We are pleased to confirm that there are spaces available on the supporters coach for this Tuesday’s trip to Brackley Town in the FA Trophy (replay).
The contest promises to be an intriguing one, with a strong lineup promised by manager John McGrath.
The coach leaves at 3.45pm for a 7.45pm kick off at a fare of £15 (return).
Please contact Tony Shaw at tonys@mickleoversportsfc.com to book your place.
Come on Sports!
John McGrath Interview – Brackley Town (H)
Mickleover Sports correspondent Jack Lawrence caught up with John McGrath and asked about the squad, Brackley Town, and Mickleover’s aims for the rest of the season.
Are you confident ahead of the game?
Yeah yeah, you know I think we go into every game feeling confident. Whether it be teams in the our league or leagues below, leagues above us. We know we are a good side, but we also aware Brackley are a very good side off the back of a cup run beating Gillingham so its a tough opposition but we are at home so again we will set our style of football, the way we look to play football and go from there.
Any Home Team news, injuries etc?
Jake is cup-tied this weekend, he played for his previous club so he is one of the enforced change that I have to make. He was very good last week and he did a great job last weekend. He is a very good signing but it will be unfortunately, one be enforced change.
Everyone else is fully fit and ready now. Tom Burgin had a small knock, but he is back and fit ahead of tomorrow, which is great obviously. Centre forwards, all three played really well. Zeph’s obviously scored two last week so he has hit a bit of form, which is great too.
Do you feel like Brackley have many threats specifically or are they generally a good team from one to 11?
Obviously are a very good side in the league above, but you have to look at Arnason who scored a hat-trick against Gillingham. He is a decent prospect, we have watched them a few times and they work, and are a very good side who I think are 8th 9th in a strong division which includes Salford, Harrogate and Darlington. I know about the opposition but I know I also have good individuals in my team and I’m more concentrated on them playing well than anyone else.
Approaching a busy christmas period, any long term ambitions going forward?
We want to win every game we play in! I thought we played really well Saturday against Marine. I though we were the better side, and should of probably scored 4 or 5 but that doesn’t bother me, we actually played really well which is the main thing, creating chances is great for centre forwards that are scoring. The rest of the season I want to win every game were involved in, I know it doesn’t seem possible, but why not? Somebody’s got to make the play off so why not little old Mickleover.
Away Team Perspective.
Click to see the photographs from Saturdays game against Marine from Sarah Middleton.
By Phil Mathews
Sports: – Eastwood, Bennett, Ptak, McGrath, Mills, Broadhead, Dales, Morrison, Thomas (Litchfield 76), Schofield, Scott.
Subs: – Baskerville, Lansdown, Belgrave, Burgin
Marine: – Hare, Field, Short, Threlfall, Foley, Hughes (Willis 82), Monagan, Smart, Anoruo, Lindfield, Bellew.
Subs: – Hessey, Myler, O’Hare, Moore.
Referee M Smith
Attn 205
On a bitterly cold afternoon Sports tried to warm their supporters with their attacking brand of football.
They carved out enough chances to win 2 games not one, but it has been symptomatic of the hosts for much of this season that they have not been able to finish what they have started as often as they would like.
Sports welcomed Zeph Thomas back to the starting line up after he missed the previous week’s fixtures while away on international duty with Nevis and St Kitts.
He has been on a hot streak of form of late and showed what he is capable of with two totally types of goal in the first half.
Elliott Ptak had shown his ability going forward from left back after 9 minutes but his finish did not match his approach play while Andy Dales had a sharp effort saved by visiting keeper Calvin Hare nine minutes later.
Dales turned provider after 18 minutes playing a through ball which Thomas was onto in a flash before beating the keeper.
Despite having the large majority of the attacking play it was not until the 40th minute that they doubled their lead. Again Dales was heavily involved in the build up and as Marine struggled to clear their lines the ball ended up with Thomas who poked it home from close range.
A brilliantly struck free kick by player/manager John McGrath deep in first half stoppage time rattled the cross bar before being cleared.
4 minutes into the second half Thomas had the chance to complete his hat trick with probably the easiest of his three opportunities but only succeeded in under hitting his shot straight into the arms of Hare.
Dales had a great chance present itself to him on 56 minutes but the keeper stretched out a leg and deflected the ball out of harm’s way.
With chances going a begging the visitors felt that there was still a way into the game for them and pulled a goal back through Obi Anoruo who found himself in space with only Eastwood in the Mickleover goal to beat, which he duly did.
Sports kept pressing forward in the closing stages in an attempt to widen the score line, but the two first half strikes by Thomas proved enough in the end to guarantee them the 3 points.
By *Lee Pridmore
I will start my guest column with a big thank-you to key members of the club including Keith Loring, Don Amott, Paul Coxon, Cassy Carruthers, John McGrath and Pablo Mills. All have played an important role in the development of our (University of Derby) partnership with the club.
Personally, I started discussing ideas with Keith during the summer to explore how we could work together to mutual advantage. I am pleased to say that as I write on this November evening tremendous progress has been made since those sunnier summer climes.
Without question Keith, Don and Cassy have enhanced the student experience by lending their expertise to assessing final year student presentations studying on our BA (Hons) Sport Management programme. Students were tasked with developing the clubs brand and separately, how they would make the club more inclusive. The ideas have been fed back to the club with the best ones likely to be implemented. Examples include the need for greater visibility of the ‘club brand’ at the ground, red and black seating and for the club webpage to move up the Google search results rankings. On inclusion, students talked about promoting the Kick It Out campaign more around the club, a wheelchair accessible bar and the use of rainbow laces in players boots to promote the campaign against homophobia in football. In addition to this, students will be writing guest columns for the matchday programme in the coming weeks to showcase their excellent work.
We are also working with the club in developing internship opportunities for students particularly around the media and marketing areas. For example, two students, Jack Lawrence and Andrew Duncan went on the team coach to Trafford and did a great job in keeping the community up-to-date on the tremendous win via the club twitter account.
Not only have the club officials supported learning activities they have also provided ‘prizes’ to incentivise our students in their efforts. For example, tickets to a red carpet Great Gatsby screening and invitations to the club meal in December. Personally, I see these events as important in students social and cultural development and in particular, learning how to dress and act in novel environments.
On the performance side, John and Pablo have been coaching the University teams, whilst the club trains on our fantastic 3G pitch on a Thursday evening. John also delivered a sport coaching Masterclass to our students studying on the BSc (Hons) Sport and Exercise Science, BSc (Hons) Performance Analysis and Coaching Science, BSc (Hons) Physical Activity, Nutrition and Health and Strength, Conditioning with Rehabilitation programmes.
It would be remiss of me not to mention the excellent team we have here at the University that provide us with support and a degree of freedom to explore working with external partners such as the club. My thanks go to Ceri Heldreich (technical support), Kulsoom Rehman (senior lecturer in education and member of the race equality group) and Dr Andy Hooton (head of sport, outdoor and exercise science).
I know there are many more people working behind the scenes at both the club and the University putting in tremendous efforts in supporting developments (to many to mention here) so my sincere apologies to those I have missed out. We look forward to developing the relationship with the club in the coming weeks and months ahead. Come on Sports and good luck with the match today!
*Lee Pridmore (below) is a Senior Lecturer in Sport Management and Development at the University of Derby in the College of Life and Natural Science.
Saturday November 26th will see a huge game for Sports as we take on Brackley Town of the National League North in the FA Trophy 3rd Round Qualifying Round..
Brackley Town are currently on a fantastic run in the FA Cup having beaten League 1 team Gillingham in an exciting replay at their home ground, St James Park so will be confident of success. Sports will also be confident, having put in some decent performances of late and bolstered by the new signing of Jake Scott.
Admission to the game will be ‘pay on the gate’.
#SportsRising
Jake Scott – New MSFC Signing
We are delighted to announce that highly-rated midfielder Jake Scott has signed for Mickleover Sports who beat a number of other clubs to his signature.
First-team manager John McGrath had the following to say…
“I am delighted to complete the signing of Jake Scott. Jake is a player I have tried to sign before and with the help of our chairman Don Amott and all our club committee we beat a host of clubs vying for Jakes signature.
He’s a holding midfielder by trade but can also fit in at right back so his versatility will be really important to us as the season progresses.”
Player History
Scott (23) started his career at Barnsley and where he developed for 13 years, signed at the age of 7 (2000 – 2013): Played 1st reserve game at 14 years old and was then made captain and lead the team out at Stamford Bridge vs Chelsea in FA Youth Cup (1st year scholar). Jake played 3 times for the Barnsley first team in pre season (2 starts).
Loaned to Worksop Town FC December 2012 – 1 month (Evo Stik Premier).
Loaned to Guiseley AFC August 2013 – 1 month (Conference North).
Left Barnsley November 2013 signed for Worksop Town FC (Evo Stik Premier) – played 30 games during the remainder of that season including the play-off game vs Fylde. Went on to play over 80 games for Worksop Town FC between November 2013 – October 2015.
Signed for Bradford Park Avenue (Conference North) October 2014 – playing 25 times.
Signed for Gainsborough Trinity FC June 2016 – made 12 appearances.
Signed for Shaw Lane AFC October 2016 – made 8 appearances.
So far, Jake has made just over 130 appearances in non league, approximately 122 of those after leaving Barnsley FC in November 2013.
By Phil Matthews
Trafford: – Holmes, Brownhill, Neville, Langford (Derbyshire 71), Horsfall, Granite, Brown, Williams, Burns, Horrocks (Bott 81), Irakoze (Garner 65).
Subs: – Shuker, Lomax-Newton.
Sports: – Eastwood, Bennett, Turner, McGrath, Mills, Burgin, Broadhead, Schofield, Dales, Baskerville, Belgrave (Litchfield 68)
Subs: – Lansdowne, Dickinson, Ptak, Gilhooly.
Referee J Kenny
Attn: – 206
Mickleover went into their FA Trophy second round qualifying match away to Trafford FC without star striker Zeph Thomas who was away on international duty with Nevis and St Kitts. The forward has been scoring goals for fun since returning from injury and his absence would put a lot of pressure on leading scorer Adam Baskerville.
Baskerville is full of running and he used this ability to great effect with a strike that proved to be the only goal of the game after 7 minutes.
Along through ball split the home defence and the Sports striker was onto it in a flash beating keeper Matt Holmes to guide the ball into the net.
This was a match that swung one way and then the other. The hosts had plenty of possession and fashioned themselves a number of opportunities but found Jake Eastwood in the visitor’s goal in commanding form. He may not have had many saves to make but was always in the right place to gather any crosses or shots, and must have instilled confidence in his defenders.
Sports played with three central defenders and five across the middle including the two wingbacks Ben Turner and Jake Bennett. For Bennett it was his second game in 24 hours have trialled with Sheffield United Under 23s the day before.
Mickleover had their moments throughout the game but never found a finish to equal Baskerville’s goal.
Only a goal to the good against a side as keen to attack as Trafford the visitors nearly paid the price after 52 minutes. A free kick from Aaron Burns was cleared for a corner and though initially dealt with when the ball once again fell to the hosts Burns scored with a peach of a strike only to see the linesman immediately raise his flag for offside.
No one other than the officials were convinced that the goal should be ruled out as apparently the decision was given against a player who was not clearly interfering with play.
It may have been a lucky break for Sports but it was a definite turning point. Trafford were never able to get that close to scoring again and Mickleover even fashioned a couple of half chances in the closing stages which they were unable to convert.
Manager John McGrath was clearly happy with his team’s effort and performance and could enjoy the weekend and seeing what Monday’s draw would bring. A feeling in the Mickleover camp was that a home draw would be nice after 2 away ties in the competition to date.
We are pleased to confirm that there are spaces available on the supporters coach for this Saturday’s trip to Trafford FC in the FA Trophy.
The contest promises to be an intriguing one, with a strong lineup promised by manager John McGrath.
The coach leaves at 11.15am for a 3pm kick off at a fare of £15 (return).
Please contact Tony Shaw at tonys@mickleoversportsfc.com to book your place.
Come on Sports!
By Tony Shaw
Ashton United 3-2 Mickleover Sports
Ashton United – Smith, Smalley, Mason, Connor, Frost, Moses (Coo 46), Smith, Lees, Gaskell, Knight (Baguley72), Maise (Haining 82). Other subs Murray, Lofthouse
Sports – Eastwood, Bennett, Turner, Schofield, Mills, Lansdowne, Dales, Belgrave (Norcross 82), Morrison, Thomas, Baskerville (Litchfield 72). other subs Ptak, Dickinson.
Attendance 144
Sports were forced into changes with suspensions to player manager John Mcgrath and Tom Burgin and were also without Jack Broadhead.
They led at half time with a fine 22nd minute goal from Zeph Thomas who was found with a long ball down the middle by Danny Schofield and he finished well lobbing the stranded Terry Smith. Sports were well worth their interval lead having played some neat football but badly needed to score another goal that their approach play merited. Ashton were limited to one chance as Mark Lee’s effort from cross was tipped over by Jake Eastwood. Sports were denied a penalty for what seemed an obvious handball when Andy Dales’ chipped pass was stopped by Joe Connor and Dales was then wrongly flagged offside as he broke onto a pass from Lewis Belgrave from a good 10 yards onside.
All the main action came in the second half as Sports were unlucky to fall to defeat.
Ashton equalised on 63 minutes when the referee awarded a free kick for a high foot against Jake Bennett when 10 seconds earlier he waved play on for the same offence on Bennett. The free kick from Lee Gaskell was headed straight for Jake Eastwood but took a wicked deflection off Richard Smith to find the net. Sports took the lead again two minutes later as Dales found Thomas inside the area and his volley flew past Smith from 12 yards.
Step into the spotlight again another bizarre set of decisions from the referee as Sports were again appealing for a penalty with a blatant push on Thomas as waived away and when the ball played into Sports area, Clinton Morrison was clearly brought down, again waived away by the official, and the cross from Smith was headed goal-wards by Domenico Maisse. Eastwood parried the header but Stephen Mason crossed again and the ball hit Albert Lansdowne for an own goal.
The winner came in the 80th minute as Richard Smith scored a fine 20 yard shot that gave Eastwood no chance. Sports came off wondering how they had lost.
