Mickleover have woken up.   Great run by Arlott-John wins a corner.  Ilkeston header flies past the post. Great effort by Dempsey just clears the bar.         1-0       81 mins

Goal   Mickleover get the equaliser      1-1      86 mins

Ilkeston force a corner. 

It's end to end but its finished  1-1.

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DATE: MON 02 JAN 2023    BY STEVE WHITNEY

Bank Holiday Monday's Premier Division Central Round-Up

The later, 3pm kick-offs on Bank Holiday Monday in the Pitching In Southern League Premier Division Central saw Nuneaton Borough return to second place and bottom-markers AFC Rushden & Diamonds record only their fourth win of the campaign to date and first under new boss Chris Nunn.

Nuneaton did Diamonds a favour by winning 2-1 at the RACE Stadium in front of 738. It was the Pitmen’s player-manager, Danny Glover, who opened the scoring after 25 minutes – a lead the hosts held until at half-time. Ryan Beswick equalised 9 minutes after the restart and then made it 2-1 from the penalty spot after Hednesford keeper Aaron Clayton had fouled Kane Richards.

Diamonds beat St Ives Town 2-1 at Hayden Road to move level on points with Hednesford. Jenson Cooper gave the hosts a 10th-minute lead that former Diamonds player, Nabil Shariff, cancelled out just before the break. It was in the 86th minute that Chris Nunn’s side grabbed the winner from Miguel Ngwa.

Fourth-placed Rushall Olympic moved to within a point of Leiston, who drew earlier in the day, after a 2-1 win at Barwell. The Pics took a 14th-minute lead when Alex Fletcher scored from the penalty spot after a foul on Callum Coyle. But Brady Hickey equalised 8 minutes later, and it wasn’t until a minute from time that Kristian Green scored Rushall’s winner.

Mickleover and Ilkeston Town remain in sixth and seventh respectively after they shared a 1-1 draw at the Don Amott Arena in front of 665. There was a rather bizarre situation when the visitors took a 35th-minute lead through player boss Jamie Ward as Sports` Jake Scott was shown a second yellow card and was sent-off – only to be recalled and the red card rescinded after the referee consulted one of his assistants!  It looked like Ward’s goal was going to be enough for the Robins, until Joe Bateman grabbed an 87th-minute leveller for Mickleover.

Stourbridge have local bragging rights for a while after they won 3-0 at the Trico Stadium against eighth-placed Redditch United. A crowd of 610 saw Tyler Lyttle put the Glassboys ahead after 36 minutes.The visitors then doubled their lead on the hour-mark when Jason Cowley was brought down in the box and Lee Vaughan duly converted the resulting spot-kick. Lyttle scored his and Stourbridge’s third with 7 minutes remaining and move up to 14th in the table.

There were several early kick-offs on Bank Holiday Monday in the Pitching In Southern Football League.

The 1pm games in the Premier Division Central saw Coalville Town maintain fifth spot, albeit maybe only for a short time, after winning 2-0 at Greenwich Avenue in front 571 against Basford United. A Chris Robertson header right on the stroke of half-time gave the visitors an interval lead. A fine finish from Tom McGlinchey doubled the Ravens` lead 8 minutes after the break, and they could have made it 3-0 when McGlinchey was brought down in the box by Ben Starkie. However, Ash Chambers` penalty was saved by Kieran Preston.

Royston Town moved above Bedford Town in mid-table after beating the Eagles 3-2 at Garden Walk. The Eagles, under new manager Paul Davis for the first time, fell behind after 11 minutes when Royston’s recent recruit, Shomari Barnwell, headed home. Bedford pulled themselves back on level terms just before half-time through Joe Butterworth. And then just 6 minutes after the break, the visitors took the lead through Connor Tomlinson. Royston, in front of a crowd of 604, equalised in the 67th minute when Kian Harness was on hand to net the rebound after Matt Bateman’s initial effort came back off the crossbar. Bateman wasn’t to be denied though, and he made the points safe when he got on the end of a Cole Da Silva free kick to make it 3-2.

Leiston slipped above Nuneaton Borough into second spot but had to be content with a point from a 1-1 draw at the Orbital Fasteners Stadium against Kings Langley, who are 18th. After a goalless opening 45 minutes, Kings took only 2 minutes of the second half to break the deadlock with a 30-yard beauty from Alex Lafleur. But the Suffolk side pulled back on level terms on 65 minutes when Rossi Jarvis scored from a free kick. The home side came close to winning it in the 73rd minute, but Caine Keller’s effort hit the post and bounced clear.

League leaders Tamworth were involved in a 2pm kick-off at the CR MOT Community Stadium against Alvechurch. And the Lambs moved six points clear at the top after a 3-0 success. A crowd of 1,058 saw 2023 start brilliantly for Eoin McKeown, who netted a hat-trick with goals in the 13th, 77th and 82nd minutes.

Another 2pm kick-off saw Needham Market beat Hitchin Town by the same scoreline at Bloomfields. Jamie McGrath gave the Marketmen a 17th minute lead that Ross Crane doubled from the penalty spot 8 minutes before half-time. Seth Chambers made sure the points stayed in Suffolk when he added a third 20 minutes from time


 

Last edited by Matchman (03/1/2023 9:18 AM)

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MICKLEOVER'S MATCH REPORT    
                          ^
               ( Interesting)




Bateman Saves Point In Final Minutes   by Peter Scherer
Having taken all three points on our visit to Ilkeston earlier this season, hopes were high of completing the double.
Mickleover were without Andy Dales with a groin strain and Mason Warren, serving the first of his three-match suspension.
Starting line-up: 1-Jonathan Hedge 2-Jake Scott 3-Rhys Dolan 5-Ethan Mann 6-Phil Wat 7-Will Trueman 8-Mitch Rose 15-Ryan Wilson 9-Elliott Reeves 10-Stuart Beavon 11-Oliver Greaves. Subs: Joe Bateman, Oliver Bosworth, Lekan Osideko, James Butler, Pablo Mills.

In the opening couple of minutes Trueman put a cross in from the right, just missing Reeves head, before Campbell had a shot deflected wide for the visitors after six minutes.
Scott then sent Reeves on a run down the right, but although the cross found Beavon, his attempt to move forward was thwarted.
Ilkeston’s threat began to grow and Campbell managed to find Ward, who then unsuccessfully tried to chip Hedge. But Tomlin managed to jink his way through to the edge of the box, before he was stopped.
Mickleover had a free kick after 12 minutes and the ball seemed to bounce around the Ilkeston area for a while. There were lots of slight touches, but no one managed to get a shot in.
Ward then earned a free kick for the visitors after an ankle tap almost sent him into orbit. It came to nought but it was all Ilkeston. Scott was yellow carded for fouling Arlott-John, and fouled the same player immediately from the free kick.
Only a minute later Tomlin followed up an Ilkeston corner, but his header was headed way from goal by Wilson for another corner
Tomlin had a 23rd minute shot blocked by Mann, before Mickleover got a break to earn a corner too. The short kick found Wilson, but his cross had too much pace for the chasing strikers.
Despite Ilkeston’s growing dominance it was still goalless on the half hour, but Dolan at last broke free on the left, cut inside and fired a shot just over the bar from range. But the visitors responded and Mann managed to clear a challenging cross from Delap.
Reeves went close after 32 minutes, as he cut in from the right past skipper Fenton, he got closer and closer relatively unchallenged, until Battersby in the Ilkeston goal, ran out to make a last-minute interception for a corner. Watt came up for the kick, but his header was off target. 
Rose was yellow carded for an innocuous challenge and then became the victim himself. As he hit the ground after being felled in the box, the referee allowed play to continue and Ward chased through to score a heavily disputed goal for Ilkeston 0-1.
Only minutes later Scott was fouled on the touchline, already yellow carded Scott was showing red, until the ref’s assistant made her presence felt. Not only was the card rescinded, it was a free kick to Mickleover, with this time protestations from Ilkeston, led mainly by the visitors player manager Ward, who seemed to spend most of the game bending the ref’s ear.
Finally play continued and Reeves almost picked up a long ball, then Campbell latched onto a good cross, but Hedge flew off his line to save at the strikers feet.
Arlott-John then found Campbell again on the Mickleover right, but his shot was just over, before a Sports counter saw Reeves outpace the defence, swing the ball in tight, but as Greaves went for a header, both he and the defender required treatment. The first half finished with Wilson creating space for a weak finish.
Bateman was on for Greaves as they re-appeared for the second half and apart from a 47=13.5pxth minute run from Trueman and Reeves, with keeper Battersby saving, Mickleover began to struggle to break out of their own half.
Bello got free down the right after 55 minutes, but his cross was pushed away by Hedge. The pressure continued with O’Grady finding Arlott-John, but Hedge had it covered again.
Possession was still in Ilkeston’s favour, but they too struggled to make progress, which allowed Mickleover to finally get back into the game.
Reeves hit the post following corner and the rebound attempt went close too, and after 77 minutes Battersby saved with his feet from another Reeves effort.
Dolan had started to find space on the left apart from an off target header from Fenton, suddenly it was all Mickleover. Arlott-John did manage to beat Scott on a late run, but shot wide, and with five minutes of normal time left, Butler came on for Scott.
Dolan in particular was finishing strongly, having had a run of almost half the pitch before being intercepted on the edge of the box with five minutes left.
It was Dolan again a minute later that crossed from the left. To find an unmarked Bateman, who eagerly smashed home the equaliser,1-1.
Ilkeston had a couple of late corners and a free kick in the five minutes added on, but it was a well-earned point in the end, from what had begun to look a lost cause.




 

Last edited by Matchman (03/1/2023 3:31 PM)

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MARK DUFFY"S MATCH REPORT

Late goal denies Robins the win at Mickleover

SPL Central 
Mickleover FC 1 (Bateman 87)
Ilkeston Town 1 (Ward 37)

A late equaliser from Joe Bateman denied us all three points in Monday’s local derby at Mickleover.
Player-boss Jamie Ward had put us in front before half-time but without being able to kill the hosts off with a second goal, there was always the risk they would get level and they did so with three minutes of normal time to go.
With Joe Wilson injured and Henri Wilder suspended, we began with Dec Eratt-Thompson and Silvio Bello at right-back and left-back respectively, although that altered again at half-time with Eratt-Thompson forced off injured and Finn Delap moving to full-back.
The first-half saw us dominate proceedings. Remaye Campbell saw an early shot deflected wide then Ward’s chip was easily gathered by keeper Jonathan Hedge.
Lee Tomlin nearly put us in front on 17 minutes when a corner reached him on the edge of the penalty area but his delicate chip towards the top corner of the net was headed off the line by ex-Robin Ryan Wilson.
Campbell saw another effort go high and wide from an angle was we continued to be the bigger threat, while Sports’ first threat came when Elliott Reeves’ shot was blocked by Ollie Battersby after he’d dispossessed Kieran Fenton on the byline.
We took the lead on 34 minutes, as Campbell fed Ward in the penalty area and he fought off the challenge of Mitch Rose before finishing low past Hedge.
There was then controversy as Mickleover’s Jake Scott was shown a second yellow card for an apparent foul on Dempsey Arlott-John, only for the referee to rescind it having spoken with his assistant who presumably felt no foul had been committed.
Campbell then fired over the top when in a good position six yards out for Ilkeston as we went in at the break with just the one goal advantage.
Few clear cut chances were created in the early stages of the second-half, Reeves’ cross turned just past his own post by sub Dan Bradley and then Silvio Bello flashing a cross-come-shot across the face of goal for the visitors.
After Arlott-John had shot low at Hedge on 67 minutes, Mickleover began to carry more threat and seconds after Reeves headed against the crossbar, another former Robin in Rhys Dolan saw his long-range effort tipped over the top by Battersby.
Reeves forced Battersby into another save and Fenton headed well wide from a corner, then Arlott-John put a good chance over the top having found space in the penalty area.
The hosts then got level when we lost possession in midfield and after a break down the left the ball was squared to sub Bateman who slammed home via the underside of the crossbar.
There was still time for a Fenton free-kick to be deflected over the crossbar in stoppage time, but ultimately the points were shared.

We are back in action on Saturday with the visit of AFC Rushden & Diamonds to the Microlise New Manor Ground, with free entry for all spectators.

Mickleover: Hedge, Scott (Butler 84), Dolan, Mann, Watt, Trueman, Rose, Wilson, Reeves, Beavon, Greaves (Bateman 46)     Not used: Bosworth, Osideko, Mills
Ilkeston: Battersby, Eratt-Thompson (Bradley 46), Bello, Thomas, Delap, Fenton, Campbell, Ward, O’Grady, Tomlin, Arlott-John      Not used: Fyfe, Hilton, Dube, Deeney
Att: 672

Report by Mark Duffy 

 

Last edited by Matchman (05/1/2023 1:40 PM)