Saturday 15th October 2022 ko 15:00

Central Midlands League Cup 1st Round

TEVERSAL 1 (Fletcher 23)

Fletcher sent off 45 (2nd booking)

DERBY SINGH BROTHERS 1 (Lawrence 43p)

No extra time, Teversal won 5-4 on penalties

Att 33

Entry £3

Programme £1

As a groundhopper there are always occasional grounds that seem to pass you by. In the case of Teversal, I always imagined the Northern Counties East Hop would visit Carnarvon Street, but two things happened, first the club seemed sufficiently unhappy at the whole procedure neither league nor organisers dared to ask them, and then they got relegated back to the Central Midlands League, where ironically we could actually feature them now. I wonder; they’ve certainly got the ground!

Teversal is four-square in the middle of Nottinghamshire Coal Mining country, the football is at one of Carnarvon Street; the Earl of Carnarvon was Lord of the Manor here, and it did take a little getting used to, to not spell the name Welsh-style ie “Caernarfon!” Outside the ground is a trail marking the site of the former Silverhill colliery, and look out for the pitchside barrier as it’s made of rails and the cable from coal mine’s winding gear. 

But sadly that elegant piece of repurposing isn’t what Carnarvon Street is famous for. No that would be another piece of clever re-use the former Tesco trolley shelters used as cover behind the far goal. Truthfully I’m not sure why that’s the case, the Tesco shelter solution can be seen at a few other grounds, Esh Winning being one that springs to mind. 

But for all the quirks and history what I’ll remember is a friendly club with club secretary Kev Newton at the front and centre of all things. The tea in the hospitality was much appreciated as winter began to make its presence felt, and his comment that the club may not be in the Northern Counties East any more, but are still trying to conduct themselves as if their diminution is a temporary set-back.

The game was a committed and occasionally fiery affair. Teversal’s Danny Fletcher scored, but picked up two yellow cards in less than a minutes and so got first dibs at the half time oranges. As for Derby Singh Brothers Simeon Lawrence scored one penalty, but missed his team’s first kick in the shootout, with his being the only miss. I’m not sure either team deserved the win, but I couldn’t really begrudge Kev and Teversal the place in the next round.