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The 2020-21 Season So Far  

As expected, the start of the 2020-21 season was delayed because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. It was confirmed that the non league season would only start when fans were allowed to attend. The FA produced a plan for the safe return of fans to grounds which included many conditions that every club had to adhere to. This was eventually accepted by the Government but conditional on a reduction in covid-19 transmission to safe levels. On 24th July a proposed start date of 19th September was announced for the Northern Premier League.  It was then suggested that pre-season matches could be played from 1st August but without fans.  
During the close season numerous improvements were happening at the NMG and several new signings were made. At long last we had owners with long term plans and willing to spend money upgrading the ground and bring in players capable of making a serious promotion challenge. Expectations were never so high before a ball was kicked. 
Pre-season friendlies were finally given the go ahead but without fans. On Saturday 15th August Ilkeston travelled to Borrowash Victoria and the game ended 1-1 with Alex Troke the goalscorer. The following Tuesday night we played again, this time at Dunkirk. Goals by Zak Goodson, James Reid and Mason Lee gave us a 3-0 win.  On 19th August the FA announced that non-league fans could now return under phased conditions. From 22nd August, Step 4 clubs could admit up to 200 fans and from 31st August 400 fans. However, each club must host at least one game with 200 fans. On 22nd August Ilkeston played their third friendly at Gedling MW which produced a 7-1 win. Brown-Hill, Reid, Troke 2 (1 pen), Goodson, Watson and Lambert scored the goals. Next up was Clifton away who surprised us with a 5-4 victory.  Lambert, Troke 2 i1 pen) and Goodson were the scorers. We then travelled to Newark on 29th August and were beaten 4-0. Bank Holiday Monday was open day at the NMG and over 700 fans turned up to see the improvements to the ground. Our first home friendly with ground capacity reduced to 200 ended with a single goal defeat against Grantham. We then entertained Notts County with a 400 attendance limit and a 2-0 reverse meant we had lost four friendlies on the bounce. Jack Thomas signed for us before the Notts match. The final pre-season game against Eastwood ended the losing run with goals from Goodson, Brown-Hill, and Render in a 3-0 win.         


START OF SEASON 2020-21FIRST COMPETITIVE MATCH : 12th SEPTEMBER 2020  

With attendances still limited to 400 for the foreseeable future, our first competitive game was at home to Shepshed Dynamo in the FA Cup Preliminary Round. It was a much improved Ilkeston performance which resulted in a comfortable 3-0 win. Alex Troke opened the scoring from the penalty spot and Zak Goodson added a brace. Goodson had an opportunity to record a hat-trick but his penalty was saved by the Shepshed keeper. On Friday 28th August the Northern Premier League published the long awaited new season’s fixtures. Saturday 19th September was our first league match at Cleethorpes and demand to see the game was so great that the Supporters Group took two coaches of supporters. It turned out to be a perfect day, lovely sunshine and an excellent Ilkeston performance against the highly rated promotion hopefuls Cleethorpes Town. Nat Watson scored his first goal to give us a half time lead and second half goals by Alex Troke and Zak Goodson gave us a hard fought 3-2 victory. The following Tuesday night we travelled to play Coventry Sphinx in the FA Cup 1st qualifying round. Sphinx defended stubbornly but two goals in the final ten minutes by substitute Mason Lee and a “worldy” by Jack Thomas enabled us to progress to the 2nd round. Friday’s draw gave us a home tie against Hanley Town of the North West Counties League to be played on Saturday 3rd October. Before then, on Tuesday 29th September we were home to promotion favourites Stamford in what would be a real test.  It turned out to be cracking game with Ilkeston twice behind. Stamford went ahead after just 4 minutes and put the Robins under severe pressure. Ilkeston equalised through an Alex Troke penalty but were fortunate to go in level. Stamford regained the lead in the second half only for Troke to equalise again from a second penalty.      


 OCTOBER 2020   

The month of October would see us playing Saturday and Tuesday every week. Saturday 3rd October we were home to Hanley Town in the FA Cup 2nd  qualifying round. Hanley included former Stoke City player Ricardo Fuller and they visited the NMG full of hope and with a big following. Hope turned to expectancy when they went ahead but goals by Zak Goodson and Nat Watson gave Ilkeston a half time lead. Half way through the second half came the moment the Hanley fans had been waiting for. Ricardo Fuller came off the bench and immediately won a penalty. Unfortunately the former international’s spot kick was brilliantly saved by Ross Durrant. Zak Goodson and Alex Troke ensured that Ilkeston progressed with two late goals. Next up was an evening visit to Spalding. Ilkeston got off to a flyer with a Zak Goodson goal but after only 10 minutes they were reduced to ten players when Charlie Marzano saw red. Despite the handicap Goodson made it 2-0 after the break. Ilkeston were then forced to defend but they held out for a 2-1 win. Saturday 10th October we visited Market Drayton and won comfortably 5-1 with Troke and Goodson each getting a brace and James Reid completing the scoring. The following Tuesday we met Alvechurch in the FA Cup. We progressed further with a 1-0 win thanks to an Ollie Brown-Hill strike a minute into the second half. We then opened our FA Trophy campaign with a 2-1 win against Kempston Rovers with Alex Troke scoring both both goals. Our unbeaten start came to an end the following Tuesday night in an away match against also unbeaten Newcastle Town. We were not at our best and went down 4-1. Our only goal was an Alex Troke penalty. It was suggested that some of our players had their minds on the FA Cup match against Hartlepool United which was to be televised by the BBC. The match was made all ticket with preference given to season ticket holders and away travel supporters. When the tickets went on general sale there were big queues and inevitably many people were disappointed but the club were even more disappointed because it would have been a 2000 plus attendance had the gate not been restricted. Hartlepool gave us a 6-0 beating which was rather harsh but a lesson in converting chances. After two defeats we bounced back with a 2-1 home win against Chasetown. We were behind at half time but second half goals by Alex Troke and Joe Maguire turned it round despite James Reid seeing red and leaving us a player short for the final 30 minutes.
Next up should have been Rushden and Diamonds in the FA Trophy but after Rushden had said they had a player tested positive for covid, Ilkeston took the decision not to go there. Despite the obvious risk to our players, we were deemed to have withdrawn from the fixture and Rushden were given a bye into the next round. Many Ilkeston supporters thought that Rushden should have pulled out rather than Ilkeston.
On 31st October Boris Johnson announced a 28 day total lockdown from Thursday 5th October meaning that our fixture on Tuesday 3rd November against Leek Town would be our last for at least a month. Our league record at the end of October was P6, W4, D1, L1. We were 9th in the table having played less games than other teams due to our FA Cup and Trophy runs. 


 

Last edited by Matchman (03/11/2020 1:09 PM)