Thursday 19th July 2012 ko 7.00pm

Pre-Season Friendly

DESFORD 0

LUTTERWORTH ATHLETIC 1 (Laxton 30p)

Att 22 (h/c)

Played at Kirkby Road, Desford.

It was, I suppose the classic reason to do a pre-season friendly, a ground not normally used for Saturday football. With the pitch at Peckleton Road, being relaid, and improved drainage being installed, this fixture was moved across town to Kirkby Road. It’s very much a community facility, the facade of the changing room block reflecting the multi-cultural nature of the community here. Mind you, I didn’t know that the Simpsons live in Desford!

This part of Leicestershire is a former coal mining area, reflected in the pit wheel used as a logo by the home team. Nearby is Market Bosworth, where to the south in 1485 the House of Lancaster led by Henry Tudor, beat the House of York led by Richard III who was hacked to death during the battle, ending the Plantagenet dynasty.  It must be an unlucky place as Lady Jane Grey was born here, before being beheaded 16 or 17 years later after being monarch for only 9 days.

None of which seemed relevant on an evening where the weather was as wet as the football was uninspired. I was fortunate to have company in the form of Lee West, together with the self-styled poor man’s Peter Ustinov, Dan Bishop. Dan’s general manager of Newhall United latterly of the Leicestershire Senior League, and its fair to say his view of that league is less than complimentary! He kept us entertained through 3 dire periods of 30 minutes, where we got throughly soaked.

What seemed to be lost on Desford was the word, ” Friendly.” The tackles were consistantly late, and they took full advantage of the convention that no-one gets a card in a pre-season friendly. If the same tactics get used during the regular season, they’ll be fundraising to pay the disciplinary fines. We did get a goal, just before the end of the 1st third, Ben Laxton picking himself up after being chopped down in the box, to put away the penalty. After that it was simply a case of whiling away the time until the players finished. For that Dan and Lee’s presence was greatly appreciated.