Nelson 1-0 Cheadle Town

Bloody Nelson.

For the second time in five days they took three points from a game where CTFC deserved some share of the spoils, and none more so than tonight. CTFC played champagne football for the vast majority of the 90 minutes and were so desperately unlucky to walk away from their final game of the season with nothing to show for their efforts.

As well as playing the same team again, the sense of deja vu was annexed by having the same referee as Saturday's match (how does that work out?) and the same gazette of comical decisions. I'll bypass the predictable moans and whinges about missed fouls and the like and get straight onto an incident that occurred towards the latter half of the second period.

Admittedly Polardin, Ian "Sweeney Todd" and I missed what was going on, but from hearsay it seemed that the referee got involved in something that surely wasn't his business: expelling a 15 year-old from the ground because "he was kicking a ball around behind the net" or something like that. We may be wrong and are prepared to be corrected on the matter but, similar to what happened on Saturday, the game got delayed for an unneccessarily lengthy period of time; long enough for players' muscles to get "cold" and spectators to get involved in equally unneccessary minor verbal altercations with each other.

Anyway, the referee's nonsense shouldn't detract from CTFC's five-star performance which bodes well for next season, the fact that Nelson FC have got a "nice little setup" at Victoria Park and is p*ss easy to find and the pies there are some of the best that the keepers of this particular blogging castle have tasted for a long, long time.

Roll on the World Cup.

Away Day Route: Nelson FC

If you got "yet another bloody" chocolate egg instead of sat-nav for Easter, here's where you can find Victoria Park, Nelson.
Click Here

Last Saturday's match: The Nelson view

Click on the link for a Nelson-based match report from CTFC's 1-2 reversal last Saturday. (Pictures...now there's an idea...)
Click Here

Cheadle Town 1-2 Nelson

And we thought the referees in the Premiership were bad...anyway, more about the man-in-black in a bit. CTFC took a well-deserved lead after a superbly-taken and superbly-celebrated goal from Dean Martin and looked good value for their lead after dominating the early play. Then the referee made sure that the roof caved in on Cheadle's day.

A foul that was so obviously committed outside the area on a Nelson forward suddenly turned into a penalty kick (that was converted); the teams going into the half-time break at 1-1.

In the second half, the referee-inspired comedy reached Python-esque levels. Martin Lindon received a slap in the face that was missed by the linesman ("I didn't see it - I was looking up and down my line" - hilarious!) which was then followed by a booking for a CTFC player because he refused to tell the referee which CTFCer had called him "a penis" behind his back! [step forward CTFC goalie Troy Whittle]. Park Road had become a primary school playground for the day.

By this time CTFC were 2-1 down after Troy had a "David James moment" and chasing a game they didn't deserve to be losing. Thanks to the referee's preference of holding lengthy discussions with the players there was quite a bit of stoppage time added on, during which two rasping drives were sent just wide of the Nelson posts as CTFC searched for the equaliser.

These two meet again on Wednesday night as the return league fixture is played out and CTFC's season comes to an end. I just might sod the UEFA Cup Final and find myself travelling up the M66....