Although I had already seen all the Derbyshire first teams that play in the top eleven tiers of English football, I had not seen games played on all of their grounds. Today allowed me to complete a fairly unique double.
The game itself saw 18th place Dronfield host 4th place Grimsby Borough at a Stonelow ground that was quite tidy with a small stand that was filled with spectators that appeared to be, mostly, from Grimsby. The pitch slightly sloped away, width ways, from the stand and a smell of mothballs filled the air, reminding me of the gasworks clean-up jobs by company gets involved in.
The rain came down and the pitch got skiddy. Tackles went flying in and the referee was kept busy with the issuing of yellow cards.
Grimsby looked the better side throughout but it took them 'til mid-way through the second half to take the lead. A diagonal, defence splitting, pass from the right was perfectly weighted for the striker to run onto, and from 8 yards out, to the left of goal, it was calmly dispatched.
Ten minutes from time and the win was sealed. A cross from the left wing found the striker on the penalty spot and a composed finish saw the ball fly past the left hand of the 'keeper.
A stroll up hill back to the car park and an hours' drive got me home.
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