Tuesday 21st October 2025 ko 19:45

Northern Premier League Division One Midlands

LONG EATON UNITED 1 (Taylor 11)

ANSTEY NOMADS 2 (Thomas 18 53)

Att 144

Entry £11

Programme £2

With Swedish Hop organiser Kim Hedwall still visiting us, I picked a game as much for who the host club’s media officer is than anything else. GroundhopUK’s Chris Berezai is originally from Bridgend but has lived in Long Eaton for well over 20 years. And other than organising more groundhops than anyone else, he’s also media team manager at Long Eaton United. Add Dan Bishop, the self-styled Poundland Peter Ustinov into the mix- he also is doing his “92” by rejection letter- he applies for every manager’s job going, and you have possibly the club least likely to ditch the printed programme!

Incidentally on the way to Grange Park you are almost certain to pass by the site of Long Eaton speedway track- just look out for Circuit Drive, which in turn leads to Speedway close. I visited the Invaders during their Jan Staechmann era, in the early 1990’s, but the track closed in 1997.

It felt like an eternity since I’d visited Long Eaton for football, well 2005 to be exact when my groundhopping aims added up to watching a game in each league down to Step 6, and Long Eaton was the southern outpost of the Northern Counties East! Clearly I have more lofty ambitions these days; you can blame Chris for that!

Sadly I don’t have any photos from back then, but suffice it to say I barely recognised the place 20 years later, with a new stand and hospitality room now in situ. I must say it was slightly odd sitting in a stand that wasn’t there on my last visit. In fact the only sadness was that I knew I’d have to make a sharp exit at the end. A work night and a post-midnight key in the door do not mix!

If course I jinxed the hosts, anyone who has read these articles would have seen it coming; this time is was the classic case of the visitors finishing their chances better. But of course things like this over time often settle entire seasons.

Nonetheless it was good to catch up with Chris, Dan and Grange Park and I yes do see Chris and Dan a lot more often then Long Eaton United!