Radcliffe Olympic 3-3 South Normanton Athletic
East Midlands Counties Premier League
Wednesday 24th May 2017
Radcliffe-on-Trent is a large village and civil parish in the Rushcliffe borough of Nottinghamshire. (population over 8,000)
The village name derives from its location on the River Trent, where there are dark red cliffs on the south river bank, with "Rad" being the Old English word for red.
Radcliffe Olympic formed in 1876 (the third oldest club in Notts)
Notts Alliance:Champions 1900–01
Division Two champions 1931–32
South Notts League Champions 1931–32
Notts Realm League Division One champions 1946–47
Midlands Amateur League winners in 1965-66(Div 6) 1966-67(Div 4) 1967-68(Div 3)
Central Alliance Premier Division Champions 1969-70
East Midlands Regional League Division 1 Champions 1970-71
Central Alliance Premier Division Champions 1980-81
Central Midlands League:
Division One champions 1990–91
Senior Division champions 2002–03
Premier Division champions 2003–04
Supreme Division champions 2008–09
Joined East Midlands Counties League in 2009-10
Highest placed finish is 5th in their debut season.
Wharf Lane Recreation Ground
The ground has a covered stand running up one half of the pitch towards the dugouts. The stand has a single bench running full length. The changing rooms and tea bar are behind the goal, which has a few chairs at the front under the overhanging roof. The pitch is fully railed off with three floodlight pylons on each side. The Recreation Ground is down a slope off Wharf Lane, where you could easily watch the match from the park on top of the hill, but obviously that wouldn’t count! (see bottom pic)
Radcliffe Olympic(10th) v South Normanton Athletic(3rd)
East Midlands Counties Premier League Matchday 42
Kick off.7.45pm
Att.TBC (57hc)
The East Midlands Counties League season was wrapped up at the beginning of the month, apart from this outstanding fixture which was ordered to be replayed. The original game was abandoned due to an horrific injury with the home team leading 2-1 with just ten minutes left. I was expecting a typical end of season game, but it turned out to be a feisty affair with obvious bad feelings over the rearranged match.
The hosts raced into a two goal lead courtesy of an own goal and Sam Adams firing home from the penalty spot on 35 minutes. The Shiners finally got into gear before the break with a Tommy Leighton penalty and Warren Hatfield heading in a free kick at the far post. At half time the three of us gave our predictions on the final score and we were all agreed that it would finish 3-3, which proved to be correct.
Rad regained the lead when Liam Smallwood scrambled home just before the hour mark, but their chances of wrapping up the three points wasn’t helped by the dismissal of their centre-forward for two yellows, quickly followed by their irate manage being sent to the stand for his reaction to the decision.
The equaliser arrived in the 82nd minute when the ball fell nicely to Leighton on the edge of the box, who produced a neat volley to secure a point, which sees his side finish league runners-up to champions West Bridgford.
Matchday Stats
ROFC 3(9OG 9 Adams 35pen Smallwood 59)
SNAFC 3(Leighton 37, 83 Hatfield 43)
Entertainment 7/10
Top bloke - Tommy Leighton (South Normanton Ath)
Spondoolicks
Admission £5
Programme £1(missed out)
Pin badge £3.50
Coffee £1
#HeedHopper
This was a nice bonus match/new ground for Katie, Lee and I, as we headed off to Notts at around 2pm with Katie taking the wheel in “Blossom”. We stopping off in Bingham for a drink at the Waggon & Horses, with bait partaking at The Butter Cross, before the short drive to Radcliffe-on-Trent. The ground is found in the heart of the village with its oldest pub - The Manvers Arms on the corner of Wharf Lane, where we had time to call inside for a pre-match bevvy.
The return journey saw me arrive back at 100FgC HQ at 12.45am, the late homecoming worthwhile after adding an unexpected extra ground to this season’s list.