by Peter Scherer

Tonight we welcome Alfreton Town to the Don Amott Arena, for the National League North teams second match of this pre-season.

Alfreton hadn’t played a match since March before visiting Basford United last Saturday.

They used the match to field almost two completely different teams for each half and came away as 1-0 winners thanks to a Jake Day penalty in the first half.

The weather is forecast to be dry and about 15C at kick off time 7.45 and limited spectators are welcome, 300 maximum.

by Peter Scherer

Mickleover FC travelled to Coalville Town last Friday for another pre-season friendly, their third in a week.

Unfortunately the weather was akin to Tuesday’s defeat at Dunkirk FC and made any hope of good football particularly difficult in the continuous rain.

Sports went behind after 17 minutes when Coalville’s Luke Shaw was on hand when keeper Joe Slinn had difficulty holding on to the slippery ball.

It was 1-0 at half-time before Coalville had a goal disallowed for offside.

Both sides had chances and there were some near misses at both ends, before Coalville got a second goal in the 89^th minute to seal their home win, with a rebound after Slinn had foiled the initial attempt.

by Peter Scherer

Gale force winds and driving rain just didn’t invite good football and Sports suffered as a consequence, losing 5-1 to Dunkirk FC last night.

There were a few changes from last weekends 1-0 win against Tamworth, but it was still fairly strong line-up.

Joe Slinn 2- Jake Bennett 3-Alex Morris 4- John McGrath 5- Pablo Mills 6- James Butler 7- Elliot Murray 8- Andrew Wright 9 – George Milner 10- Stuart Beavon 11- Aman Verma

It was Mickleover that mounted the early attacks, with George Milner looking particularly sharp. But it was Dunkirk that had the first real shot, over the bar after four minutes.

Dunkirk started to come forward more and had the first corner a couple of minutes later, which went straight out of play.

Bennett responded with a positive run into the Dunkirk area, one of many he had during the first half.

Dunkirk had another chance when they put a free kick over the bar, before Milner put Bennett through for Mickleover on the 10 minute mark , but after a promising the pass to Beavon, the striker was tripped in the area.

There was no penalty and Beavon needed treatment before continuing.

McGrath was leading the way in midfield and followed up with a shot over the bar, while a good turn from Verma five minutes later was given as offside as he put a piercing ball through the Dunkirk defence.

As the Mickleover interpassing started to pay dividends, Milner had another good run, before Bennett had a good shot blocked. The ball then bounced around the Dunkirk area, before being cleared.

The attacks started to increase and 24 minutes in Bennett was fouled three times in one run, before Milner went close, but no free kick in the offing.

Wright then went close too after a short free kick, he fired just over the bar.

Dunkirk started to come back into the game more in the last 15 minutes of the first half and put one shot across the face of the Mickleover goal.

Verma had a crack from just outside the area for Sports and was just wide, before Butler put Beavon through, passing to Milner who shot just wide.

Mickleover had their chances and for most of the game Butler, Mills and Murray had held tight to repel Dunkirk’s attacks.

But on 35 minutes a defensive mix up left a Dunkirk striker in space and he took the chance to make it 1-0.

Five minutes later Dunkirk went close again, before a penalty was awarded with about two minutes left on the clock.

Slinn almost got a hand to the slippery ball, but it was 2-0 to Dunkirk and a disappointing end to the first half.

There was no sign of either the wind or rain relenting in the second half, but in the opening minutes there were two more goals. Dunkirk had gone 3-0 up before Bennett had a shot which went under the keeper to pull one back.

But the previously strong looking defensive were caught flat footed again only minutes later and it 4-1 to Dunkirk.

A number of the substitutes came in to play, but it was Beavon posing the main threat to the Dunkirk defence. He had a couple of shots saved, before dispossessing a defender and putting his shot straight at the keeper after 17 minutes.

Verma had another positive run before he was fouled on the edge of the box, but the free kick went straight into the wall, before Mills rebound shot was blocked.

Butler then went just wide with a header from a corner kick, before Dunkirk made it 5-1 with a powerful shot that gave Slinn no chance.

The tenacity of the Dunkirk seemed to upset the Mickleover rhythm, often catching them out on breaks. Dunkirk’s random shooting also caused a few problems, compared with the more gradual build up that Sports favoured.

There were chances but on this occasion it just wasn’t Sports night and they he will be hoping for better luck and weather at Coalville Town on Friday evening.

by Peter Scherer

It’s starting to get serious as the Northern Premier League season rapidly approaches.

Fixture announcements are imminent and the Mickleover FC pre-season build-up reaches it’s peak with three games in a week, starting with Tamworth on Saturday, followed by Dunkirk on Tuesday and Coalville on Friday 28^th.

The new signings are starting to familiarise themselves with the rest of the squad and training is intensifying. 

Here are a few images and from last nights training session on a damp but thankfully rain free evening.

Over the coming weeks we will be building up the profiles of each squad player on the website, so BRING ON 20/21!

by Peter Scherer.   (Images by Clipstone FC)

Mickleover FC continued their pre-season warm up friendlies last Saturday with a 3-1 win way at Clipstone.

There were goals from Stuart Beavon, Will Monteiro and Kemy Agustien.

This Saturday they are away again at Southern League Tamworth.

by Peter Scherer

Mickleover FC boss John McGrath and his assistant Ricky Ravenhill had the majority of the first team squad in training last night.

It was a mixture of returning players, new signings and academy graduates being put through their paces.

Striker Paddy Webb is looking forward to the start of the season, after scoring in the 3-1 friendly win against Borrowash Victoria last Saturday.

I can’t wait to get started, as it was frustrating for me how last season ended with so many games called off

So as a striker, is Paddy setting himself a target this season?

20 goals would be good for a start

he said before Andy Wright responded,

You’re the out and out striker and I am looking for 20 myself!

After which Paddy changed his thought to 40,

…I didn’t want to sound too confident.

The team have the next in their string of friendly matches on Saturday, when they play East Midlands Counties League Clipstone, who suffered a 6-1 home defeat against AFC Mansfield last weekend.

Taken from ccfc.co.uk

Coventry City are pleased to announce the signing of defender Jay McGrath from Mickleover FC.

The 17-year-old centre-back joins on a two-year-deal from the Northern Premier Division side and will link-up with the Sky Blues Development side.

Jay is predominantly a left-footed centre-half, who has also been deployed as a left-back during his career to date.

The youngster is the son of former Burton Albion midfielder, John McGrath, who is also the current manager of Mickleover.

Jay made his breakthrough season last year for Mickleover, making several appearances throughout the course of the campaign.

Upon the completion of the deal, Under-23s Head Coach, Luke Tisdale had this to say:

We’re delighted to welcome Jay into the group. He came on trial with us last season from Mickleover and stood out, so it’s great that we have brought him back in.

Jay’s a second year scholar and will spend his time with us in the 23s, but also will be available for the under-18s.

He’s good in the air and a talented young lad and he joins us with the unique experience of playing men’s football at such a young age and that can only help the lads here.

Jay McGrath then expressed his delight at completing his move:

I’m delighted to be here and I’m looking forward to getting started at such a big club with a great fan base.

I’m a left footed defender so I can play left-back or centre-back and I’m aggresive and I like to win my headers, tackles and battles, but also I like to play football and I’m here to work hard and get the best out of my time here.

I can’t wait to get going, hopefully I can push on and make some good progress this year to help my development.

by Peter Scherer

It’s 46 years since Alan Gregson left Mickleover to settle in Western Australia, but his continuous following the Sports results qualifies him as probably the longest distance supporter.

But Alan’s connections are through his playing days too.

I played when it was still Mickleover Old Boys, went from Army Cadets into the team and I first played at 16. I don’t know if any of my old team mates are around, as they would be in their 90’s now, as I was one of the younger ones. It was run by Bert Roome then,

he said.

We played on playing fields and in 1948 played at Burnaston airfield, now Toyota. Most of the players were ex servicemen, but you had to have either a connection with Mickleover or live there. I had lived on the corner of Western Road since 1936.

The team had gone in the Derby Senior League,

We won the C Division Cup and by 1953 had moved up to the A Division, but I was unavailable for quite a lot of the time due to my National Service. We had also gone from the early Black and white stripes to Red and White quarters with black shorts.

Alan played as a left winger in his prime and was known as Ginner, due to his red hair.

I later helped out with the Mickleover Royal British Legion team

Since moving to Australia, Alan now 88, looks out for Sports results every weekend and follows the website and social media avidly.

I played with Club President Charlie Kenderdine and remember secretary Tony Shaw starting out as a very promising young player too. I have lots of very happy memories to treasure from my footballing days in Mickleover, very happy times indeed

he concluded.