Trinity

Gainsborough Trinity 1 v Sheffield United 1
(billed as U21)

Saturday 1 August 2015

Twitter @ball_sup

Three places pulled out of the CAMRA Good Beer Guide today. All OK/good, but a bit of a contrast.

Eight Jolly Brewers, Ship Court. Turns out one of my fellow travellers had once fallen asleep in here after a hard day at the Gainsborough Beer Festival. Salute fella. There but for the Grace of God….

Lets be honest. Not a great location. Very central. But, overlooks a car park and to get to it I had to negotiate the piss stinking alley that is Ship Court. Small room (is there owt upstairs?). Single bar frontage with 8 pumps front and centre. Nice selection. I went Nethergate, Golden Gate on cask at 4.5%.

Then. Elm Cottage, Church Street. Sort of one street back from the ground. Very nicely decorated & clean. Horseshoe shaped bar. Sport on TV. 6 pumps. Churlishly, a bit uninspiring. Seemed a bit Big Boy & lacking in Micros. I had Brain’s, The Rev James on cask at 4.5%. Well kept, nice and tasty. There is even a sneaky gate cut into the back of the car park. This gives you an easier, more direct route to the turnstiles.

And then. Finally. Blues Club, Northolme, North Street. Effectively the Club House on the corner of the ground. Double room affair (I assume for when there is not a game on). (And there was evidence of a function room as well). London Pride on cask in one room. But, I went Mordue, Northumbrian Blonde on cask at 4%. That was superb. Easily the Outstanding Beer Of The Day. Effervescent, refreshing, easy drinking, but full of flavour.

Second game running, trialist Andrew Cartwright set up at full back. Same again. Neat shift, but trees left unpulled. Otherwise, many of the core group of true U21s. Across the ages, we’ve got a very big squad. Some of these may lose their place if younger fellas drop out of the first team group.

Tough game for the Young Blades. Everyone is getting near their season now. Fitter. Trying to impress the Boss. Trinity were strong. It was a well matched, competitive game. Good bit of end-to-end stuff.  There were tales/rumours that the Trinity game v Sheffield Wednesday (originally scheduled for last week), had been cancelled due to Wednesday’s demands re travel costs & share of gate receipts. 

179/375