Written by Max
Ground #80
Saturday 4th July 2026
Pre-Season Friendly
Radford FC (Step 6) 0-3 Carlton Town (Step 4)
Attendance: 75
Entry: £6
Radford FC were formed in 1964 as a works team for a local engineering company playing Sunday League football. In 1975 the club took on the name Radford Olympic and 4 years later made the move to Saturday football. In 1977 the club became the first amateur club in Britain to have sponsorship on their shirts.
They moved to their current ground on Selhurst Street in 1985 and 2 years later dropped the Olympic from their name becoming ‘Radford FC’. The club spent over 20 years plying their trade in the Central Midlands League winning the league cup on 2 occasions. In 2008 ‘The Pheasants’, whose nickname comes from a former pub that sponsored the club, were invited to join the Step 6 East Midlands Counties League, a level that they have played at ever since.
Today’s game was our first of the 2026/27 season as Carlton Town travelled to Hyson Green for both clubs first outing of pre season. The game was played at a slow pace as is often the case this early on as both teams are shaking off the rust and working up to match fitness. The lack of rain in recent weeks meant the pitch was bone dry and both teams struggled at times to string passes together.
Ten minutes in last seasons top scorer for Carlton Ash Chambers gave The Millers the lead with a close range finish after a dangerous long throw. Not long after another Chambers shot was tipped wide by the home keeper. The resulting corner saw Carlton double their lead as new signing Sam Tomlinson impressively volleyed home into the top corner.
Into the second half and it became very apparent that this was a pre season game. Both sides made multiple changes and the game became very stop start and slow because of this. The one bright spark came around the hour mark as winger Niall Hylton sealed the win with Carlton’s third.
In the end a decent run out for both sides with the 2 step difference between the sides showing in the final scoreline.
Now to rate our day at Selhurst Street:
Location: 7/10
Radford FC play their home games on Selhurst Street in Hyson Green. Due to their location in inner city Nottingham the ground is easily accessible via public transport including the tram which we used to get to the game. There is a huge car park in the ASDA across the road from the ground but 2 hour parking restrictions do apply so be careful if parking here.
The ground is actually quite hidden from view as it is behind a row of shops and takeaways and you could quite easily live in the area and not even know the ground exists.
Unfortunately ‘The Cricket Players’ pub in which the club was founded has long since closed but just a short walk away is the fantastic ‘Lion at Basford’ which is a multi award winning pub including the East Midlands most dog friendly pub with proof of this shown during our pre match visit!
Kit: 6/10
The Pheasants play in Emma’s favourite, claret and blue. The kit they wore on this occasion was a bit of a mismatch with brand new almost florescent bright blue shorts and socks alongside faded claret shirts with blue trim.
A classic combination but we assume the club are waiting for some new shirts to arrive ahead of the new season to match the rest of the kit!
Facilities: 7/10
As you enter the ground the clubhouse is immediately on your right. The bar is a good size with plenty of seating. The area is nicely decorated in a modern clean grey colour.
The food and drink is bought from hatch round the far side of the ground.
Look: 8/10
The main seated stand at Selhurst street is behind the goal alongside the clubhouse. There are also more seats located in another covered stand which straddles the half way line.
Either side of the dugouts are 2 more covered standing areas providing a plethora of options for fans wanting to watch the game from any angle. The ground is one of the neatest we have come across with the whole place looking very clean and tidy.
There is also a covered area behind the goal in front of the clubhouse where the more vocal home supporters gather. It’s great to see a club go above an beyond the required ground grading for the level and for a club that has never been higher than step 6 this is a really impressive ground.
Food and Drink: 5.5/10
At today’s game there was a limited food option of burgers and chips, so we went for both! The burgers were cooked fresh to order which took a bit of time but meant they were nice and hot when we got them. There were no sauces on offer which was a shame but the burger was exactly what we wanted after 8 weeks without football. A bang average non league burger but sometimes that’s exactly what you want! I would get this again!
The bar had a pretty generic selection on draft but Emma was eagle eyed and spotted the all important cans of dark fruits in the fridge! Bonus half point achieved!
Be aware that the food hut accepts cash only.
TOTAL SCORE: 33.5/50
After 2 months away it was great to be back at the football and kick off the new season with a new ground. Radford are a club we have been told we had to visit for a few years now and we can see why. The ground is one of the best we have come across at step 6 and the only negative is the fact they don’t seem to get great support with average crowds in the 70s including many mid week games with sub 50 attendances which is a huge shame.
It was great to catch up with many of the Carlton Town fans ahead of the new season where they will hope to go one better and win promotion after going so close last time around.
If you would like to see where Selhurst Street ranks 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 