Rushall Olympic: Dales Lane

Rushall Olympic 0-2 Coalville Town

In this day and age, it's not about what you can't do but instead what you can do. Currently, Step 7 of the English football pyramid is the highest level where spectators are allowed to watch matches. With the pandemic still playing it's part in day to day life, things are unlikely to change anytime soon. With this in mind, Adrian and I (Ross) have taken this as an opportunity to watch some non-league football. So far, Adrian has seen Hinckley AFC, Barwell and we've both seen Coalville Town against both Leiston and Redditch United.
Today, both Adrian and I are seeing separate matches just 8 miles apart. I'm going to see Rushall Olympic vs Coalville Town where both sides are unbeaten. Adrian is seeing bottom of the table Hednesford Town vs 2nd place Stratford Town.
Adrian was originally planning to watch Nuneaton Borough vs St Ives Town however this was postponed due to one of the St Ives' players testing positive for Coronavirus.
My friend Josh picked me up at around 1pm and we made the journey down the M42 to Tamworth and went across the A5 towards Muckley Corner before following the Lichfield Road towards Rushall.
We arrived at the ground parking the car in the club car park and headed to the turnstiles for our mandatory temperature checks and to scan ourselves in on the NHS Track & Trace App before being allowed through the turnstiles. Whilst we waited for another friend of ours who lives nearby to arrive, we went into the clubhouse where we had a pre match pint.
Dales Lane is a typical quirky looking non-league football ground which has recently been refurbished with a new 3G pitch. The ground is situated on a slope which is evident looking at the newly laid level artificial pitch. There are stands on three sides of the ground with a clubhouse and changing rooms behind one of the goals.
With both sides starting the match unbeaten in the league, the first half turned out to be a very even contest. Coalville’s team featured a duo of ex-professional footballers in Billy Kee up front and Saul Deeney in goal who both started while Rushall’s team featured ex-professional footballer Michael Kightly who started on the bench failing to make an appearance during the match. Both sides had a number of half-chances however failed to test either goalkeeper, until a long range shot by Joe Doyle-Charles hit a powerful effort from distance which surprised the Olympic goalkeeper, Jonathan Flatt, who could only palm away to the arriving Luke Shaw who hammered home the rebound to put the visitors ahead five minutes before half time.
In the Second Half, Coalville Town stepped up a gear and dominated the majority of the possession and continued to test Rushall's goalkeeper. As they mounted the pressure, a cross from the left was whipped into the six yard box and deflected off Rushall Olympic's Sam Whittall making it 0-2 to the Ravens. With plenty of time to go and knowing 0-2 is a precarious scoreline, Coalville kept the majority of the possession restricting Rushall to any potential chances and saw the game out taking all three points back to the East Midlands in front of a decent crowd of 447 people. This result sent Coalville Town to the top of the table joint with Needham Market who could only get a 1-1 draw at Banbury United with the Raven’s remain unbeaten in the league.

The non-league scene is proving to be very enjoyable and is filling the void of the professional game well. With nearly 450 people attending today, clubs from Step 7 and below can really benefit from the Government restricting fans attending 'Elite' football matches and could even find themselves with a few more new supporters. In the matches we have seen so far, they have been played with honesty, hard work and passion and that's all supporters want to see. This won't be the last non-league fixture for me this season!

Rushall Olympic

Tuesday, 6 January 2009

Dales Lane

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