Ravens force a Replay

Coalville Town FC 1 (Hempenstall 80')

Grimsby Town FC 1 (Rodman 51')

FA Trophy First Round Proper, 30th November 2013

Attendance - 844

The FA trophy, effectively the middle brother of the big cups to be won with the FA Cup and FA Vase also. In some respects it gets overlooked by a lot of clubs, often with the 'smaller' clubs seeing this as an opportunity to play at Wembley. This was a classic example of that with a number of Step 4 teams playing Conference teams and coming out very impressing. I have to say a big well done to fellow NPL1S teams Gresley and Leek Town who went down 2-1 at Wrexham and won 2-1 at Altrincham respectively, both were fantastic results and I wish Leek all the best in the competition. Tamworth beat Macclesfield Town 2-0 to set up a 2nd round tie against Boston.

This was the biggest game that Coalville have played at their home ground Owen Street and they went all out for the occasion. This was shown by the change in admission prices, rising understandably for the day but still at a good and affordable price. The programme has got a banner saying 'Commemorative Edition' on the top and the ground was segregated and became host to many more food outlets, showing the importance of this game on the history of Coalville Town. All credit to the club and the town who saw lots of volunteers make a noticeable difference to the ground and organising so many fans.

I've already been to Owen Street this season when they played Leek Town in the league, drawing 0-0 in front of about a quarter of the ground compared to the Grimsby game. Staff and supporters alike are always very friendly and it is a very pleasant place to be, especially when sunny. The ground is located down a narrow road just away from the town centre, next to the local cricket teams pitch. A good sized seating stand is located down one side with the dugouts on the opposite side to this and behind one goal is covered stand which usually houses the Coalville flags. There is usually 1 or 2 food vans, a club shop, club office, seating for both clubs officials and a club house for both football and cricket teams. Overall it's a fair size for the NPL1S and all facilities are good, but as the club look to possibly progress up the Non League ladder then they may need to invest.

I got to the ground early so that the Town wasn't too congested and to make sure I got a programme, I paid my £6 admission and purchased the special programme for £2.50 and started making my way around the ground which had already started to fill up. It seemed a lot different to usual but the effort was worth it as it was being well used, I sat around half way in the stand and tried to get myself warm. As the match started Coalville showed their intent. Attack seemed to be the best way of defence and the 'ball over the top' was certainly a tactic used throughout however it did sometimes work, the quick attackers had the ability to beat the Grimsby defence and you couldn't tell the gap of 3 leagues early on.

The rest of the first half saw a close encounter between the two sides, both troubled a number of times. Coalville's best chance came when a free kick was deflected but the Grimsby keeper made a very good save and the ball was knocked away but really you could see that Grimsby would be dangerous on the break. It felt that Coalville would have to score in order to get a draw from the game as it was only a matter of time before Grimsby showed their skill with a very strong team selection, but at Half time it ended goalless.

Half Time: Coalville Town 0-0 Grimsby Town

My prediction happened soon after the start of the second half, as Grimsby scored a very good goal but the linesman flagged on the far side for off-side, a massive let off for Coalville there! strangely
this happened again only a couple of minutes later when a close range headed goal was ruled out for off-side but that looked more clear than the first one, somehow it still remained 0-0 after these two scares but not for long. On 51 minutes Alex Rodman curled in a lovely shot straight into the top corner of the net for Grimsby Town 1-0 Coalville Town.

From here on the game became tight once more, it have swung either way but seemed Grimsby had made their impact already shown. Coalville became more attacking but risked giving away more chances at the back, but this was rewarded in the 80th minute. Carney played a lovely pass into the path of Hempenstall who calmly slotted beyond McKeown. Coalville 1-1 Grimsby.

Both sides had chances to find a winning goal but as the full time whistle was blown it ended 1-1, meaning a reply in Grimsby the Tuesday after. It was a very good game played in tough conditions and great to see such a performance from Coalville, everyone involved with the club should be proud.

Full Time: Coalville Town 1-1 Grimsby Town

Admission - £6 (Concessions, £10 Adults, prices for that game only)
Programme - £2.50 (Commemorative edition, larger than usual)

Entertainment - 4/5
Price - 3.5/5 (Prices raised for this game, understandably)
Programme - 4/5 (Very good, large, lots of good notes and write ups, detailed results and tables etc, all in colour)
Facilities - 4/5 (More put in place for this game with larger crowd and segregation, usually a 3/5)

Pictures all taken by me