Grantham Town 1 Belper Town 1
Although Grantham is only 48 miles away on the satnav it is a tortuous 48 miles that can take well over an hour to reach via the A52. The ground itself (The South Kesteven Sports Stadium) is part of a sports complex so you are welcomed into a large car park and the back of the main stand, which is huge. The drawback to this is the 8 lane running track around the pitch which makes viewing from behind the goals without binoculars totally impractical.
First people we bump into are Nortoner and the Duchess sitting, nay basking, in the glorious sunshine that always seems to be shining in Grantham, although to be fair it was August the last time we visited. After a brief chat we dropped into the boardroom to meet up with Tony T, Ian Wright and Hugh Robinson who was playing kit chauffeur for the day.
Once we had had the compulsory coffee it was a slow stroll around the perimeter. I decided that a quick ‘call of nature’ trip would be welcomed after the coffee. I saw the toilet sign at the end of the stand and as I mounted the stairs I saw the two door with a large handicapped sign between them. Thinking we were in a unisex modern stadium I battered my way through the first door. Odd I thought, no urinals in here, oh well it’s 2009 so into a cubicle – job done, hand wash, out of the door to find the rest of the BTFC (including Ian & Denni Harcourt) standing laughing. Not only that but Scribbler was pointing his camera phone at me. It appears that I had inadvertently chosen the Ladies (the signs were about 20 feet in the air above the doors !). I can’t believe they took a photo of me coming out of the ladies!!! As if I’d do anything like that to them ???
After strolling around the track and past the stand on the far side, we made it back to the starting point where Ken and the Duchess were waiting. Ken pointed out that the Grantham steward had said that only the ‘official Belper Town photographer’ was allowed to take pictures. I approached him and he asked to see my pass and then advised that I could only stand pitchside on the grass (NOT on the running track), and I was not allowed to photograph the crowd
. Didn’t seem to be a problem as that was exactly what I had come for.
An injury to Barney early on was a bad start for Belper and we never seemed to get going after that blow. I had started with the 1.4x extender but I was having a problem with the focussing so midway through the first half I took it off. Happy with some of the snaps I had got but disappointed with a 0-0 scoreline at the break. Grantham still follow the Southern League way of having food at the END of the game so half time consisted of an apple.
Second half started more promisingly on the pitch but the camera seemed to be having problems focussing even without the extender in place. I decided to try another lens but found I had only got the 17-40 in the bag (stupid boy !). After much phaffing about (and shouts from Nortoner that he was going to report me for standing on the running track) I put the 70-200 back and it seemed to start working again. Might have been the bright sun on the bright yellow and bright white shirts.
Stevo fired in a free kick on 47 minutes that the keeper seemed slow to dive for and the ball nestled in the net for 1-0 Nailers. The keeper then spend the next 5 minutes (without exaggeration) 
swearing to himself very loudly. It was funny to start with but as it went on it became slightly disturbing.
Although Grantham is only 48 miles away on the satnav it is a tortuous 48 miles that can take well over an hour to reach via the A52. The ground itself (The South Kesteven Sports Stadium) is part of a sports complex so you are welcomed into a large car park and the back of the main stand, which is huge. The drawback to this is the 8 lane running track around the pitch which makes viewing from behind the goals without binoculars totally impractical.
First people we bump into are Nortoner and the Duchess sitting, nay basking, in the glorious sunshine that always seems to be shining in Grantham, although to be fair it was August the last time we visited. After a brief chat we dropped into the boardroom to meet up with Tony T, Ian Wright and Hugh Robinson who was playing kit chauffeur for the day.
Once we had had the compulsory coffee it was a slow stroll around the perimeter. I decided that a quick ‘call of nature’ trip would be welcomed after the coffee. I saw the toilet sign at the end of the stand and as I mounted the stairs I saw the two door with a large handicapped sign between them. Thinking we were in a unisex modern stadium I battered my way through the first door. Odd I thought, no urinals in here, oh well it’s 2009 so into a cubicle – job done, hand wash, out of the door to find the rest of the BTFC (including Ian & Denni Harcourt) standing laughing. Not only that but Scribbler was pointing his camera phone at me. It appears that I had inadvertently chosen the Ladies (the signs were about 20 feet in the air above the doors !). I can’t believe they took a photo of me coming out of the ladies!!! As if I’d do anything like that to them ???
After strolling around the track and past the stand on the far side, we made it back to the starting point where Ken and the Duchess were waiting. Ken pointed out that the Grantham steward had said that only the ‘official Belper Town photographer’ was allowed to take pictures. I approached him and he asked to see my pass and then advised that I could only stand pitchside on the grass (NOT on the running track), and I was not allowed to photograph the crowd
. Didn’t seem to be a problem as that was exactly what I had come for.An injury to Barney early on was a bad start for Belper and we never seemed to get going after that blow. I had started with the 1.4x extender but I was having a problem with the focussing so midway through the first half I took it off. Happy with some of the snaps I had got but disappointed with a 0-0 scoreline at the break. Grantham still follow the Southern League way of having food at the END of the game so half time consisted of an apple.
Second half started more promisingly on the pitch but the camera seemed to be having problems focussing even without the extender in place. I decided to try another lens but found I had only got the 17-40 in the bag (stupid boy !). After much phaffing about (and shouts from Nortoner that he was going to report me for standing on the running track) I put the 70-200 back and it seemed to start working again. Might have been the bright sun on the bright yellow and bright white shirts.
Stevo fired in a free kick on 47 minutes that the keeper seemed slow to dive for and the ball nestled in the net for 1-0 Nailers. The keeper then spend the next 5 minutes (without exaggeration) 
swearing to himself very loudly. It was funny to start with but as it went on it became slightly disturbing.Grantham increased the pressure and the eventual introduction of substitute David Brown seemed to do the trick. Leigh Walker made two good saves, the second one resulting in a corner that saw Chris Shaw equaliser.
Grantham then had a player dismissed for a second yellow after going straight through Danny. Ace shoved the player in the chest with both hands and was perhaps lucky to only get a yellow.
Overall it was a fair result on the performance, which was rather disappointing to be honest. A result that sees Belper drop to 4th although the game in hand will see then move back to 2nd if we pick up all three points.
Next up Kidsgrove Athletic
Grantham then had a player dismissed for a second yellow after going straight through Danny. Ace shoved the player in the chest with both hands and was perhaps lucky to only get a yellow.
Overall it was a fair result on the performance, which was rather disappointing to be honest. A result that sees Belper drop to 4th although the game in hand will see then move back to 2nd if we pick up all three points.
Next up Kidsgrove Athletic
Still reckon I should have reported you for standing on the running track. You even put your camera bag on it at one point!! Yes you did! I saw you! If I'd been allowed to take a picture I would have!
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