Cotgrave FC
Woodview
Cotgrave
Nottingham
NG12 3PG
Ground Number: 1015
Friday 22nd October 2021
Friday 22nd October 2021
Cotgrave 0-1 Keyworth United
Notts Senior Premier
COTGRAVE FC - A BRIEF HISTORY
The club was established in 1946 and originally played in the South Notts Realm League. They've been known under various names during their history, from 1983 Cotgrave United following a merger with the local Colliery side. From 1991 until 2002, they were known as Cotgrave Miners Welfare, then as Cotgrave Colliery Welfare. In 2006 they were known as Cotgrave Welfare and then from 2011 as Cotgrave following a merger with the local ladies and juniors teams. They've spent the vast majority of their history in the Notts Senior League. Detail online is scarce but they were champions in 2007. They've been long time members of the top tier, their best finish in recent years being 3rd in 2015. Local cup honours include the Notts Senior League Cup in 2017.
Cotgrave is a small town in Nottinghamshire, which has a population of 8,000. It is five miles from Nottingham city centre. It lies on the Grantham Canal and for some years was a mining town. The colliery opened in 1962, with some 500 workers given incentives of furnished homes to move from the recently closed Radford mine. This led to a population boom which increased from 700 to 5,000 within a short space of time. The local economy was devastated by the mine's closure in 1993–94, which caused much bitterness. Like most Nottinghamshire mines, Cotgrave had continued working through the National Union of Mineworkers-declared 1984–85 miners' strike. Many took the view that this allegiance to the then Conservative government was betrayed. On its closure, it was reported that the seams had millions of tons of coal reserves but these were of insufficient quality. Local residents, however, recount that the mine was shut because of geological faults, the encounter of a subterranean stream and subsequent flood problems, and the growing remoteness of the seam face from the shaft, which drastically increased the cost of bringing the coal to the surface. The shafts were filled with concrete on closure and all associated buildings were demolished. The local economy has improved considerably as Cotgrave is surrounded by an affluent area with low unemployment. Many of the mineworkers who hailed from the North East stayed in Cotgrave, built homes and raised families. The colliery is now a local Country park with a lake and various species of wildlife.
MY VISIT
It hadn't been long since my last groundhop, but I always love a Friday night game. I'd spotted this game on Wednesday in the Football Traveller Magazine and Chris confirmed later that he was keen. I confirmed on Thursday and made dinner arrangements as well as researching the club history from the limited information that I could find. We'd been meaning to do it for a while, but always chose other options before. Cotgrave had not supplied happy memories for me so far. On my first hop with Chris back in 2016, we'd been to Ollerton. We were coming back on the dual carriageway when a fox ran out in from of me, causing plenty of damage to my bumper. Luckily it was covered by insurance and a no claims bonus but I still had to pay the £350 excess. Another of the little blighters run out of me on a future groundhop not long after and this time I paid for the repairs myself as I didn't fancy claiming again and that time was about £900. I've since sacked off the shoddily built Renault Megane and learned to choose my routes better, as well as whacking the full beams on whenever possible. Since then, various species of wildlife have jaywalked in front of my car, but happily, for both parties, there have been no more incidents for some time.
Thursday had been a bit hectic for me with me getting home at 3.30, completing my blog for my visit to Winterton on Wednesday and doing the research for this blog. I had a load of things to do but I'm never one to turn down the chance to do a game with company. It had been a busy time in that respect with the games coming thick and fast. Once the cold and wet sets in, things start to thin out, so there's no harm in getting in whilst the going is good. The day of the game saw me working and with it being really busy, the time went quickly. I left just after 3 and with time to spare, took the back route through Aylesbury. I was with Chris at 4.40 and with plenty of traffic before and after meeting him, we were in Cotgrave at 6.15. I had my usual salt and pepper chips along with chicken in garlic sauce at the Canton Express takeaway. Both were decent with us eating them back at the ground. There was time to relax before kick-off and I walked around and got some photos.
Cotgrave were not having the best of seasons and sat in 14th place, just outside of the relegation zone. This was demonstrated in their league form, with their only win of the season coming against Woodthorpe Park Rangers as they triumphed 2-1 on 17th August although they'd also won 3-2 against West Bridgford in the League Cup. Their last game was a 1-1 draw against Aslockton & Orton and they'd lost 3-1 at Southwell City, 3-2 at Sandiacre Town and 4-2 at FC Sez in recent times. Keyworth United were in good form. In their last five, they had beaten FC Sez 2-1, AFC Dunkirk 3-0 and won 5-1 at FC Cavaliers. They'd also drawn 2-2 with Awsworth Villa and their only loss came in an exciting fashion as they went down 6-5 at Ilkeston Town FCB. The hosts were in Claret with the visitors in white. It was a local derby with less than four miles separating the two sides. Keyworth took the lead on 23 minutes, a ball from the right was put in and a Keyworth man finished from point-blank range. Five minutes later, a Cotgrave man got clear but his last touch was too heavy and the goalkeeper gathered the ball. The hosts were coming back into it and they had a good spell, hitting the left-hand post. It was an end to end game but Keyworth seemed to be getting the rub of the green on decisions, having a lot of free-kicks but not really doing anything with them. The visitors were on top at the start of the second period and came close to extending their lead. Cotgrave had their own good spell on 75 minutes and it took a couple of goalmouth scrambles to keep them out. Keyworth had a chance to seal the game from the penalty spot ten minutes from time but the ball hit the bar and bounced away. It could have cost them but their keeper made a good save with his feet right at the end to see out the win.
The goal and a couple of other bits from tonight as Keyworth won 1-0 at Cotgrave. pic.twitter.com/EX5et4Dk0G
— ⚽Russell Cox💙 (@RussWWFC) October 22, 2021
There had been around 70 in attendance and it had been a decent local derby to watch. Keyworth had deserved the win, but Cotgrave must be rueing their missed chances. We left around 9.30, listening to the Two Hundred Percent podcast on the way home. I dropped Chris off at 10.50, getting home myself 50 minutes later with a decent journey. I stayed up until around 1 to do my blog, looking forward to the Wycombe Wanderers v Crewe Alexandra game the next day.
THE GROUND
WOODVIEW is a decent setup for step 7. There's a temporary barrier around the pitch, plus some had standing. There's also a small amount of cover thanks to an overhang plus a few picnic tables to sit down on. There are basic food and drink facilities or a decent range of takeaways within 10 minutes walk. There's also plenty of parking at the ground.
