Maltby Main (27-10-2020)

Maltby Main 1 - 3 Eccleshill (NCEFL Premier), Tuesday 27 October 2020

Petrol estimate £2-50
Entry £5
Programme £1-50
Total £9

Football is back! (well, temporarily at least). I'm not sure where to start with all the recent events, but I suppose a visit to a ground (and a match) is as good as any. Maltby Main proved to be one of the few NCEFL matches which survived tonight's fixture list (the weather, as well as Covid, is now interfering with the beautiful game). 

To be frank, it felt like the actual match was sideshow today. It was just good to be back in a ground for live sport again. My visit was mainly focused on safety; getting in and out safely, sorting the NHS app and keeping the crucial 'social distance' from others. It was also a freezing evening, with an icy blast occasionally sweeping across Malty Main's exposed ground.

The game pitted early high-fliers Maltby against mid-table Eccleshill (from Bradford). I visited Eccleshill's ground a while ago, while en route to a match at nearby Thackley. From the start, it was evident that these were two evenly matched sides. Maltby had the early share of the chances, with 7 rattling the post, before Mitchell Dunne (coming in from the left) cut inside and scored a lovely goal into the top corner.

But the tables were turned in the second half. Eccleshill's Luke Aldrich equalised on 51 minutes and then an awful fumble by the Maltby keeper allowed Alexander Laird to make it 2-1 to the away side. The home players gave the keeper the silent treatment as he fished the ball out of the net. There was a bit of a game of tug of war, as the teams fought for supremacy. It could perhaps have gone either way at this stage, but Eccleshill made certain of 3 points with an 83rd-minute goal from Jonathan Irving. One peculiar aspect of today's match was that the post had been hit at least 4-5 times. I'm not sure if anyone keeps stats on this kind of thing, but this match may have scored highly if so. It was great to be back after so many months away, and I'm just glad I was able to visit (given circumstances in the wider world).