.

Who are the better team?  We’ve played against both of them, drawn against Stamford and lost to Leek. Both were runaway league leaders last season before the curtailment and both look certain to be challenging again this season. Both are very strong sides.  

Ilkeston Town  2  Stamford 2
Personally I like the way Stamford play. They have some excellent individual players like midfielder Rob Morgan and they really attack the opposition. They also have two outstanding wingers in Tendai Chitina and Cosmas Matwasa. Mitchell Tait was given his league debut against Stamford. When I saw the team sheet I thought we were taking a risk knowing what the Stamford wingers were like but I needn’t have worried. It was a cracking match and for me, we were lucky to draw.


This is what Trowell Nicky said: “What an enjoyable game. And what a good side Stamford are. Such pace and skill all through the team. And they play at such a high tempo. And what a good player Rob Morgan is (Number 8); I wonder if they’d sell us him and Cosmos Matwasa (Number 11)? They did something I want our lot to do – when they attacked they would have 6 or 7 players in or around the box; when we attack it’s often just Troke and Goodson. There were periods in the game when we just couldn’t cope with them. They were the better side and could easily have been 2 or 3 goals to the good at half time. I’d guess they’re the yardstick for the league; surely they’ll finish in the top 2? And we did pretty well against them, once we adjusted after the initial onslaught. I thought in the second half we were the better team until they had a man sent off, and thereafter it looked like it was us with 10 men.I thought Ross Durrant had a good second half, the youngsters at full-back did well (what a test, up against Matwasa!), and Jack Thomas had a good game. I like Troke more and more, he certainly seems to win most of his aerial challenges and 2 well-taken penalties under pressure.”
 

Ilkeston Town  2  Leek Town  3
In my opinion Leek are a more robust side than Stamford who defend well and break quickly. Most people felt we were unlucky to lose this one. 

  
These were Trowell Nicky’s comments after our 3-2 defeat 

“Firstly, what a terrific game of football. I thought we played really well, a contender for our best performance of the season. And a game we were very unlucky to lose. We could easily have won the game on any other night. And if you can say those things when playing a very good Leek side, surely that’s grounds for optimism? Leek and Stamford are established, settled sides who’ve been together for a while now; we’re not, we’re the new kids on the block and it’s going to take time to build the squad we need. We were really at it from the get-go last night, which made a nice change. We were the better team in the first half. What we don’t have, and what we keep getting exposed by, are players that run at a defence with pace. Newcastle, Leek, and Stamford have those type of players, and we could do with one or two.