by Peter Scherer
Mickleover have signed defensive midfielder Ali Aftab Mohiuddin just in time for tonight’s game at home to Long Eaton.
Moroccan born, Mohiuddin has spent the last few years at Chesterfield, making his first team debut in the EFL Trophy last September.
He made four appearances for the Spireites scoring one goal, but came to Sports pre-season trial after being released at the end of last season.
by Peter Scherer
After the disappointing 0-2 defeat at Coventry Sphinx last Saturday, Mickleover will be hoping to bounce straight back and gets some points on the board, as they host Long Eaton Utd on Tuesday night.
It wasn’t the best of starts for our visitors either, as they went down 0-1 at home to Corby Town.
Long Eaton were fifth in the table last season, after being relegated from the Southern Premier League after one season.
Player manager Bradley Munn started his career in the MansfieldTown Academy, before joining Burton Albion. He has played for Bedworth, Coalville and Loughborough Dynamo too.
He started his managerial career at Loughborough, but after five years at the club he came to Long Eaton initially as joint manager in August 2023, taking full charge three months later.
Goalkeeper Lewis King is the first of the ex Mickleover players in the Long Eaton line-up. He came through the youth scheme at Derby County and Sunderland, before joining Stockport County on his release.
Eastwood Town, Boston Utd, Stalybridge and Matlock Town followed, before coming to Mickleover in July 2016 from FC United. He stayed for three years before a move to Stafford and a return trip to FC United. He joined our visitors at the start of last season, after spells at Gresley Rovers and Loughborough Dynamo.
Gianluca Bucci is a centre back who came through Lincoln City’s Academy. He then spent a year each at Gainsborough, Spalding and Loughborough, before joining Long Eaton last September, after two months with Coleshill.
Defender Jake Finnerty was signed just in time to make his debut last Saturday, having spent the last few seasons at Loughborough Dynamo.
Ryan Campbell-Gordon is a left back signed from Hanley Town in September 2023. He started off at Port Vale and had loans at Ilkeston, Kidsgrove, Hednesford and Gainsborough, before returning to Hanley after his release.
Defender Jayden Cotterill was signed at the beginning of last season. A former Burton Albion graduate, he has also played for Hanley Town, Barwell, Gresley Rovers and Belper Town.
Jamie Hanson played Championship and League One football, racking up well over 100 appearances, during his time at Derby County, Wigan and Oxford Utd. His non-league career started at Ilkeston in July 2023, before a loan to Long Eaton in May last year, became permanent two months later.
Defender Owen Betts is club captain, recently recovered from a long term injury. He started off at Notts County and played for Spalding and Worksop too, before coming to Grange Park from Basford in February 2024.
James Taylor is a central midfielder, who came through Long Eaton’s own Academy. He made his first team debut in 2020. After a move to Heanor Town in July 2023, he rejoined our visitors at the start of last season
Connor Pace is a central midfielder too, a former Burton Albion Junior. He arrived at Grange Park last season having previously been loaned to Gresley Rovers.
Striker Evan Garnett is the second ex Mickleover player. He started with Burton Albion and moved to Worksop after a loan spell with Hucknall Town. Belper Town, Ilkeston and Kidderminster followed, before he came to Sports in July 2017, after a year at Alfreton.
After two years at Mickleover he moved to Stafford, and has played for Loughborough Dynamo too, before arriving at Long Eaton at the start of last season.
Dexter Walters is a left sided midfielder and the third ex Mickleover player. He joined the Coventry City youth scheme after starting out with Romulus and Tamworth. After a loan at Leamington, he rejoined Tamworth after his release and came from there to Mickleover in October 2021 on loan.
He moved to Long Eaton last March, after spells at Stratford, Stourbridge and Bedworth.
Jahvan Davidson-Miller is the fourth ex Sports player. He was a Derby County striker before joining Barwell on his release. Coming to Mickleover in November, he struggled to hold down a starting role and returned to Barwell 11 months later. He then came back to Mickleover for a very short spell last season, before gong to Redditch and Rugby Town and finally joining our visitors about a month ago.
And the fifth former Mickleover player is midfielder George Atwal, a graduate of our own Academy and spent the 23/24 season at Long Eaton, before moving on to Redditch and Bromsgrove. He came back to Grange Park pre-season.
Assistant manager to Munn is ex Derby County Junior Aaron Cole, a sixth ex Mickleover player in the Long Eaton squad. Eastwood, Stockport, Barrow, Hinckley Utd, Rocester, Worksop and Belper Town were all his ex clubs before arriving at the Don Amott Arena in 2017.
He moved on to Market Drayton, Belper, Stafford and Gresley Rovers and has been assistant player/managed at Long Eaton since November 2023.
Striker James Shaw started out with Burton Albion Community Trust. He is in his second spell at the club, after leaving in 2022 to join Kimberley MW, returning to Long Eaton last summer from Shepshed Dynamo.
Fellow striker Tristan Thompson-Matthews has spent most of his career with Corby Town, having moved from Loughborough Dynamo in 2022. He joined Lng Eaton last February.
Oscar Hugenholtz, Corey Gregory, Sam Calpin and Caleb Horsley are all products of the clubs own Academy. Defender Hugenholtz went to Shepshed at the beginning of last season, before to the club.
Calpin is now the number two keeper and has also played for Chesterfield Under 23’s.
Kick off as usual is 7.45pm.
by Peter Scherer
Mansfield Town left back Louis Bonser had come to the Don Amott Arena on a month’s loan. He will be available for selection for tonight’s game against Long Eaton Utd, subject to FA approval.
He also had loans at Carlton Town and Rushall Olympic last season, as well as playing in the Mansfield Under 21 side.
by Peter Scherer (Images: Steve Ingers)
Hopes were high of a good start to Mickleover’s first season in the NPL Midlands Division. But it wasn’t to be as they lost out to two first half goals at Coventry Sphinx.
Starting line-up: 1-Jack McDowell 2-Archie White 3-Jake Bennett 4-Will Atkinson 5-George Wilkinson 6 Ashton Offler 7-Steven Johnson-Fikula 9-Paddy Webb 10-Andy dales 11-Stuart Beavon Subs: Josh Carter, Liam Carter, Faser Corden, James Matthews, Toby Smith.
It was fairly intense opening 10 minutes, with neither team able to break down their opponents defences, nor test either keeper.
Mickleover finally broke through 18 minutes in, when White and Wood combined on the right to penetrate the home defence, but keeper Woods came to the rescue and brought any threat to an end.
Just two minutes later and the deadlock was brokenhowever, when a defensive error left the ball set up for striker Matty Shipman, who seized his opportunity to slot it past McDowell, 0-1.
But Wood was close to an equaliser after 28 minutes, when he let fly with a powerful strike from the edge of the box, but his shot was deflected just wide.
Wilkinson managed to block another Coventry attempt after 34 minutes, before the striker managed to shoot, but Sports were pushing hard to grab an equaliser as time began to run out in the first half.
With four minutes on the clock before the stoppage, Dales got through the defence after a long run, but was brought down in the box. Appeals for a penalty were dismissed, but three minutes later Sports defence failed to clear their lines, the ball fell to Redhead who scored at the near post, 0-2 as a disappointing first half came to end.
The second half started in a similar way to the first, with neither side taking the initiative, but 0-2 down changes were needed for Mickleover to get back into the game.
Corden came on for Beavon after 53 minutes and just after the hour mark Fikula and Atkins; made way for Liam Carter and Smith.
Webb was yellow carded after 64 minutes and Wood followed two minutes later, but any hopes of a fightback from Sports had still not begun, as they struggled to create any shooting opportunities.
But the best chance of the game fell to Webb in the 83rd minute, but his shot went fractionally wide. But with just six minutes on the clock, Coventry sub Harvey Smith was given a straight red card for violent conduct, having barely been on the pitch for two minutes.
Five minutes of added was played, but it made no difference to the 0-2 result, in a fairly scrappy game, where our hosts made the most of two defensive errors to take all three points.
by Peter Scherer
With pre-season now over, Mickleover look to Saturday’s opening league game in the NPL Midlands Division, visiting Coventry Sphinx.
There will be a number of debutants lining up for Sports, plus returning keeper Oliver Bosworth and striker Paddy Webb joining the hardcore of the squad retained from last season.
Our hosts finished 17th in the table last season and began their FA Cup campaign last weekend, with a 2-0 home win over Romulus.
Manager John Woodward has recently taken over as full time, having been a co-manager last season. But he is assisted by Louis Guest, club captain and currently recovering from a long term injury.
Keeper Charlie Woods was signed from Alvechurch last September and has played for Quorn and Barwell too, since being released by Northampton Town.
Patrick Zito is an ex Aston Villa junior. A centre back he came from Quorn at the start of last season, after spells at Sutton Coldfield and Stratford Town.
Currently captaining the side in Guest’s absence is central midfielder Callum Woodward. He is in his second spell with our hosts, having originally left to join Coalville in September 2010, spending four years there until a move to Barwell, preceded a return to Coalville. He has now been back at Sphinx for nearly nine years.
Striker Roan Newey joined our hosts at the start of last season, following his release from West Bromwich Albion.
Fellow striker Kyle Carey was at Mickleover back in 2018 and his previous clubs include Coventry Utd too. When he returned to Sphinx last September, he was only the second player in the clubs history to sign a contract, having previously played youth football for the club.
Centre back Ryley Nicholson and striker Andre Williams are strikers too. Both arrived at the beginning of last season, Nicholson has played for Lutterworth and Coventry Utd and Williams was previously at Hinckley.
Preferably a right sided midfielder, Matty Bowman is another ex Mickleover player in the home squad. A former Repton School pupil he played youth football at Middlesbrough and Hull City, before heading to Scotland with Dunfermline Athletic. He came to the Don Amott Arena from Basford in November 2023, and started last season at Bridlington. He arrived at Sphinx last month.
Striker Joe Blowers has re-signed after playing for the team last season and both Lucas Marks and Leeland Yates have come through academy football and made their first team debuts pre-season.
Kick is at 3pm
by Peter Scherer
Following their victory over Mickleover Athletic last Friday, Mickleover Reserves were brought down to earth with a bang last night, losing 1-5 at Linby Colliery Welfare.
Starting line-up: 1-Josh Bull 2-Kacper Krawczyk 3-Connor Bland 4-Finlay Riggott 5-Dylan Buckley-Moore 6-Joe Moore 7-Shujah Ali 8-Luis Mas-Hall 9-Mason Chadwick 10-Thomas Swift 11-Mikey Mandimutsira. Subs: Marts Sudavs, Mateusz Krawczyk, Michel Laskiewicz, Efren Rolleston, Cohen Fearn.
It was a fairly lively start on a breezy but sunny evening, with Bull forced into the first save after five minutes, after some end to end exchanges.
Three minutes later our hosts headed just wide after a corner, as they began to settle and the Mickleover defence started to come under more and more pressure.
12 minutes in and Bull had to make another good save after a strong attack had outpaced Sports defence down the left, and he was in action again just two minutes later, picking out a dangerous cross from the right.
Mickleover had a half chance in the 16th minute when some good work from Swift found Chadwick in the box, but he was unable to get a final shot in.
Buckley-Moore headed over from a corner a few minutes later, soon followed by a speculative shot over the bar from Mandimutsira.
Swift and Ali were showing glimpses of promise, backed up by the hard working Mandimutsira and target man Chadwick.
But Linby were soon back on top, just missing out in a goal mouth scramble after 21 minutes. Only three minutes later they made their pressure count, when a cross from the left was headed home, the striker seemingly unmarked as the defence froze, 0-1.
Six minutes later another scramble in the box was cleared after Linby had scythed through the defence again, but they made it 0-2 after 32 minutes when the defence failed to clear a cross from the right. Bull saved the initial effort, but couldn’t stop the rebound.
Sudavs came on for Mandimutsira just after the half hour, after he took a knock. But it was Bull in action again, saving from another shot on the right with the half time whistle following.
Although Mickleover’s midfield had managed to make progress in the first half, the defence were outplayed in all departments, with keeper Bull the busiest player on the field.
The second half had barely kicked off when a Linby striker spotted Bull off his line. He tried a speculative lob but the keeper had it covered, but a minute later a fairly weak shot came in from the right, Bull left the ball expecting it to go wide, but after a bobble on the pitch it found the bottom left corner, 0-3.
Swift had another shot after 52 minutes, giving the home keeper a rare save to make and five minutes later Chadwick had a shot blocked.
But another goal soon followed for our hosts when the defence fell apart, before another fairly weak shot slipped through Bull’s hands and it was 0-4 with 63 minutes gone.
Bull punched away another shot two minutes later, soon followed by a header just over the bar as virtually all of the play was in the Mickleover half.
Mas-Hall had a shot saved by the home keeper’s feet, before Bull pulled off another good double save, the first from a shot well outside the box and the second with his feet too.
But with eight minutes left Sports finally got on the scoresheet when Moore got on the end of another goal mouth scramble.
It still wasn’t over though as some shambolic defending left Linby to score number five, with Bull again saving initially, but with no defender reacting to his save, the rebound was in and it ended 1-5.
by Peter Scherer
Former Mickleover captain Ryan Wilson has gone to Stamford in the Southern League Central Premier Division on a season long loan.
Signed from Basford at the start of 22/23 season, he has spent three seasons at the Don Amott Arena.
Everyone one at Mickleover wish him well for the forthcoming season.
by Peter Scherer (Images: Steve Ingers)
A goal in each half ended Mickleover’s hopes of finishing pre-season with a win at Northern Premier League Leek Town, in an otherwise impressive performance.
Starting line-up: 1-Oliver Bosworth 2-Jake Bennett 3-Archie White 4-Will Atkinson 5-George Wilkinson 6-Ashton Offler 7-Steven Johnson-Fikula 8- Harry Wood 9- Paddy Webb 10-Fraser Corden 11-Omotola. Subs: Stuart Beavon, Liam Carter, Trialist A, Trialsit B, Trialist C.
It didn’t start well for Mickleover going a goal down to our hosts in the first minute, 0-1.
Three minutes later Wilkinson was on hand to snub out another attack, stifling any opportunity before the striker could get a shot in.
Once Mickleover began to settle they showed a good strong response in all departments, battling particularly well in midfield with plenty of possession.
16 minutes in and Webb forced the home keeper into a good save, as Mickleover started to look closer at snatching an equaliser.
Just a minute later Bennett let fly on the right, forcing another save as the pressure started to build on the home defence. Bosworth had to pull off a save too when a half volley effort followed a Leek free kick.
Webb went close again after 32 minutes with a header just wide of the post, which proved to be the last chance of the half, with the score remaining 0-1.
Sports hopes of getting back on terms were dashed when Leek got a second goal after 53 minutes, 0-2, but just after the hour mark our sub trialist keeper made a low save as a Leek striker closed in.
Mickleover continued to chase for the rest of the game, and brought on Beavon as late sub to test the home defence for the last 10 minutes, but is still remained 0-2 to our hosts.
“The back three really worked well together, our striker’s provided really good platform and midfield dominated for much of the game and we could easily have been back in at half time, but didn’t take our chances. OveralI I am really pleased with the performance,” said Sports gaffer Gareth Holmes.
by Miguel Mas Lilleman (Images: Michael Taylor)
Mickleover Reserves started their Central Midlands Alliance League campaign with a 2-1 home win against local rivals Mickleover Athletic.
Sports opened the scoring in the first half, when Morad Shweikh darted through the middle to chase a lovely through ball from Luis Mas Hall, beating Athletic’s offside trap that had been played from the start, to round the keeper and slot home 1-0.
The equaliser came almost on the stroke of half time, following three consecutive corners, leaving it 1-1 at the break.
But the winner then came midway through the second half, with a cool finish into the bottom right- hand corner from sub Mason Chadwick, after a nice interpassing move build up from Sports youngsters.
Athletic pushed hard for another equaliser, but two exceptional saves from keeper Josh Bull from one on one situations, made sure the three points stayed firmly in Sports grasp.
