Author: Square Peg

East Midlands Vets League: Opening Weekend

by Gavin Warren

The East Midlands Sunday Vets League kicks off today with 9 teams set to battle it out this season. We’re not in action just yet — MFC Vets have a free weekend and will officially get our first season underway on Sunday 21st September, away to Ethan United Vets, last season’s runners-up. Not a bad way to kick things off!

Today gives us the chance to sit back, watch the results roll in, and size up the competition. The game of the day looks to be Castle Donington vs Ethan United, both sides will fancy themselves to be promotion contenders. It’ll also be interesting to see how the new teams settle in, with Coalville Ravens heading to Midway and The Wheel Inn FC hosting Alvaston United.

👊 Looking Ahead to Our Debut Season
We can’t wait to get started on the 21st — it’s been a journey just putting the team together, and the support has been unreal. Honestly, I didn’t expect the incredible level of sponsorship and backing we’ve received in such a short time.

We’ve had over 60 players interested in joining the squad at some point — that’s been both overwhelming and brilliant. We’re lucky to go into the season with a solid-sized squad of 34 of which 3 are keepers full of top lads. Yes, managing game time will be a challenge, but it’s a good problem to have — this is vets football after all, and we all know the usual mix of injuries, work commitments, family duties (and the odd trip to IKEA to buy candles) can throw a spanner in the works.

We’ve built this on honesty, team spirit, and a shared love for the game. Competition for places is strong, but so is the camaraderie. We’re lucky to have some of the best training and home pitch facilities in the league, and with that comes pride — now it’s time to back it up on the pitch.

Our goal is simple: stick together, work hard, enjoy it, and have a laugh — preferably over a pint in the bar after the match. We’re not here just to make up the numbers. We want to compete and make a name for ourselves.

🔴Up the MFC Vets! ⚫
Let’s get this season started.

It’s Cup Action Again!

by Peter Scherer

It’s time for another break from our NPL Midlands Division campaign, as we host Basford Utd at the Don Amott Arena in the FA Trophy.

Basford, who were relegated from the NPL with Mickleover last season, currently lie fifth in the table, with a game in hand and are so far undefeated.

Following last weekends home draw against Lichfield, Sports manager Gareth Holmes will hopefully have a full squad to choose from.

Last Saturday our visitors were in FA Cup action, going down 1-3 at Hednesford. But on Wednesday eve they bounced back to beat Wellingborough 2-1.

Manager Willis Francis has been in charge at Greenwich Avenue since January. He managed Long Eaton a few years ago and started his playing career as a midfielder at Notts County. He played for the first team 12 times and finished his playing career at Basford in 2015.

First choice goalkeeper is Matt Yates arrived pre-season from Ilkeston. He spent last season at Ilkeston after joining them from Gainsborough, where he had spent the previous two years. He was a Derby County Junior and was loaned to Gloucester City, Hereford and Telford Utd prior to his release.

Yates’ understudy is the vastly experienced Saul Deeney. He started his career at Notts County, and after loan spells at Gresley Rovers, Ilkeston and Hull City, he made a permanent move to Burton Albion in 2005.

He then returned to Notts County, for a year, before a short stay at Hucknall Town preceded a return to Burton too. 4 ½ years at Derby County followed, before his first spell at Basford in 2015. Moving on to Coalville and Ilkeston, he joined Matlock in January 2023, before returning to Basford at the beginning of last season.

Louis Nicholson is a left sided defender signed from Grantham Town last season. He has also played US College football and was previously in Basford’s own academy.

Centre back Ethan Stewart was signed at the beginning of last season from Stafford Rangers. He started his career with Nottingham Forest, who loaned him to Billericay and Alfreton, before joining Nuneaton on his release. He then returned to Alfreton, before moving to Stafford Rangers in October 2021.

Left back or centre back captain Henri Wilder has just started his third season with the club, since signing from Ilkeston in November 2023.He played his youth football at Brighton and Mansfield and was loaned out to Lewes. Following his Stags release he went to Tamworth and played for Alfreton too, before a year at Ilkeston.

David Chapman was signed near the end of last season. Another defender he was at Shepshed Dynamo for most of last season and has played at Nottingham University, Kettering, Quorn and Clifton All Whites and is a former Nottingham Forest Junior.

Defender Cormac Maher is currently on loan from Mansfield Town.

Right back Osa Soloman came from Grantham in pre-season. He is an ex Nottingham Forest Junior, who was also loaned to Redditch. He joined Grantham following his release in summer 2023.

Lynden Joyce is another defender who returned to the club after starting off in their youth scheme. He started the season with Shepshed Dynamo and has also played for Sherwood Colliery and Eastwood.

Ryan Ebanks is a pre- season arrival. He plays on the right side of the defence and lists Grantham, Newark Flowserve, Newark & Sherwood Utd and Coalville on his CV after playing junior football at Notts County.

Eli Christie is a former Derby County Academy centre back. He joined Ilkeston following his release and played for Grantham to before joining our visitors from Gresley Rovers in pre-season.

Jordy Hallam is an attacking midfielder, who has spent most his career at Sheffield Utd. With 28 EFL appearances under his belt, he had loans at Southport, Viking Stavanger and Chesterfield, before joining Scunthorpe following is release. His next stop was Ilkeston after an initial loan, but after three months he moved to Basford in October 2023.

Lewis Reah spent the latter part of last season on loan from Chesterfield. A midfielder he is now back and dual registered with both clubs.

Fin Armond is another pre-season arrival after spending two years at Matlock. A midfielder, he started out at Boston Utd, before spending a year in the US with Queens College’s Queens Knights

Connor Dimaio is another experienced midfielder. He has League One and Two experience after starting at Sheffield Utd. Chesterfield was his next stop, followed by Stockport, Boston Utd, Curzon Ashton, Matlock and Bradford Park Avenue, from where joined our visitors in pre-season.

Callum Cocks came from Long Eaton in the summer. A right back or midfielder he was previously with Loughborough Dynamo and has played for the Army and Royal Artillery.

Striker Tyler Dacres is a young striker that came through the clubs own Academy and is now a regular in the first team squad.

Fellow striker Jack Goodman has spent most of his career with Doncaster Rovers. He made 14 league two appearances and was loaned to Stamford, Gainsborough, Matlock, Peterborough Sports and Bradford Park Avenue. He spent the latter part of last season on loan at Basford too, before the move became permanent re-season.

Tyreace Palmer is well known to Mickleover fans, as he was a Sports player until returning to Basford last March. A striker or attacking midfielder, he’s an ex Notts County youngster and has played for Melton Town and Loughborough Dynamo too.

Kieran Cummings is a striker signed pre-season from Newark & Sherwood where he was last seasons top scorer. He was a Notts County junior and has also played for Shepshed, Newark Town and Bourne Town.

Wayde Hines is another product of the Basford Academy. A debutant five years ago, he also spent some time with Nottingham Forest and has played for Clifton All Whites and Grantham too.

Dameer Rose and Taylor Ceviris both made their first team debuts last weekend in Basford’s FA Cup defeat, having come through the clubs youth scheme.

Kick of as usual is 3pm, be there!!

MFC Vets: Friday Night Football Under the Lights

MFC Vets vs Calverton FC Vets | KO 7:30pm

This Friday under the lights, MFC Vets welcome Calverton FC Vets for what promises to be another competitive and entertaining clash.

Calverton edged the first fixture with a narrow 4-3 win, against Thursday Knights who beat us 5-2 — Calverton are a Championship-level side. So this will be a solid test for our new-look squad, who are still getting to know each other while facing teams with years of chemistry under their belts.

But what we do have is a great, honest bunch of lads who graft for each other and leave it all out there on the pitch. We’ll be aiming to bring the same work rate, attitude, and togetherness that we showed last week against Medan Vale.

As we’re quickly learning in vets football, availability can be a bit of a juggling act — holidays, family life, and those classic ‘veteran’ injuries all playing their part!

This week we’re missing five players from last week’s squad:
* Top scorer Aidan is off enjoying some sun
* Jay Jay isn’t quite ready to return from his knee injury
* Kris (last week’s MOTM) and Danny both sit out with knocks
* And yours truly steps aside after a spirited shift (chasing shadows) to let someone else have a runout — generous, I know and stand in keeper who did a great job drops out.

INCOMING:
* Robinson returns between the sticks to bring calm and quality
* Speedy forward Danwell comes in to add threat up top
* Big unit Pez is back in the fold
* New signings Sav and Midge who signed on this week will be involved for the first time so see what he can bring to the team.
* And Yeoman, Ridgeway, and Diksa are back — with Diksa reportedly flying in on a private jet, landing on the back pitch just in time for KO

Let’s put in another solid shift, keep building, and go get some more points on the board.
Up the Vets!

MFC Vets: We’ve Arrived. Huge 3 Points. Statement Made.

by Gavin Warren

What a way to kickstart our season – an 11-0 win and a performance to match. After a disappointing opening fixture, the lads responded exactly how we asked. From the first whistle, the work ethic, attitude, and team spirit were absolutely top class. Every player put in a shift and took on board what we’ve worked on in training.

This result takes us top of the league – a reward for the effort and application shown across the pitch. But this is just the start. We’ve set the standard now, and we need to build from here.

Goalscorers:
⚽️⚽️ Aidan
⚽️⚽️ Betts
⚽️⚽️ C. Palmer
⚽️ Weston
⚽️ Rock
⚽️ Alton
⚽️ Diksa
⚽️ Sav

Man of the Match: Kris – immense from start to finish.

We go again this Friday night against Calverton Vets, a strong Championship side. They won their opener 5-4 against the same team we lost to, so we know it’ll be a big test. With some key players unavailable due to work and holidays, it’s a chance for others to step in and make their mark.

Let’s keep the momentum going.
Up the Vets.

Sports’ Youth v Aylestone Park: FA Youth Cup: Match Report

by Peter Scherer 

Our visitors from Leicestershire proved to be just tOo much of a handful for the Mickleover youngsters and with four first half goals they ran out 6-2 winners.

Starting line-up: 1-Freddie Fleckney 2-Fynn Newman 3-Tom Bainbridge 4-Semilore Omotara 5-Josepeh Moore 6- Taylor Horbowyj 7-Cole Harrisn 8-Asher Lester-Newton 9-Efren Rolleston 10-Marats Sudavs 11-Zak Kirvan. Subs: Jon Hunt, Habibur Rahman, Harry Williamson, Ryan Martin, George Tunnicliff, Evan Cudworth.

Aylestone were straight into attack mode from the kick off and after two minutes a cross from the left was met with a miskick in front of goal, a lucky let off for Mickleover.

Two minutes later Yassine Haffaneh had the first shot on target for the visitors after the defence failed to challenge him, but fortunately it was straight at keeper Fleckney.

Saxon Nicholls then outpaced the home defence again after six minutes, he cut in from the right and fired a shot just wide.

But the luck ran out for Sports after seven minutes when keeper Fleckney came out to challenge Evan Kane for a cross from the right. He was alleged to have fouled the striker and the referee awarded a penalty, which was duly converted, 0-1.

Only a minute later there was another penalty appeal, but this time waved away. It wasn’t long though before Aylestone added a second, with the centre of the defence torn apart, the ball was struck firmly into the bottom corner, 0-2 after nine minutes.

The visitors had another shot blocked after 12 minutes before Fleckney claimed it, but in the first 20 minutes Mickleover had struggled to break out of their own half.

22 minutes and it was another lucky escape, when Newman was beaten on the right. The ball came into the box and there was a fumble from Fleckney, but Aylestone failed to get a free shot in.

Most of the 50/50 decisions seemed to be going Aylestone’s way and some dubious offside flagging went against Mickleover too, when barely having crossed the half way line.

Harrison nearly managed to break through and sent Sudavs on a run, before he was intercepted after 25 minutes. Two minutes later Harrison and Rolleston combined before a late saving tackle halted their progress.

Aylestone were then caught out by their own offside trap, when Harrison put Rolleston clear after 34 minutes. The striker went straight at the advancing keeper and slotted it neatly out of his reach to make it 1-2.

Sudavs then had a chase on a minute later after Moore played a lovely long ball out of the centre of defence, but it proved to be just out of reach.

But after a few minutes promise it was all Aylestone again to the half time whistle. 37 minutes and an unmarked striker gave Fleckney no chance from close range to make it 1-3 and three minutes later it was 1-4 after Fleckney managed to save the initial shot, before it bounced off him into the net.

Sports made two changes for second half with Pegg and Williamson on, joined five minutes later by Martin.

The defence seemed tighter and weren’t giving the visitors so much freedom, Omotara looking particularly strong as he tried to push forward.

Fleckney had to make a two footed save having charged off his line in the 54th minute and a minute later Martiin pulled one back with a lovely taken goal, after Harrison and Rolleston had combined to send him clear, 2-4.

Just four minutes later and it was 2-5, after Fleckney managed to palm away a good strike, before the rebound went in with no reaction from the defence.

Fleckney continued to be busy for the rest of the game, with four saves over the next 10 minutes, after the home defence were left floundering.

Kirvan tested the visitors keeper after 72 minutes and Rahman was the next sub to come on, and Hunt played the final 12 minutes.

But after some excellent saves to keep the score respectable, Fleckney appeared to drop the ball into the net with a minute left and the final whistle blew with Mickleover soundly beaten 2-6.

 

First Clean Sheet but Sports Draw a Blank

by Peter Scherer (Images: Steve Ingers)

There were chances for both sides in a fairly dour encounter, which made sure it remained 0-0 throughout. But a valuable point against a form side.

Starting line-up: 1-Oliver Bosworth 2-Ali Mohiuddin 3-Louis Bonser 4-Danny Benson 5-Ashton Offler 6-George Wilkinson 7-Steven Fikula 8-Will Atkinson 9-Stuart Beavon 10-Archie White 11-Andy Dales. Subs: Paddy Webb, Michael Hollingsworth, Fraser Corden, Toby Smith, Josh Carter.

Both sides had a chance to open the scoring in the opening minutes. Three minutes in and Dales was played through before Josh Mansell came through with a last ditch saving tackle. But then Tom Brown picked out Jude Taylor for the visitors and his effort was cleared off the line.
Beavon’s hard work after 12 minutes created enough space for another shot, but he was just the wrong side of the left-hand post with his final effort.

Two minutes later Dales went down in the box, but penalty appeals were waved away, before the Mickleover skipper put a free kick just wide a minute later. Beavon again was the creator after 17 minutes, with an excellent ball played through for Bonser, but the wing back couldn’t quite get his shot in.

Lichfield were having their attacks too, with Jamie Spiers firing in a tempting cross from the right, before the Sports defence cleared it. Both Brown and Jack Edwards put crosses into the box for the visitors, but the home defence continued to cope comfortably. White had a shot over the bar for Sports after 22 minutes, but Lichfield then got clear until Mohiuddin saved the day with a great recovery tackle.

Mohiuddin was then on the attack and found Fikula, but his shot was just wide too.
But the visitors went close again when Spiers struck the bar after 44 minutes, before Shearsby met a Wilcock cross, shooting just wide of the near post and so it remained 0-0 as the half-time whistle blew.

It was end to end again into the second half, with Sports making their first change as Hollingsworth came on for Fikula after 53 minutes. Hollingsworth had only been on the pitch two minutes when the ball fell to him, but his shot was just over the bar too.

Webb then replaced White after 66 minutes, but Lichfield were still looking dangerous and won a succession of corners, comfortably cleared by Benson, Wilkinson and Offler at the back.
Webb was so close to opening the scoring after 71 minutes, but Mansell was on the line again to clear.

It had been a fairly quiet game for Bosworth in the Mickleover goal, but he proved his worth three minutes later, diving low to make a great save from Dan Lomas, after some good work on the left from Taylor.

Bosworth again had Haines free kick covered, before Mickleover made a double substitution, with Cater and Smith on for Beavon and Atkinson.

Dales had another shot just wide with 10 minutes left, but overall a draw was a fair result, with the defence looking fairly strong, but despite chances that weren’t taken, there was still a lack of creativity to make it decisive.

 

Sports v Lichfield City: Match Preview

by Peter Scherer

This weekend Mickleover face one of the form teams of the NPL Midlands Division.

Lichfield City are currently sixth in the table having been unbeaten in their last four games, following a home defeat to Anstey Nomads on the first day of the season.

They were 2-1 winners at home to Sutton Coldfield last Monday, despite having played 85 minutes with an outfield player in goal, after keeper Brendon Bunn went off injured.

After two good wins for Mickleover it was back to the classroom last Monday, going down 0-1 to Loughborough Students in a very poor game.

Midfielder Harry Wood should be fit again for this weekend after a foot injury, but Jake Benett’s calf strain still keeps him out.

Ivor Green has been in charge at Lichfield since March 2020, with his assistant Wayne Chapman there for the duration too. Last season they took the team to the Midland League Premiership title and have retained most of their title winning team.

Goalkeeper Brendon Bunn came in at the end of last season from Studley. He has also played for Highgate Utd, Gresley Rovers, Coventry Utd, Halesowen and Worcester City.

After a return trip to Studley, he joined Stratford on a dual registration with Darlaston last season too. He may well be absent on Saturday though, after picking up a groin strain after five minutes in their last match.

Right back James Wilcock started out at Tamworth, but has spent much of his career with Highgate Utd. He has played for Alvechurch and Coton Green too, and came to our visitors in July last year after his second spell at Highgate.

Jordan Clement is a central midfielder who came out of Wolves Academy. He joined Romulus on his release, before moving on to Coleshill. Tamworth was his next stop, but after a loan at Stratford he moved to Alvechurch, before spending the next three years alternating between Redditch and Tamworth. He came to Lichfield in August 2023 from Redditch.

Attacking midfielder Jamie Spiers was signed from Atherstone at the beginning of last season. He started off at Shrewsbury, before joining Alvechurch on his release. He’s played for Racing Club Warwick, Boldmere, Bedworth and Hednesford too.

Defender Josh Mansell returned to Lichfield for a second spell at the start of last season from Walsall Wood. He’s also played for Alvechurch and Chasetown.

Joe Haines is one of the longest serving members of the squad, having returned to the club in June 2021, making his 250th appearance last season. A left back, he’s had spells with Walsall Wood and Gresley Rovers.

Centre back Leighton McMeneny is another long server, having just started his fifth season with the club, after signing in June 2021.

Luke Childs and Dan Lomas are both long servers too. Childs made his 200th appearance last season and played in gOal for 85 minutes last Monday, rather than his usual striker role. Lomas is club captain and a holding midfielder, he made his 150th start for the club last season.

Midfielder John Mills was signed in January this year, while striker Jack Edwards is another long server, having arrived in July 2021. He is he club top scorer too.

Jude Taylor is one of the younger members of the squad, a talented striker who has come through the clubs own youth scheme.

Sonny Sheasby is another young striker, signed from Ellistown last season.

Tom Brown Harry Eden, Kev Hemajou and Jack Bostock have also made starts this season.

Kick off usual is 3pm.

Reserves Lose Out

by Peter Scherer

Any hopes Mickleover Reserves had of a second win of the season were dashed at Holbrook Sports last Saturday, when the hosts scored the only goal on the stroke of half time.

Mickleover youngsters had matched their opponents and looked set to go for the half time break level pegging, until Joshua House’s strike as the whistle was poised.

Despite Mickleover’s efforts to push for a second half equaliser, it remained 0-1 as Sports now drop into the bottom three.

They are away from home again this weekend visiting second in the table Graham Street Prims.