Written by Max
Ground #33
The Parish – Selston FC
Wednesday 2nd March 2022 – Nottinghamshire Senior Cup Quarter Final
Selston (Step 5) 1-4 Nottingham Forest U23
Attendance: 941
Entry: £6
Selston FC were founded in 1968 as a Sunday League club, moving into Saturday football in 1986. The club have then spent the majority of their existence in Step 7 of the pyramid focusing on their youth teams and community aspects of the club. In recent years the first team have had some success on the pitch with 2 promotions getting them up to their current Step 5 level. As far as I know they are one of the only clubs at this level that still do not pay their players. Many of their current squad have been with the team for years showing there can still be loyalty within non league football and for some it isn’t all about chasing the money.
Today’s game saw the Parishioners come up against a Nottingham Forest Academy side and the clubs previous record crowd of 515 was almost doubled with the local community coming out in force to see their team.
The first half saw Forest shooting downhill and the visitors almost had the lead immediately but a fantastic save from the Selston keeper kept it level. The reds continued to look a step above though and took the lead in the 15th minute. Surprisingly to us the goal was met with near silence as it seemed the majority of the crowd were hoping for a Selston win.
Forest continued to dominate but it was Selston who managed to get up the other end and win a penalty against the run of play. Sadly though it was saved! The hosts then had another huge chance with a corner going all the way across and somehow avoiding everyone as it trickled along the 6 yard box. Despite this improvement from Selston, right on half time the visitors doubled their lead!
Into the second half we went and now it was Selston’s turn to be shooting down hill. This seemed to be a huge advantage as they looked much improved. 3 or 4 chances came and went and it really didn’t look to be their night as Forest slotted home a breakaway 3rd against the run of play. On the 75th minute though the big moment finally came! A great finish from around 20 yards sent the 900 plus fans wild and they had their goal! They certainly deserved it!
The pitch was really starting to cut up now after a day of really heavy rain. The club had done an amazing job managing to get the game on but it was getting really heavy now. This possibly got to the Selston players as the Young Forest team managed to nick a 4th right at the end. A 4-1 final score definitely flattered the visitors but a good performance in tough conditions puts them into the Semi final.
Now to rate our evening at The Parish:
Location: 4/10
Selston is a large Village in Nottinghamshire just off the M1 with a population of around 12,000. The ground is on the western edge of the village and sadly didn’t seem to have any pubs nearby or any parking so we parked in a co op car park a few minutes away.
Selston doesn’t have a Train station but as mentioned above is easily accessible via the M1.
Kit: 8/10
Selston’s kit is blue and black stripes with black shorts and socks. A traditional and well liked combination which Emma was very impressed with. The white numbers stood out well on the back meaning it was easy to pick out players even from the far side of the pitch. The only downside we found was that, as with most striped kits, the sponsor was pretty hard to read as it didn’t stand out.
Facilities: 5/10
The clubhouse at Selston included a small bar area with seats and a tea bar. The walls were covered in Selston related memorabilia and hats and scarves as well as a darts board. With the huge crowd at today’s game everyone was packed into the bar and it was difficult to get a true perspective of the bar with it being so busy! Once we squeezed our way out of the clubhouse we then made the long walk round the cricket pitch to get round to the football pitch at the far side!
Look: 4/10
The Parish Hall sports ground is shared between the football club and Selston Town Cricket Club. This makes for a very unique set up with the football ground being 3 sided with the cricket square taking up the other side of the pitch. The football pitch is also the furthest side of the complex from the clubhouse so it is actually quite a walk between the 2.
The pitch is on a very obvious slope from one end to the other and this seemed to have a bearing on the match with both teams controlling the game when shooting down hill. Behind both goals are very tight areas of hard standing with the 2 stands being along the far side of the pitch. Both stands are solid brick built structures and include both covered seating and standing areas. Again this side of the ground is very tight and that was made very obvious with the huge crowd in attendance at tonights game. It will be interesting to return to the ground for a ‘normal’ match to see how different the ground seems with more modest crowd.
Food and Drink: 5.5/10
At tonights game we both decided to go for a pie. I had steak and kidney while Emma had chicken. Both were pretty standard Pukka pies. Mine was very nice but Emma said hers could have been hotter. We also mentioned how it was a shame to see no burgers or chips available.
On a positive note though there were a wide range of cans on offer including the all important Dark Fruits, bonus point has been added!!!!
TOTAL SCORE 26.5/50
We enjoyed our night at The Parish in what was out 4th time watching Selston after previously seeing them away at Ollerton, Sherwood and Newark FC. It was great to see the local community out in force and be part of a huge record breaking crowd for the club. As mentioned above, it will be interesting to return to the ground and see it on a normal matchday with a usual crowd of around 100.
It was great to once again meet up with Jake who runs his own Groundhopping blog Topliss At The Turnstiles. You can see his thoughts on the game here: https://toplissattheturnstiles.com/selston-fc/
We hope to see The Parishioners continue to punch above their weight and hope they manage to stay at Step 5 for at least another season.
If you would like to see where this places Selston in our Non League Leaderboard click here: NON LEAGUE
If you’d like to see the football league grounds we have visited click here: The 92
Emma’s Ground Guide 