Ilkeston are cutting through the Carlton defence now, Great play Wakefield but Troke can't quite reach his cross.  Bird Free kick almost turned in by Verma.  It's a real attack minded game.     4-1       65 mins

UPDATES 26thFebruary 2022 16:31
 
Northern Premier League Midlands Division
Belper Town 0 Spalding United 1 att 460
Halesowen Town 4 Loughborough Dynamo 0 att 1075
   Yeltz two up after nine minutes
Histon 0 Shepshed Dynamo 1 att 202
Ilkeston Town 4 Carlton Town 1 att 1002
Soham Town Rangers 1 Chasetown 2 att 169
   Soham back in it just before half time!
Sporting Khalsa 2 Corby Town 3
   Are the wheels coming off the bus at Khalsa?
   Two quick goals back for Khalsa So the wheela are bck on then?
Stamford 0 Cambridge City 1 att 410
   Is this the end of the Daniels title challenge?
Sutton Coldfield Town 1 Bedworth United 0 att 212
Wisbech Town 1 Daventry Town 4
Yaxley 0 Coleshill Town 3 att 83
   Second lowest crowd of the season?
 
Football League
Luton Town 0 Derby County 0
Nottingham Forest 2 Bristol City 0
Bradford City 0 Mansfield Town 2
 
National League
Woking 0 Notts County 1
 
Northern Premier League  Premier Division
FC United of Manchester 1 Matlock Town 0
Grantham Town 2 Witton Albion 1
Hyde United 0 Basford United 1
Mickleover 0 Scarborough Athletic 1
 
United Counties League
Heanor Town 4 Anstey Nomads 1
  Three in twelve minutes for Tag Town! 
  Sleigh with first half hat trick
Loughborough Students 0 Eastwood Community 0
Blackstones 0 Kimberley Miners Welfare 4
   Luis Rose only scored one shock!

Free kick Carlton on corner edge of area. Durrant gathers. Bird re[placed by Jack Griffiths       4-1    85 mins

Ball falls to Griffiths and his effort is only just wide. Great effort by Goodson seeing Keeper off his line but it curls just wide,.  Then Campbell tries a lob which keeper does well ro save when back pedalling.         4-1   90 mins

UPDATES 26thFebruary 2022 17:00
 
Northern Premier League Midlands Division
Belper Town 1 Spalding United 2 att 460 ft
Halesowen Town 4 Loughborough Dynamo 1 att 1075 ft
   Yeltz two up after nine minutes
   Halesowen down to men men after Coeborne is sent off
Histon 2 Shepshed Dynamo 2 att 202 ft
Ilkeston Town 4 Carlton Town 1 att 1002 ft
Soham Town Rangers 1 Chasetown 2 att 169 ft
   Soham back in it just before half time!
Sporting Khalsa 3 Corby Town 3 ft
   Are the wheels coming off the bus at Khalsa?
   Two quick goals back for Khalsa So the wheel are back on then?
Stamford 2 Cambridge City 2 att 410
   Is this the end of the Daniels title challenge?
   Usual Stamford comeback!!
Sutton Coldfield Town 1 Bedworth United 0 att 212 ft
Wisbech Town 3 Daventry Town 4 ft
Yaxley 0 Coleshill Town 5 att 83 ft
   Second lowest crowd of the season?
 
Football League
Luton Town 1 Derby County 0
Nottingham Forest 2 Bristol City 0
Bradford City 0 Mansfield Town 2 ft
 
National League
Woking 0 Notts County 2
 
Northern Premier League  Premier Division
FC United of Manchester 1 Matlock Town 1
Grantham Town 2 Witton Albion 3
   Grantham manage to throw away two goal lead
Hyde United 0 Basford United 1 ft
Mickleover 1 Scarborough Athletic 2 ft
 
United Counties League
Heanor Town 5 Anstey Nomads 3
  Three in twelve minutes for Tag Town! 
  Sleigh with first half hat trick
Loughborough Students 1 Eastwood Community 0
Blackstones 0 Kimberley Miners Welfare 5
   Luis Rose only scored one shock!

Comfortable after a frantic first 15. Young full back struggled. First game for a while. Right call to change it. Feel for the lad

Timely equaliser from Verms and thereafter fairly straightforward. Played some nice stuff. At home Carlton’s small bumpy pitch helps them. Away it’s different and we ran the legs off them in the end

Next week will be harder than today. But missing Billy Mags Fenners & Montel we’d take 4 1 all day

Some serious selection headaches for the management. Which is great. Both c halves were solid. Jemson much better than I remember him

Great crowd too. Excellent win

MOM Irvine for me. Just shading it from Jemson. Bird once more class too. Does so much dirty work and is great technically

A little concerned when I saw the teamsheet - missing all of our usual back four and Adam Chapman, I thought we'd be in for a tough afternoon. But, once we settled down, what a terrific performance we put in. We looked really sharp and played with real confidence, got the ball down and played some really good football. For me, one of our best performances of the season.

Campbell missed a couple of absolute sitters. Could and should have been 6 or even 7.

Irvine and Jemson looked solid. I found I was a little less anxious about balls coming into our box. I do like Irvine: why he's stuck with us after being given so few chances, I don't know. Glad he has though. Brown-Hill did ok defensively but was poor offensively. The young lad at right back was out of his depth, just didn't get the intensity needed, but he'll learn. The management saw they got it wrong and reacted to put it right, so credit to them for that.

No idea why we invariably start slowly; thankfully today that slow start lasted only 10 or 15 minutes.

For me, MOM (by a country mile) was Charlie Wakefield. That's the sharpest he's looked for a while. Running at defenders, with no fear and real skill. Carlton couldn't cope with him. Terrific wing play. He's a real talent who looks just as good in midfield or attack and he could obviously play at a higher level. Just hope we can hang on to him.

Terrific to see over 1000 there cos it looked like Carlton only brought 30 or 40. People seem to be dialling in to us being entertaining to watch (and that's important to me - I want my team to be entertaining to watch, I don't want to see them trying to sit on a 1-0 lead), scoring goals for fun, winning games, and having a chance to win the league or at least get promotion. It's starting to feel like the season (3 years ago?) when we won the league, culminating in that final game at Loughborough Uni.

Bit worrying that Adam Chapman might need a scan on his knee problem, but great to see Billy Bennett on the bench. We'll need his drive and leadership on the run-in.  Very tough game at Spalding next week. Their average attendance is 271; be great if we could get 200 fans there to support the boys.

Last edited by Trowell Nicky (26/2/2022 11:18 PM)

It was the first time I have sat , yes sat in the clocktower stand . Omg I got slated by the fans but in a good way. My reason was I was looking out for my neighbour who hd come down . He's not very good standing for 90mins so we went up in the stand.  Like others have said what a shaky start we had for the first 10 mins or so. Ghandi had to do substitution early because if all their attacks were coming down the right.
  When git the first goal which I bloody missed we looked miles better. A good  4-1 win which could have been more . Motm has to be Wakefield .
My neighbour said at the end he had enjoyed the game.

I used to go up top. But tbh I found it to be a very negative atmosphere up there at times with one or two very quick to jump on every error and slow to encourage. So I stopped going up

Like Nicky says - it’s good to see the word spreading. A mate of mine Tom Anderson (a very good ex Ilkeston striker from the 80s) came yesterday and really enjoyed it. We had a couple of beers afterwards and he says he’ll come again

That’s what we need. Over 1000 versus a team who brought about 20 is brilliant. The performance was a good one too. In complete control from when we equalised. Good management making the early switch. Christ knows why Tommy W was left out. Never lets us down & was solid again yesterday

Squad is very very strong now. Let’s hope they all stay fit

In other news I won 92 quid on the 50/50 which I’m sure pleases you all!

Hoping for a dry week. Spalding’s ‘pitch’ is dire. Trust me it will be a right scrap over there. Much tougher than yesterday

Dick Durrant wrote:

I used to go up top. But tbh I found it to be a very negative atmosphere up there at times with one or two very quick to jump on every error and slow to encourage. So I stopped going up

Like Nicky says - it’s good to see the word spreading. A mate of mine Tom Anderson (a very good ex Ilkeston striker from the 80s) came yesterday and really enjoyed it. We had a couple of beers afterwards and he says he’ll come again

That’s what we need. Over 1000 versus a team who brought about 20 is brilliant. The performance was a good one too. In complete control from when we equalised. Good management making the early switch. Christ knows why Tommy W was left out. Never lets us down & was solid again yesterday

Squad is very very strong now. Let’s hope they all stay fit

In other news I won 92 quid on the 50/50 which I’m sure pleases you all!

Hoping for a dry week. Spalding’s ‘pitch’ is dire. Trust me it will be a right scrap over there. Much tougher than yesterday

Great to hear about Tommy Anderson being there. He was an excellent player and played for my Dads team Ilkeston Catholics and Stanton on a Saturday. I seem to remember scouts from Stoke City used to turn up on Pewitt on a bleak Sunday morning to check him out. He eventually found his way to Ilkeston Town in the mid to late seventies.

.

This was a real test and we came through it with flying colours. With so many changes I was worried we might come unstuck.  Felt sorry for Morgan Thomas-Sadler who was given a torrid time by Carlton’s forwards. Well done to Martin Carruthers for quickly replacing him with the reliable Tommy Williams. It seemed cruel to take him off so soon but his yellow card made it easier for Carruthers.
Verma’s equaliser was crucial as it took the sting out of Carlton’s whirlwind start. Charlie Jemson settled quickly. He’s not flash, he just does what’s necessary. Stern Irvine was superb. As Nicky said it’s amazing he’s stuck with us after so few opportunities. I’m now appreciating Jared Bird’s contribution more than I did at first and Charlie Wakefield is our best player most matches. I’d forgotten what a good player Aman Verma is after his long injury layoff. He was outstanding at Histon. I’m also a Remaye Campbell fan. Okay he missed a couple of chances yesterday but he’s vital to the way we play. I don’t know much about Jack Griffiths but he quickly got himself involved when he came on.
Yesterday’s performance shows what a good squad we now have and we’ll  probably need all of the players in the remaining matches. It’s quite possible that the automatic promotion spot won’t be decided until final Saturday.


 

Northern Premier League Midland Division The Title Chase  
                 
Ilkeston Town                                      Pl W D L   F  A  Gd Pts Pos Pts/g PossPts    
                                                             28 20 5 3  79 30 49  65  1st      2.32  95
26.02.22 Carlton Town h 4-1              29 21 5 3  83 31 52  68  1st      2.34  95
05.03.22 Spalding United a
12.03.22 Chasetown a             
19.03.22 Coleshill Town h             
26.03.22 Yaxley h             
02.04.22 Cambridge City a             
09.04.22 Daventry Town h             
16.04.22 Bedworth United a             
18.04.22 Shepshed Dynamo h             
23.04.22 Wisbech Town a                                             

Halesowen Town                                Pl W  D  L F  A  Gd  Pts  Pos  Pts/gPossPts    
                                                             28 20 4  4 62 26 36   64   2nd   2.29     94
26.02.22 Loughborough D h 4-1        29 21 4  4 66 27 39   67   2nd   2.31    94
05.03.22 Carlton Town a             
12.03.22 Corby Town a             
19.03.22 Chasetown h             
26.03.22 Soham Town Rangers a            
02.04.22 Histon h             
09.04.22 Bedworth United h             
16.04.22 Belper Town a             
18.04.22 Sutton Coldfield Town h             
23.04.22 Daventry Town a                             

Chasetown                                         Pl W D L  F  A  Gd  Pts  Pos  Pts/g  PossPts    
                                                            28 19 6 3 65 29 36   63    3rd    2.25      93
26.02.22 Soham Town R a 2-1          29 20 6 3 67 30 37   66    3rd    2.28      93
05.03.22 Stamford h             
12.03.22 Ilkeston Town h             
19.03.22 Halesowen Town a             
26.03.22 Cambridge City h             
02.04.22 Carlton Town a             
09.04.22 Sutton Coldfield T h             
16.04.22 Wisbech Town a             
18.04.22 Sporting Khalsa h             
23.04.22 Spalding United a                             

Belper Town                                        Pl  W  D  L  F   A  Gd  Pts  Pos   Pts/g   PossPts    
                                                             29 19  2   8 59 38  21   59   4th      2.03     86
26.02.22 Spalding United h 1-2         30  19  2  9 60 40  20   59   4th      1.97     83
12.03.22 Cambridge City a             
19.03.22 Daventry Town h             
26.03.22 Shepshed Dyn a             
02.04.22 Wisbech Town h             
09.04.22 Carlton Town a             
16.04.22 Halesowen Town h             
18.04.22 Loughborough D a             
23.04.22 Corby Town h                             

Stamford                                             Pl  W  D  L  F   A  Gd  Pts  Pos   Pts/g  PossPts    
                                                             28 17  5   6 66 33  33   56     5th     2.00     86
26.02.22 Cambridge City h 2-2          29 17  6   6 68 35  33   57     5th     1.97     84
05.03.22 Chasetown a             
12.03.22 Bedworth United a             
19.03.22 Spalding United h             
26.03.22 Sutton Coldfield T h             
02.04.22 Daventry Town a             
09.04.22 Loughborough D a             
16.04.22 Coleshill Town h             
18.04.22 Yaxley a             
23.04.22 Carlton Town h                             

 

Les has just recovered from a couple of bouts of heart surgery which knocked him a bit but he’s back to his daft best now

Lovely bloke. Do anything for you. Shared a week with him  in Portugal recently golfing and had a right laugh

. 

Sat 26th February 2022  Northern Premier League
Ilkeston Town  4  Carlton Town  1
After Carlton’s whirlwind start, Ilkeston produced a stunning recovery to take the points and stay top. With several first choice players unavailable this was always going to be a tricky fixture and when Aaron O’Connor gave Carlton a sixth minute lead Ilkeston’s promotion hopes looked like being dented. 
The first chance of the game fell to Aaron Opoku who fired over as Carlton’s forwards showed their intent. Ex-Ilkeston favourite Nat Watson looked menacing in the early exchanges and It was no surprise when the visitors scored through O’Connor. The striker’s effort was rightly judged to be over the line before it was cleared. Ilkeston retaliated with a Zak Goodson effort before Aman Verma scored the equaliser with a header following a corner. The goal settled the Robins and Carlton’s early dominance was brought to an end but a speculative long shot with the wind behind it brought a fine back pedalling save from Ross Durrant which kept Ilkeston level. Then on 23 minutes Ilkeston were ahead through Goodson after Ollie Brown-Hill and Charlie Wakefield combined to create the opportunity. Carlton fell further behind through an own goal after Wakefield’s cross was diverted past keeper Mark Rathbone by a defender. 
The second half started well for Ilkeston when Alex Troke fired home a free kick on 54 minutes. After this the result was never in doubt as Ilkeston asserted control. On 74 minutes an excellent move involving Wakefield and James Reid ended with Remaye Campbell’s shot clearing the crossbar. Ilkeston then threatened to add to their score on several occasions. A Jack Griffiths whose shot was narrowly wide, and a Goodson curler also finished the wrong side of the post. Campbell’s precise lob with Rathbone off his line was thwarted by an excellent recovering save. The win keeps Ilkeston top by one point after Halesowen and Chasetown both won.  


 

Last edited by Matchman (27/2/2022 8:21 PM)

JH what a ilson legend.

The clive smith your talking about. I talk to one which played for ilson in late 70/80s with tony curtbutt and the richards Brothers. Also told me he played for heanor belper and matlock