Written by Max
Ground #67
Tuesday 1st April 2025
Notts Senior League Premier Division (Step 7)
Radcliffe Olympic 2-2 Aslockton & Orston
Attendance: 39
Entry: FREE
Radcliffe Olympic FC were formed in 1876 making them the 3rd oldest team in Nottingham. They represent the village of Radcliffe-on-Trent which is a village on the outskirts of Nottingham and has a population of just over 8,000.
The club have spent the majority of their long existence playing in the local Nottinghamshire leagues until 2009 when they won promotion to the East Midlands Counties League. A 5th place finish in their first season at their new level saw Olympic qualify for the FA cup. At the first attempt the club won 4 matches, getting through to the 3rd qualifying round and by doing so were the lowest ranked club left at that stage. A crowd of over 500 turned up to Wharf Lane as the club were defeated by step 4 opposition.
The club remained at step 6 for another 6 years before being relegated back to the Notts Senior League in 2017 where they have remained ever since.
This season Radcliffe have struggled and find themselves bottom of the table and with time running out they have hired a new management team as they look to save their step 7 status. Today they took on Aslockton & Orston who are having the best season in their history and are currently flying high in 3rd position.
The game started evenly with both sides struggling on the bobbly surface. A quarter of an hour in the first real chance went Aslockton’s way but the forward scuffed the 1 on 1 chance wide of the post.
Ten minutes later Radcliffe won a corner and from it the ball was scrambled in and the club rooted to the bottom of the league had a surprise lead!
With around 10 minutes to go until the break an innocuous looking long ball was looped over the Aslockton defence who struggled to deal with the bouncing ball. The Radcliffe forward went down under a challenge and after what seemed an age the referee, who was stood on the half way line, pointed to the spot. The decision didn’t go down at all well with the visiting players but the spot kick was brilliantly hammered home into the top corner to double Olympic’s lead.
Aslockton were angered by the decision, but this seemed to kick them into life and just 2 minutes later they were back in it as a deflected shot wrong footed the keeper and trickled into the net.
Just as the half was about to come to a close the visitors won a free kick around 20 yards out. With the last kick of the first 45 the ball was looped into the top corner. A fantastic goal and a great way to end an entertaining half of football.
Aslockton started the second half the way they ended the first and were by far the better team for the vast majority of the half but struggled to find any quality with the final pass or shot.
The longer the half went on the more it started to look like it wasn’t going to be their night. There were hearts in mouths as in the final minute Radcliffe countered and with their first meaningful chance of the half played in a dangerous cross. This caused chaos in the box and the ball was almost put into his own net by the visiting defender. Luckily for him it rolled just wide!
Aslockton won’t know how they didn’t win it, but in the end Radcliffe hung on for what could be a crucial point in their fight for survival. They are currently 2 points away from their nearest rival, but with 4 games in hand they will hope a recent upturn in form will continue and they can climb to safety.
Now to rate our evening at Wharf Lane:
Location: 9/10
Wharf Lane recreation ground is just a short walk from Radcliffe high street which contains and number of pubs and restaurants. It is also under a ten minute walk from the train station.
There is a small car park at the ground as well as plenty of on street parking available on Wharf Lane itself.
Kit: 6/10
Radcliffe play in a red and dark blue half and half shirt which is an interesting combination that we haven’t come across before.
The white number on the back stands out nicely, but the sponsor on the front was looking like it had seen better days and was peeling off on a number of the shirts.
Facilities: 2/10
Behind the goal are the clubhouse and changing facilities. During the first half we had noticed a number of chairs had been placed under the cover in front of the clubhouse and the reason for this was made obvious at the break as we queued for a drink and realised their was no inside area for fans. There was a small hatch from which you could order your refreshments but other than this the only indoor facilities were toilets, although if you needed your washing doing during the match there were 4 washing machines available to use while you waited!
Look: 6/10
The ground is one of the most unique we have come across, and this is due to the fact that it is in a public park. When you arrive at the ground you walk past the skate park and children’s play area before going down hill to the ground.
Unlike most park based grounds though, Wharf lane has a number of facilities that many clubs at their level could only dream of. The ground had hard standing on all 4 sides, floodlights and a large covered stand along one side which includes bench seating.
A decent set up and one of the better ground in the NSL. It still baffles me that it is completely open and on non match days can just be used by anyone who uses the park.
Food and Drink: 1/10
Unfortunately there was no hot food available at the game. Luckily we asked in advance and when we found out there would be limited options we decided to visit one of the local pubs before the game which was just 2 minutes from the ground!
There was no alcohol available, I assume due to the ground being in a public park, and so just hot and cold drinks along with chocolate bars were our only options. We went for a tea and a hot chocolate which kept us warm in the 2nd half.
TOTAL SCORE: 24/50
Amazingly it has been 4 months since we visited a new ground, and I have enjoyed dusting the keyboard off and putting together this blog after so long!
As for the game, it was a really entertaining watch, and was made even better by the fact entry was free! The ground is only around 20 minutes from us so I’m sure this won’t be the last time we visit Wharf Lane, and we will be watching on with interest for the remainder of the season to see if Radcliffe can avoid the drop.
If you would like to see where this places Radcliffe Olympic 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 