Category: First Team

Sports Beat Leamington FC To Progress In The FA Trophy

Leamington FC 0-1 Mickleover Sports

By Tony Shaw

Leamington -Breedon, Taundry, Gudger, Pond, Hood, Mace (james 86), Baker-Richardson, Edwards, Rowe (Olukanmi 71), Thompson-Brown (Gittins 73), Obeng.

 

Sports – Eastwood, Bennett, Turner, Mcgrath, Burgin, Broadhead, Dales, Belgrave, Thomas (Baskerville 73), Litchfield, Schofield. Other subs Lansdowne, Norcross, Ptak, Morrison

 

Attendance 352

 

This was a brilliant performance by Sports as they knocked Southern Premier League Premier Division Leaders Leamington. They had not lost for over a year at home but Sports produced a great performance to progress into the next round of the FA Trophy.

 

Sports started the game a little nervously but gradually grew into the game. The home side played a direct game and bombarded Sports with a succession of long balls. Jake Eastwood spilt two shots in the first ten minutes but went on to make a major contribution to the win. In the 17th minute a shot from Andy Dales forced a diving save from Tony Breedon at the expense of a corner.

 

The opening goal came on 22 minutes as the excellent Jake Bennett ran at the defence and passed to Zeph Thomas, making his first full start of the season after injury, and he fired in a 20 yard shot into the bottom corner giving Breedon no chance.

 

Leaminton hit back and thought they had equalised but top scorer Ryan Rowe was flagged offside. Jack Edwards’ shot was held by Eastwood and Jack Broadhead did well to block a goal-bound shot from Rob Thompson-Brown. Ben Turner replied for Sports but his well struck shot was held by Breeden.

 

Sports were well worth their first half lead but the Home side piled on the pressure in the second half as they attempted to protect their unbeaten home record. It was Sports, though who produced the first chance of the half but Zeph Thomas saw his low shot saved by Breedon. Leamington were denied again by the offside flag as Rowe had again strayed offside. Eastwood held a Thompson-Brown free kick and at the other end Brodie Litchfield headed a corner just over the bar.

 

Jake Eastwood kept the lead intact with a sensational one handed save from a deflected free kick from Courtney Baker-Richardson. The home side then hit the post after the ball deflected fortunately into the path of Baker-Richardson who then saw his downward header from a corner pushed over the bar by Eastwood.

 

Special mention should go to Lewis Belgrave, the youngest ever player to captain a Sports side at just 17 – a real prospect for the future.

Sports held out to complete a fine victory.

 

 

Match Report: Grantham Town (Away)

MATCH Report

By Phil Matthews

Mickleover Sports mini revival came to an end away to Grantham.

Sports have played better than much of their performance on this game, but the absence of much of their creative spark due to injury to player/manager John McGrath. With the livewire Will Norcross substituted before the half hour mark the visitors were pretty much reliant on defensively minded players for most of their midfield impetus.

Both sides like to play football, and given Mickleover’s shortcomings it was little surprise that the majority of the first half was spent on the back foot as Grantham did most of the attacking.

Sports reached the half time interval still on terms and even had an opportunity to take the lead with a move started and finished by Andy Dales whose shot was wide.

If the visitors thought that they had weathered the storm they managed to shoot themselves in the foot 4 minutes after the restart.

Dales took the ball deep into the opposition territory but when the ball was lost the visitors were too slow to recover and Barcelos was able to run the ball into the Mickleover box and fire home despite the best efforts of keeper Jake Eastwood.

In an attempt to give his team different options McGrath brought  on Zeph Thomas for his first game of the season following a long term injury.

Dales fired in a dangerous cross after 57 minutes that earned a corner, and Jake Bennett did similar 10 minutes later, with Dales shot being blocked.

Thomas had a shot from distance that flew over the bar as the game entered stoppage time.

Pablo Mills who had given a composed and assured display throughout the entire game denied the hosts the chance to double the lead 2 minutes into stoppage time with a goal line clearance after confusion in the Sports defence.

Manager John McGrath said after the game that after a poor first half his team improved in the second and probably deserved something for their second half display.

 

 

Mickleover Sports Academy 2017-2018 – Apply Now

The hugely successful Sports Academy is now open for applications for next season’s intake, with an open football session being held in the forthcoming half term holidays for any interested young footballers.

We along with our partners the NPL Football Academy are looking for talented, committed and hardworking current Year 11 & Year 12’s who wish to join a semi-professional academy in the Evo-Stik League when you leave school in 2017 where you will study for a BTEC in Sport qualification (Level 2 or 3), train every day with an UEFA qualified coach and play in the NPL Football Academy League and FA Youth Cup.

The Mickleover Sports ‘Education and Football Academy’ is an alternative to college and is ideal for any 16/17 year old who wants to gain a great education and develop as a footballer at the same time. Now in it’s third year, we have already seen success on and off the field with four students making their first team debuts at just 17/18 years of age and a further three being named on the first team bench.

There is an ‘OPEN FOOTBALL SESSION’ during the half term holidays on Friday 28th October, 12pm – 1pm at the Racecourse, St Marks Road, Derby, DE21 6AL that anyone is welcome to attend by registering at nplfa.co.uk/register

At the Mickleover Sports Academy you will study, train and play full time under the coaching partnership of first team manager John McGrath and first team player Andy Dales.

STUDY:
– Alternative to college
– BTEC in Sport Level 3 (equivalent to 2/3 A Levels)
– One/Two year programme
– Study in the classroom with your team mates
– Opportunities to gain experience at the football club

TRAIN:
– Experienced & UEFA qualified coaches
– Train three/four times a week
– Improve technical ability and fitness on a daily basis
– Opportunities to train with the reserves and first team

PLAY:
– In the NPL Football Academy League
– Opportunities to play in the FA Youth Cup
– Games played at Evo-Stik League stadiums
– Opportunities to progress to the first team
– Opportunities to play for the inter-league team against professional clubs

EXTRAS:
– Trips to St George’s Park
– All matches are filmed, analysed and shown in a weekly highlights package online with our video partners FilmMyMatch (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxY7fOrZWqc)
– Opportunities to study, play and coach in the USA with our pathway partners Soccer Chance USA

Activate your ambition now and apply at http://nplfa.co.uk/register

 

 

Match Report: Corby Town (Home)

Mickleover Sports- EASTWOOD, BENNETT, PTAK, MCGRATH, MILLS, BROADHEAD ( GROCOTT 52), DALES, NORCROSS, MORRISON, BASKERVILLE, SCHOFIELD. other subs BURGIN, TURNER


Corby Town – PARKES, ANTON, KENNEDY, MARSHALL, GASCOIGNE, WEBB, OGILVIE, DRAPER, BALL JOHNSON 64), MILNES (MARTIN 38)


Sports got back to winning ways with a comfortable victory against struggling Corby Town. Sports had Jack Broadhead back after illness and brought in youngster Will Norcross and Elliot Ptak, making his debut.


Ptak went close in the 1st minute firing a chance just wide as Sports dominated the early stages. Jake Bennett did well to get in a cross that Clinton Morrison volleyed first time across goal, the ball just evading Adam Baskerville. Sports took the lead when John Mcgrath’s in-swinging corner was turned into his own net by Monty Parkes.


Baskerville nearly doubled the lead on 30 minutes. A fine run and cross from Jake Bennett was volleyed back first time by Clinton Morrison and Baskerville was inches away from connecting at the far post. Sports were then denied what looked like a goal when Bennett fired in from 10 yards but the referee blew for a foul.


Sports were again denied by the referee on 48 minutes when a pass back was handled by the keeper. Sports took a quick free kick for Danny Schofield to roll in but were pulled back for a reason only the official knew. Five minutes later the all important second goal was scored by Adam Baskerville as Danny Schofield got to the line and his cross was hit in , first time from 8 yards out,


Good control from Clinton Morrison saw him find Schofield but his shot was parried by Parkes. Baskerville was played through but his shot cleared the bar.


The visitors had been very poor and their only shot on target came in the 75th minute when Andre Johnson hit his shot straight at Jake Eastwood.


Att 184


Match Report: Halesowen Town (Home)

By Christian Hile

Sports 0-1 Halesowen Town

Sports just fell short to a frustrating 1-0 defeat at the hands of a resolute and well organised Halesowen side.

Sports got off to an abysmal start, as Halesowen found themselves in front after just 32 seconds, thanks to a long punt forward, which fell all the way to Kaiman Anderson in the Mickleover box, who poked past Jake Eastwood from close range. Sports came close to an equaliser on 13 minutes when a neat link-up play between Baskerville and Morrison found Baskerville one on one with Platty in the opposition goal who saved well from close range. Anderson came close to doubling the score line on 36 minutes when his header at the back post from a corner went just wide. Anderson again threatened the Mickleover goal on 44 minutes as he forces Eastwood into his first save of the match down to his.  Not much was between the two sides, but Halesowen’s early goal separates the two sides.

Mickleover started the second half on the front foot, and came close to levelling the score line on 51 minutes when Richard Sho Silva almost headed into his own net from a Sports corner, and from the resulting corner Pablo Mills headed it straight at Platty. On 70 minutes Clinton Morrison forced Platty into a great after his acrobatic effort from just inside the box.  For the remainder of the match Sports found it very difficult to get past the resolute Halesowen defence to create any clear cut chances at goal, as Halesowen slowed things down to disrupt Mickleover’s tempo.

Sports will feel frustrated that they were unable to anything out of the game, but they have a opportunity to quickly bounce back against Corby Town at the Don Amott Arena on Saturday.

Teams

Sports :Jake Eastwood, Jake Bennett, Ben Turner, John McGrath, Pablo  Mills, Tom Burgin (c ), Andy Dales, Kevin Grocott, Clinton Morrison, Adam Baskerville, Danny  Schofield

Halesowen : Daniel Platty, Kyle Haynes, James Hancocks, Jay Denny (c ), Richard Sho-Silva, Asa Charlton, Kennedy Dieie ,Daniel  Bragoli, Kaiman Anderson, Jordan Goddard, Malcom Melvin

Sub’s

Sports: Lewis Belgrave (Turner 22), Jake Dickinson, Albert Lansdowne, Brodie Litchfield

Halesowen :Eiman Delaney, Kyle Morrison, Aaron Griffiths, Joe Colley

Attendance : 168

Coach To Blyth Spartans – Book Now For A Seat On The MickleRover!

The club are offering coach spaces for supporters wanting to support us at Blyth Spartans this Saturday (October 8th).

The coach (known as the MickleRover!) will depart from the Don Amott Arena on Saturday at 9.00am (£15.00 return).

Please book by calling Tony Shaw on 07966 197246 or emailing him on tonys@mickleoversportsfc.com.

Also, we will be making coaches available for a number of other games this season so please enquire with Tony or send us an email to tonys@mickleoversportsfc.com for more information.

Match Report: Skelmersdale Utd (Away)

By Tony Shaw

Skelmersdale UTD 1-3 Mickleover Sports

Skelmersdale: Priestley, Fernandes, Holden, Mcintosh, Bodie, Strickland, Lowe (Burns 75), Woolcott, Almond, Wall (Hodkinson 67), , Ince (Rendall 80)

Sports: Eastwood, Bennett, Turner, Mcgrath (Belgrave 75), Mills, Broadhead, Dales (Litchfield 45), Grocott(Burgin 81), Morrison, Baskerville, Schofield.

Sports came back with their first double of the season and three vital points.

Both teams took time to settle but it was Sports who created the first chance, a short free kick to John Mcgrath whose cross found Adam Baskerville 8 yards out but he headed wide. The home side looked dangerous when Andy Dales was robbed in midfield and a quick break saw Chris Almond shoot wide from 20 yards. Sports were put under pressure and Paul Woolcott forced Jake Eastwood into a full length diving save, the corner headed wide by Rob Mcintosh.

Sports grabbed the all important first goal on the stroke of half-time as Andy Dales brought down a long crossfield pass, cut inside Robert Bodie only to be brought down. The penalty was delayed for several minutes allowing for treatment but Dales was forced off on a stretcher. Adam Baskerville kept up his excellent penalty taking with a low shot into the corner.

This was the goal to settle the team down and Sports came out on the front foot early in the second half. A mix up between the Keeper and centre half aloowed in Brodie Litchfield and he slotted in from 8 yards out to double the lead on 53 minutes. a minute later Litchfield outpaced Woolcott who dragged him down in the area for a second penalty. Litchfield picked himself up to send the keeper the wrong way from the penalty.

Jake Eastwood produced another fine diving stop to deny Kenny Strickland before Sports almost scored again. Jake Bennet got behind the home defence and his low cross found Danny Schofield at the back post but his stretching volley was inches wide. Eastwood again did well when a corner was headed towards the top corner but he again saved well at full stretch. Jack Broadhead hit a stinging 15 yard shot that was turned away by Phil Priestley.

Skelmersdale scored a consolation goal in the last minute, the referee awarding a third penalty that Chris Almond converted.

Att. 187

Match Report: Hednesford Town (Away)

By Phil Mathews

HEDNESFORD TOWN 1 SPORTS 0

Hednesdford: – Crane, Williams, Bramall, Thorley, Mutton, Flanagan (Geddes 81), Logan, Maye, Glover (Dunkley 68), Carline, Singh.

Subs: – Ransome, Wright, Sammons.

Sports: – Eastwood, Bennett (Burgin 45), Turner, McGrath, Mills, Broadhead, Dales (Belgrave 75), Grocott, Morrison, Baskerville (Litchfield 61), Schofield.

Subs: – Lansdowne, Tolley.

Referee S Postin

Attn 356

48 hours after the exertions of  Saturday afternoon when Sports battled well and hard to pick up three well deserved points against local rivals Matlock  Mickleover were back in action, but with a different challenge ahead of them.

Hednesford may have suffered relegation at the end of the previous season but whatever hangover they had experienced had long been blown away, and on this night showed themselves the best side that John McGrath’s men had come up against this term.

The hosts played a slick, pacey attacking brand of football that you felt few sides would be able to cope with.

That Sports came out of this game with only a one goal defeat was much to their credit.

The visitors could have been washed away by their opponents in the first half, and although they had to clear the ball from off the line after a quarter of an hour made it to half time with their defences unbreached.

There was even the possibility of a penalty after an Andy Dales goal bound shot was cleared as far as Ben Turner whose effort on goal bounced away off a home defender. The shout was for a penalty as the ball appeared to strike his hand but the referee was unmoved.

Hednesford’s attacking became more insistent as the second half, though how much of that was down to the withdrawal of Jake Bennett at the break. Bennett had suffered a nasty kick to his ankle in the first half, and replacing him meant three positional changes, with Tom Burgin coming in at centre half, Pablo Mills moving into midfield and Kevin Grocott moving to right back.

George Carline was proving a major threat and must have thought that he had broken the deadlock as he burst into the box, picked his spot; beat Jake Eastwood in the visitors goal only to see the ball cannon away off the foot of the post.

The goal, when it came was unlucky. A cross from the right into the box went past everybody only to hit the leg of centre forward Danny Glover who rightly took the plaudits for being in the right place at the right time, but had little deliberate involvement in the strike.

Mickleover refused to cave in, and saw quite a lot of the ball without carving out any real chances.

They were saved by the woodwork again before the game ended,

For some of the players this is their first experience of playing at this level, and they can only come out of a game like this with the benefit of knowing that they are learning all the time, and it will benefit them further down the line.

Match Report: Matlock Town (Home)

By Phil Matthews

Mickleover Sports 2 0 Matlock Town

Sports: – Eastwood, Bennett, Turner, McGrath, Mills, Broadhead, Dales, Grocott, Morrison (Litchfield 60), Baskerville (Norcross 80), Schofield.

Subs: – Lansdowne, Tolley.

Matlock: – Barnes, Marsden, Green, Doyle-Charles (Wilson 86), A Yates, Wiley, McManus (J Yates 84), Williams, Newsham, Dinanga Degirolamo 70), Cribley.

Subs: – Travis, Jameson.

Referee D Watson.

Attn: – 291

Local derbies are always looked upon with anticipation by supporters and this game was no different.

There was an interesting sub-plot to this one with Matlock managerial duo Glenn Kirkwood and Craig Hopkins having jumped shift and left Mickleover in the summer, taking a number of their star players with them.

The hosts added one new face to their squad with the arrival of keeper Jake Eastwood on loan from Sheffield United.

The Gladiators had 5 players in their starting eleven who had played for Sports at some stage, and would have wished for a better start than the one that they got.

Jake Bennett, who is gaining a reputation as a real class act as a right sided wing back took the ball deep into Matlock territory before firing in a wicked low cross that Liam Marsden could only turn into his own net to give the home side a 14th minute lead.

The visitors were then given a gilt edged opportunity to pull level  in the 22nd minute when referee Watson adjudged a coming together in the box between Edward Cribley and Jack Broadhead as worthy of a penalty.

Marc Newsham failed to even test the keeper however as he fired wide.

The game was effectively over as a contest with 44 minutes gone, when a spell of intricate interpassing orchestrated by Danny Schofield ended with Andy Dales lashing in a shot from the edge of the area.

Matlock rallied after the interval but failed to unduly extend Eastwood, who had few opportunities to show what he was capable of although his handling was competent on the few occasions that he was tested.

Mickleover finished strongly and were worthy winners on the day.