Saturday 21st July 2012 ko 3pm

Pre-Season Friendly

KETTERING NOMADS 3 (Ingham 20p Langley 64 Payne 82)

THRAPSTON TOWN 7 (Gilsenan 7 Thompson 51 74 89 Arnold 73 Petranyuk 80 84)

Att 16 (h/c)

Played at Victory Field, Catworth, Cambs

Entry FREE

Nothing for Sale

Another in a my series of grounds you can’t normally do on a Saturday, this pitch, is only used for Sunday football. The village is only just over the border from Northamptonshire, used to be in Huntingdonshire, and is now in Cambridgeshire. I noticed that this is roughly where the land begins to level out, as you head towards East Anglia.

There’s a well-appointed clubhouse, and a rather laconic game of mixed doubles was taking place on the tennis court. Underneath the mulberry trees the groundsman silently observed the afternoon’s entertainment.

The game pitted Northants Combination Division One Nomads against United Counties League Division One Thrapston, a gap of two promotions. Of course I’d seen Thrapston a week or so earlier so when manager Paul Lenaghan spotted me, clipboard in hand, he laughed, ” Couldn’t you find some decent football to watch?” That of course is selling his embryonic side short, as they’re a good watch, and on the evidence of this fixture the side’s shaping up nicely.

If last time they made a slow start, then found their feet later, then this was the exact opposite. Jamie Gilsenan’s goal was scant reward for 15 minutes of utter domination, and they were denied what even the Nomads bench admitted was a clear penalty. But as the half wore up the concentration began to wilt, and a silly penalty allowed Nomads back into the game. The rest of the half was relatively even, in fact what swung the tie back in Thrapston’s favour was the introduction of Jake Thompson at half time.

The bald facts state that Thompson notched a superbly taken hat-trick, but he brought better play from those around him, particularly Taras Petranyuk. 5 goals between them speaks volumes, and whilst some of that success can be attributed to a tiring opposition, that opposition did still manage to score twice during that time!

All in all a hugely enjoyable afternoon out, and (say it quietly) the sun shone!