Category: Academy

Reserves & Academy Take Massive Victories

by Peter Scherer

After the disappointment of last Thursday’s cup tie defeat to Pinxton, Mickleover Sports Reserves were back in league action yesterday, playing Ripley Town in the Central Midlands Division One (South) match.

With the first team at home, the reserves played on Derby University all weather pitch again.

It was dominant performance, with Tomas Junek, Fin Davies, Fin Barker, Surafel Tefera and Aaron Hayer and a double from Tom Eccleshall, giving sports a resounding 7-0 victory.

They now top the table by five points, with an unbelievable goal difference of +50!!

They are due to play Selston Reserves at home in the Presidents Cup on Thursday, before returning to league action a week later, with Heanor Town Reserves at home.

Not to be outdone, Sports Academy team both had massive wins too last week. 

The Red squad travelled to Belper Town last Wednesday and hit them 7-0. They are points clear at the top, with a +43 goal difference and play again this Wednesday at home to Leek Town.

Just to go one better the Black squad were at home to Ossett Utd and came out 11-0 victors. They are three points off Widnes at the top, but have four games in hand and a considerably better goal difference.

They are back in action too on Wednesday, with the return game at Ossett.

Cup Shoot Out Defeat For Sports Reserves

by Peter Scherer

It was Mickleover Sports Reserves home tie against Pinxton in the second round of the Abacus Floodlit Cup, but having been postponed on numerous occasions, it was switched to Shirebrook FC’s ground.

It was fairly even for the opening minutes, but there was already signs that Sports were in for a tough night, with some stern tackling from the Pinxton defenders.

After six minutes a good through ball gave Surafel Tefera a half chance, before Lewis Belgrave had a shot blocked a few minutes later.

Elijah Fatubarin then got away and was almost on for a one on one with Pinxton’s keeper Liam Power, but Pinxton kept fighting back.

But as the end of the first 15 minutes approached, there was a scramble in the Sports goalmouth and at the second attempt Blount found the back of Kiran Sanghera’s net to give Pinxton the lead.

Pinxton managed to cut off some of sports midfield supply, but in his attempt to break through Tefera was hacked down with a late tackle, but the resultant free kick went straight into Power’s hands.

Finley Davies had a shot from outside the box that was tipped over and a couple of successive corners from Josh Satchwell caused chaos in the Pinxton defence, but they still held out.

Approaching the half hour Lamin Sanyang had a shot just beyond the right hand post, as Sports began to press, which left them vulnerable to a Pinxton break.

As the referee failed to react to some crude tackling, there was a confrontation between the teams and what seemed like an endless discussion.

Tefera almost connected with a through ball after Satchwell had created some space, but there was more chaos when both Tefera and Fatubarin were hacked down as they headed for goal.

It was a free-kick on the edge of the box, which was followed by a good attempt from Belgrave.

Satchwell just lost out chasing the ball on a one on one with Power, before Belgrave had a shot straight at the keeper as the half time whistle beckoned.

Into the second half and Sports began to take charge. Satchwell had an early shot deflected for a corner, but Pinxton came close too when Sanghera was forced to punch clear.

The constant “hand ball” shouts from Pinxton had become rather tiresome, but it only seemed to make Sports even more determined.

The goal scoring chances became more frequent, with Satchwell going close after bursting through the defence and with about 20 minutes on the clock it was Satchwell that grabbed a well-deserved equaliser.

Belgrave had a couple of shots and Fatubarin had some threatening runs. After another late tackle Belgrave rattled the bar from the free kick, but time ran out and it was down to penalties.

Carl Clark put his shot straight at the Pinxton keeper, but Sanghera managed to save their second attempt too. 

After the compulsory five attempts it was 3-3 with Davies, Sanyang and Fatubarin all finding the net, after Ben Lewin’s attempt was saved.

Pinxton’s sixth attempt hit the bar, so Sports just needed to score. Jack Smith’s shot was saved, before both teams scored their next two. 

After Pinxton scored their ninth attempt, Satchwell’s shot was saved and it was game over with Pinxton the victors.

WHEN WILL IT END… ?

by Peter Scherer

With our home game against Gainsborough Trinity falling victim to a waterlogged pitch again, Sports first team have only managed to play four home games in the last three months, thanks to our British weather.

So with approximately nine weeks of the season left, they are left with a backlog of 16 games to play, so the plans for next seasons 3G pitch can’t come soon enough.

Weather permitting Sports are due to host Matlock Town on Tuesday night, but fortunately both the Reserves and Academy have continued to flourish, with high scoring victories as both head for Cup Finals too.

Despite going a goal down initially Dave Mackenzie’s reserve side came back with avengeance against Linby Reserves in the Presidents Cup, on Friday night with Tomas Junek scoring a hattrick and Kyle Clarke, Jacob Edge-Lucas and Elijah Luka each finding the net twice for a 9-1 win on Eastwood’s 3G pitch.

They hopefully will be back in action next Thursday in another Presidents Cup match against Selston, but have already reached one Cup Final, as they face Swanwick Pentrich Road in the Divisional Cup on April 1st at Long Eaton, as well as topping the Central Midlands Division One South table.

During February the Academy teams have been banging the goals in too. On the 12th the Reds had a 3-0 win over Runcorn Linnets in the NPL FA Cup quarter finals, with Josh Satchwell and Peter Koecher on the score sheet along with an own goal.  

They also beat Stafford Rangers a week before at Stafford, 7-1! Jack Thatcher and Taylor Smith both hitting hattricks!

The Blacks also took a win at home to title challengers Skelmersdale, 4-3, with Brodie Carter scoring twice, along with Satchwell and Kyren Johnson-Wood.

So the Reds currently top their division with only one defeat, while the Blacks currently lie second, six points behind Widnes but with five games in hand, and again only one defeat

A league and Cup double is also possible, as both Academy teams are in the Cup semi-finals too. To be played on March 25th, the Reds are at home to Leek Town, while the Blacks are away to Widnes. What’s odds on an all Mickleover final??

Support your local team and make the trip to the Don Amott Arena, you won’t be disappointed.

Sports Juniors Head For Coventry!

Jay McGrath and Josh Satchwell have both been invited for trials with League One side Coventry City.

The 16 year olds are both products of the Mickleover Sports Academy and will be joining the former FA Cup winners from next Monday.

McGrath, the son of team manager John, is a left back and has made a number of starts with the team in the Northern Premier League this season. An aggressive tackler, as well as being strong aerially, McGrath is seen as having a bright future and is a reliable back-up for regular left back Ben Turner.

Satchwell, is an old style left winger, who loves to run at his opponent. He has also been a regular member of the first team squad and made his first team debut in the away match at Bamber Bridge.

““I am delighted that both Jay and Josh have this opportunity to showcase their talents at a football league club as prestigious as Coventry City. It’s another massive plus sign in our favour as a football club and it further cements our football ethos of developing young, skilled talent,” said manager John McGrath.

Published by Peter Scherer for Mickleover Sports February 21st 2020

Sports Claim Second Award of the Year

Mickleover Sports Club won ‘Club of the Year’ at the Derby Telegraph Sports Awards 2019 on Wednesday 6th November. The second award we have picked up this season – a great achievement. Congratulations to everyone involved, we have come along way in the last few years, it shows we are more than just a sports club, we are part of the Mickleover Community. 

Here is a piece on the club’s recent developments and success…

Mickleover Sports embodies the vision of two of Derby’s most prominent names to create the finest community club in the region.

Don Amott, who has been chairman of Derbyshire Cricket Club and board member of Derby County and Burton Albion football clubs oversees all aspects of Mickleover Sports’ growth and prosperity.

His right-hand man is Keith Loring, who was chief executive when Derby County moved into Pride Park and held the same position at Derbyshire County Cricket Club.

Both men have galvanised a club which touches the lives of thousands of people in Derbyshire.

Mickleover Sports is much more than the football team which plays in the Northern Premier League, the third level of the non-league pyramid.

Aside of its two men’s teams and two academy sides, the club has an incredible 31 junior squads as well as a ladies’ team and two girls’ sides.

Meanwhile, there are three senior cricket teams, hardball cricket for under 17s and under 15s, soft and hardball cricket for under 13s and under 11s, KWIK cricket for over 8s and AllStars cricket for children between five and eight.

Mickleover Sports is a long-established name but Don and Keith have given it deeper routes into its local community.

For example, they came up with the concept of Hot August Night – an outdoor family music festival with bars and food outlets – which sold all 4,426 tickets.

Over the past three years, it has raised £23,000 for Our Mickleover, the local community organisation as well as funds for the sports club.

Mickleover Sports hosts a range of events for the community from an ‘inflatables’ day, to fireworks, circus and a sporting dinner.

This means more people than ever have been attracted to a club with which they had no previous affiliation.

It has also opened its arms to other clubs – Derby County Ladies now play at Mickleover.

There are now plans for a 3G pitch which would be available to the whole of the community too.

It has also developed a wonderful network of partnerships in the local area.

This is particularly true of its tie-up with the University of Derby which has seen five international students appear in the Mickleover Sports senior football squads.

John McGrath, the club’s first-team coach is managing the university’s football squad and giving attracting higher quality students.

John has gained a name for developing some great players over the years, including Morgan Williams currently at Coventry and Andy Dales now at Scunthorpe.

Meanwhile, former Derby County player Pablo Mills who is still in Mickleover’s first team is the University of Derby reserve team manager.

Don and Keith consider their involvement as payback time for all the years of fulfilment they have had from local sport. They have created something really special at Mickleover Sports – a club of which the community can be truly proud.

But its story is far from finished. I suspect the next chapter will make even more heads turn.

by Neil White

Young McGrath makes Sports debut

Jay McGrath added his name to the list of youngsters on the club’s books to make his league debut in recent times. Jay made a cameo appearance on the weekend in our game against Matlock Town, replacing Ben Turner at left back with just a few minutes to go. Jay is still 16 so getting some game time under his belt at this age will no doubt help him improve as well as giving him a major confidence boost.

Congratulations Jay, keep up the hard work.

Mickleover Sports Club Win ‘Club of the Year’

On Thursday 10th October the Derby City Sports Forum held their sports awards evening. Mickleover Sports were presented with the Club of the Year Special Award. This is for the club’s work in promoting sport in Derby city, the football sections, junior section and the Cricket section at all levels were mentioned in the presentation of the award along with the work in the local community including Hot August Night, Mickleover Market & Car Boot sales, fun runs etc.

Tony Shaw collected the award on behalf of all the sections this will be framed and displayed in the clubhouse.

We are delighted to receive this award, well done to everyone involved!

Mickleover Sports Res 8-2 Holbrook Sports Res: Match Report

by David Mackenzie, MSC Reserves Manager
Time doesn’t do me any favours. I can hardly remember what happened last week never mind yesterday. However what I do know is that yesterdays performance equalled the best performance of a Mickleover team that I have been lucky enough to be involved in. The previous best was when an U17 team playing in the midweek league (U19’s) beat Burton Albions Academy team 4 or 5 -1.
Just before the game we got the news that their first team game was off and on speaking to their Physio she confirmed that they had brought a good number of them to play us.
Both Aaron and I thought this was a good thing as we would raise our game against better players – this the team did collectively.
I’ll start with the negatives which were the 2 goals we conceded – the first the right winger was given time to come inside and got away a shot from outside the box which Kiran would have saved 9 out of 10 times. The second goal came from us not putting the ball down the right wing despite having 2 chances to do so. The ball got played into the middle where we lost the ball and they broke got a shot away that Kiran saved well but the left winger knocked the ball in from the parry.
For the first 20 minutes or so it was a close game although we created a few chances whilst the defence didn’t allow them any shots on target.
The breakthrough came when Kyle Clarke thundered a shot off the bar and reacting like the good centre forward he is, Jack Thatcher tucked away the rebound.
Lewis Belgrave finished off a good move with a pass into the net from 20 yards – quality. Kyle Clarke decided not to play a 1, 2 off the bar with Jack and finished with aplomb. Then we contrived to miss 3 easy goals with quality football leading to what should have been tap ins. Surf who had missed one of these chances decided to get in on the act pouncing on a slack back pass rounded one player then the keeper and as he was putting the ball in the net the linesman’s flag started waving – a swarm of hornets must have been in the vicinity – the ref just saw the flag and gave offside. Where is VAR when you need it?
The half ended with a thumping right foot shot from Fin Davies about 31 yards out – right in the postage stamp then he clipped a cross in which one of the Holbrook players thought he would show his forwards how they should be doing it.
For the 2nd week we had scored 5 in the first half. The football was tremendous and the team imperious.
As happens the 2nd half was a bit of a drop off and it took them scoring to rile us into a response. We got it through a penalty well dispatched by LB and double from Kyle Clarke who has attracted the attention of Teversal (poor Kyle) The last goal was a thing of beauty and one which if the BBC had been there would feature on MOTD opening credits for ever.
It started with LB controlling a ball that came over his head like he had a magnet and the ball was made of iron. It got moved across and then onto Kyle Teversal Clarke who beat one, he beat 2, he beat 3 then the keeper came out and Kyle waltzed by him before rolling the ball into a gaping net.
Not one player played below their potential!
Kiran the keeper – vocal and commanding Tom Mason – assured and strong in the tackle Jack Smith – you will not pass. Tom Eccleshall – Defend? Attack? – doesn’t matter – does both excellently. Walshy – The Tasmanian Devil – doesn’t get enough credit for his passing ability. Fin Davies – when he does things quick as good a player at Sports. LB – imvho almost as good as me. Wrk rate 100% Quality  95% As good as he has been but fitter. Surf – the best feet in the team is far too kind to the ball in front of goal as a good blooter would result in more goals. Jack Thatcher – his first start this year, works his (well not his, the clubs) socks off. Only failed to hold the ball up and bring in the midfield once. Kyle Clarke – I’m sure he doesn’t know where Teversall is!
Subs – they do a GREAT  job fetching balls etc. The best that can be said is that when Josh Satchwell, Charklie Cotton, and Keir were on, the team performance didn’t dip.

Sports’ Youngsters Cruise into Next Round of FA Youth Cup

Mickleover Sports u18’s won 5-0 against Aylestone Park FC last night in the FA Youth Cup.

A hat trick from Brodie Carter, as well as goals from Niall Cole and Josh Satchwell, was more than enough to see them through to the next round where they will play Chesterfield u18s at the Proact Stadium.

Jay McGrath, Jack Thatcher, Finn Parkin and Marcus Calderone were all present having already made their debuts for the senior team.

The future is bright as Sports to build new 3G pitch

We are very excited to finally announce plans for a new 3G pitch. Work will commence next year in April and it will be used by the first team as well as the academy and junior teams.

Furthermore, it will be available to hire for local clubs as a way to increase revenue for the club, as well as offering local grass-roots teams the opportunity to play or train on a high quality playing surface. 

We are also delighted to announce that we have plans to build Tennis and Bowls facilities that will also be available for the local community, start dates for these will be released in due course. All of this aims to bring the community of Mickleover together which is a very important mission for the club. 

Finally, we would like to thank Paul Coxon from the CIC board for all his hard work on achieving planning permission, as well as Mickleover Cricket Club. Also, a special thank you must go to the Junior Football Committee for all their help and support.