ALBION WIN AT BURTON

Pre Season Friendly

BURTON JOYCE FC 1 NETHERFIELD ALBION FC 3

Having only found out about this friendly on Friday evening, I decided that the Poplars Sports Ground was where I was heading. Burton Joyce folded around two seasons ago, shortly after the Groundhop, but now new people have re erected the name of the club and they have entered the Notts Senior League Division Two, in this match they hosted Division One club and close rivals Netherfield Albion.

After dropping Shawn off at 10am, the wife drove me to Hucknall, where I got the tram in to Nottingham and then the bus to Burton Joyce before the walk along the lane to the ground. Thee first person I met was a chap who was deaf and I asked him who he played for and he replied Nottingham Deaf and they were playing Burton Joyce at 1pm, which confused me at first, then his mate arrived with a cricket bat, then I realised that he was on about cricket!

The pavillion was soon open and I popped in there and soon both sides arrived and the hello;s were said.

I strolled up to pitchside and referee Derek Spray arrived and we had a chat and found he only lives up the road from me and he offer me a lift home, so a big thankyou to Derek.

The game kicked off and Netherfield were first out the blocks and could well have been a goal to the good after just 20 seconds but the striker fired over the bar from close range. Netherfield seemed to be in control of the midfield whilst Burton Joyce held a strong back line. After 15 minutes, Burton Joyce began to come more in to the game as they found their feet and tested the Albion keeper a couple of times.

After 40 minutes, a Albion attacker was bought down inside the area and Mr Spray quite rightly pointed to the spot, to which Albion converted to take the lead.

The Second Half, Burton Joyce came out and pressed forward but this left gaps at the back and in the 53rd minute, a low rifled shot from a Netherfield attacker found the corner of the net to double their lead to 2-0.

On the hour, a Netherfield corner from the left side was met by a attacker who headed them in to a 3-0 lead. At this stage, I was wondering how many, but to Burton Joyce;s credit, their heads didnt go down and they carried on playing football and after 71 minutes, they clawed a goal back when a delightful chip beat the outcoming keeper.

A very good entertaining match which was played in the right spirit and a good performance as well by the referee.

With the 4 goals scored, it now takes the Charity Blogs running total to a amazing £887.75p for Maggies Cancer Care Centre at Nottingham City Hospital.

The photos from the match can be seen on this LINK