincoln started well but Colsterworth really put up a good fight, scoring twice and only conceding once more. Yes, Lincoln had the game won, but they were still determined and certainly didn’t take the foot off the gas, it’s just the hosts found a determination and belief they didn’t have in the first half.

The final whistle was the signal, and before you had chance to slap your beer gut, the first case of Stella was open and the cans cracked before the lads had even left the pitch. it was going to be a good journey back to Lincoln, and so it should be, because let’s be honest, that’s what Sunday football is all about isn’t it?