Several local sides were in action last night, behind closed doors of course, as Worksop Town’s new Manager Craig Parry watched his much changed side for the first time take on the clubs U21’s at Sandy Lane in cruising to a 9-3 win.

The game was more to do with putting air into the legs of the players with Parry using the match, the first of ten pre-season friendlies as a tactical platform, stating after “There will be things that need to be tinkered with, so by the time we are through those nine (more) games, we will be a well-oiled machine.”

Certainly looking well-oiled already are Retford United who made it three wins out of three this summer so far. The Badgers of the Central Midlands North Division beat Hallam FC of the Northern Counties East League 3-1 at Cannon Park with goals from Sam Forster, Illack Tongo Chiti and Corey Goodwin.

AFC Mansfield of the NCEL lost 3-0 at home to Northern Premier League outfit Sheffield FC whilst Clifton of the East Midlands Counties League beat Pinxton of the Central Midlands League 2-1.

With more action tonight across the county many non-league clubs have felt the urge to put pressure on the UK Government and FA by requesting the return of fans with online petitions to get people back at football grounds with the hashtag #LetFansIn trending across the Twittersphere.

From the National League down football clubs rely on gate-receipts and income through the Turnstile and at their grounds to simply survive, without the fans these institutions, some over 100 years old could be forced into closure which can have catastrophic effects on their local communities.

Whilst we all appreciate this is a hard time for everybody in the UK we also feel that whilst pubs, restaurants and public spaces like beaches and parks are opened to the masses then why can’t the safe opening of sporting venues be implemented and whilst this might be impossible in the Premier League and at the top end of football due to the huge numbers of fans that congregate at Stadiums, this would be much safer at a lower level where there is only a niche interest in followers.

You never know, in trialing the opening of non-league grounds it might even help the ‘safe’ opening of these bigger stadiums at clubs in the football league and higher? Whilst we all understand the seriousness of Covid-19 we certainly think whilst wheels are in motion to rebuild the UK and its falling economy now is time to start allowing people to start making their own decisions. We at Nottingham Sport think it is now beyond time to #LetFansIn.

*Main image @worksoptown the Tigers first team and U21’s faced off against each other last night.