Tuesday 3rd September 2013 ko 18.15

North Leicestershire League Premier Division

KEGWORTH IMPERIAL 0

GREENHILL Y.C. 4 (Morris 3 Mason 49 Nelson 52 70)

Att 49

Entry FREE

Nothing for sale

Sometimes I can sit there with a copy of the Football Traveller and there isn’t a fixture that grabs me. Its daft, a weekly magazine with around a thousand fixtures in, a case perhaps of Bruce Springsteen’s “57 channels and nothing on..”  In the end Newhall United secretary Dan Bishop suggested this one, after I asked for something low level. Dan never, ever lets you down…..

Kegworth is only just in Leicestershire, it sits on the River Soar, which forms the boundary with Nottinghamshire. It’s close to the M1, which seems fitting as over the centuries the village has benefitted from the roads, even to the extent that in 1555 an Act of Parliament was passed ordering every man in the parish to work for four (later six) days a year on the roads with each farmer having to provide horses and carts according to his land holding.

Sadly the area is most famous for the Kegworth air disaster, when in 1989 the British Midland Flight 92, a Boeing 737, crashed onto the embankment of the M1 whilst attempting an emergency landing at East Midlands Airport.  Of the 126 people aboard, 47 died and 74 were injured.

Kegworth play at the King George V playing field. Its on the Nottingham Road, tucked away just beyond the village centre. Its a pretty location, but the trick here is to walk around, there’s views of Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station, the planes approaching the airport, and the Parish Church of St Andrew which dates from 1387.

Walk around was all that one side were able to do, because this visit saw something I’ve not seen before in, 1493 football grounds visited- two away teams turned up. The cause was as daft as it was straightforward, the League’s own website had the visitors as Greenhill, but the FA’s “Fulltime,” site had the opposition as Genesis, and with a 6.30 kick-off to boot. Eventually the correct opposition was ascertained and the Genesis team sat glumly on the low wooden fence and watched the game. I have to say the Loughborough-based side took the disappointment well, perhaps the fact that they’re a Christian side helped.

 I suspect that whatever the away side, the result would have been the same. Kegworth’s record was played two, lost two, and they didn’t look likely to break their duck on this evening. When your confidence is low the last thing you want is to concede early. Kegworth did, Danny Morris slamming home, and for the rest of the game Imperial looked toothless up front and suspect at the back. Sadly for them, and perhaps for the unfortunate Genesis watching, the goals came at regular intervals thereafter, and for the two neutrals watching the game looked over well before half-time.

It wound down gently, the referee playing no stoppage time, partly due to mercy and partly due to failing light. I slipped away as the goals were being dismantled, pondering whether my exodus should come with a trip to Genesis. It would improve my numbers after all.