We are delighted to announce the signing of experienced forward Clinton Morrison.

Clinton started his career at his local team Crystal Palace for whom he scored 112 goals in 316 appearances. He has also had spells at Sheffield Wednesday, Birmingham City, MK Dons, Coventry City, Colchester United, Brentford and last season Exeter City. He has played in every one of the top four leagues playing 714 matches including 88 Premier League games, and has scored 9 goals in his 36 international caps for the Republic of Ireland.

He is also a successful contributor and pundit with Sky Sports.

Manager John McGrath had the following to say:

 “We are very excited to welcome Clinton into the squad as he brings a wealth of experience at the highest level with him, which he will hopefully pass on to the younger members of the team. Under our new ownership, we are making good progress on and off the field and we hope to continue this throughout the season ahead.”
 

Mickleover to face Stourbridge FC Official in the Second Qualifying Round of the The Emirates FA Cup.

The draw for the Second Qualifying Round of The Emirates FA Cup took place this lunchtime, and Mickleover Sports will host Stourbridge on Saturday 17 September.

Mickleover got their name in the hat for the draw thanks to an entertaining 3-2 victory over Spalding United F.C. last Saturday.

Find out more about how we did it at https://mickleoverfc.com/mickleover-progress-after-to…/

The club are offering coach spaces for supporters wanting to support us at Whitby this Saturday (September 10th).

The coach (known from this point as the MickleRover!) will depart from the Don Amott Arena on Saturday at 9.15am (£15.00 return).

Please book by calling Tony Shaw on 07966 197246.

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.

Mickleover SPORTS 3-2 Spalding United

(by Phil Matthews)

Sports: – Bilboe, Bennett, Turner, McGrath, Mills, Burgin, Dales, Broadhead (Lansdowne 65), Baskerville Litchfield 80), Norcross, Schofield.

Subs: – Grocott, Tolley.

Spalding: – Duggan, Lemon (Cullingworth 76), Field, Varley, Stansfield, Spafford, Walker, Whitehead, Wells, Downey (Costa 76), Lockie (Acar 50)

No other subs.

Referee Peter Buck

Attn 172

On a windy afternoon with a pitch that was decidedly slick after a heavy downpour pregame, Mickleover Sports progressed to the next round of the FA Cup at the expense of visitors Spalding.

The first half was a scrappy affair brought on partly by the conditions but also by the knowledge that there are no second chances in the Cup.

Sports took the lead after 42 minutes as an Andy Dales cross into the box caused too many problems for the Spalding defence to deal with. As the ball fell to Adam Baskerville he had a simple opportunity to put his side ahead from close range.

Spalding had only one real weapon in their armoury with the long throws of Matthew Varley  which they used to great effect to bring the sides back level. Varley hoisted a long throw into the area and debutant goalkeeper on loan from Rotherham was beaten to it by the leap of Bradley Wells who headed home on 48 minutes.

Sports weren’t to be denied and powered back retaking the lead on 61 minutes as Jake Bennett who had made himself an attacking option from his right wingback position. Latching onto a forward ball he beat Spalding keeper Michael Duggan from an area where he fired wide only minutes earlier.

The hosts extended their lead 9 minutes later as a lethal cross into the box from Ben Turner was poked past his own keeper by Spalding’s Nathan Stansfield.

Stansfield rectified some of the damage scoring at the right end on 90 minutes after another prodigious throw from Varley, but it was too late.

After the game manager John McGrath admitted to being especially pleased in the performance of young William Norcross who made his full debut after coming off the bench in the last couple of games.

We are pleased to say that the photo gallery for the home game against Buxton FC is now live.

Please click on the link below to see the photograph’s (kindly provided by Sarah Middleton).

View Gallery

(Written by Phil Matthews)

Mickleover Sports 0 – 3 Buxton F C
Sports: – Tolley, Bennett, Turner, McGrath (Lansdowne 75), Mills, Burgin, Dales, Broadhead, Minnott (Baskerville 58), Litchfield, Schofield (Norcross 70).

Sub: – Sims.

Buxton: – Budtz, J Bembo-Lita, Green, Ravenhill, Burns, Young, Taylor (Walker 53), Abbott, Grayson (Jackson 78), Evrington (F Bembo-Lita 85), Doran.

Subs: – Lucas, Milner.

Referee Matthew Smith

Attn 361
Top of the table Buxton FC gave Sports their hardest test of the season so far. Although the score line was a fair reflection of the balance of play it is fair to say that Mickleover will not be the last team to fail to nullify the threat of the visitors this term.

With Lewis King out following an injury at the weekend away to Frickley youngster Jack Tolley was brought in for his first start of the campaign, and Isaac Minnott was preferred to Adam Baskerville in the starting line-up with the intention of setting different problems for the Buxton defence than those they would have been aware of from previous performances this season.

The tactic did not prove as successful as was hoped and Baskerville regained his place in the heart of the attack early in the second half.

Mickleover took the game to the table toppers in the early stages of the game without troubling visiting keeper Jan Budtz.

Buxton took the lead on 29 minutes when an attack by the hosts broke down leaving central defenders Pablo Mills and Tom Burgin exposed to the direct running of Bradley Grayson. Tolley was off his line quickly when the defence was breached and managed to force Grayson out wide, but the forward somehow managed to find the back of the net even from the angle.

Danny Schofield was not too far off target with a shot from all of 35 yards that went just over the bar with 31 minutes gone and Minnott was tried denied in the final minute of the half, but despite getting the ball back to him from his initial strike was unable to convert at the second time of asking.

Andy Dales provided a cross which Mills headed over on 65 minutes, and three minutes later it was Dales again with an inviting low cross into the box that no one was able to get a connection on.

The visitors went 2 – 0 up on 79 minutes with Brad Abbott firing home after Sports were unable to clear.

It was Abbott who closed the scoring 2 minutes later, and although there was an argument for offside. The 3 goal margin between the sides was an accurate reflection.

It wasn’t all misery for the home side as William Norcross on as a substitute for the final 20 minutes of the game gave a display of energy and enthusiasm that will have given player manager John McGrath some food for thought ahead of the home cup tie against Spalding at the weekend.

Match Report (by Paul Coxon)

Sports gave two more youngsters their debut in the NPL, but gained little else on the trip to rural Leicestershire. As on Saturday another early goal was conceded and despite a penalty at the end of the first half bringing them back into the game, in truth, Sports didn’t ever look like getting the equalizer.

With Turner injured and Grocott unavailable, Toby Sims took the left back slot where he had shown well in the friendlies. Otherwise it was the same starting eleven as against Skelmersdale United. Immediately Sports came under early pressure, in particular Sims down the Barwell right. When a cross to the far post lead to a corner on the left, Towers flicked on the corner across goal where the unmarked SHANNON-LEWIS put his team in the lead with barely 3 minutes on the clock. Baskerville headed wide on 8 minutes and a dangerous Schofield cross was intercepted by the home defence but Sports were making little headway in response to the early goal. King lost a deep cross which was hacked clear in the six yard box and on 27 minutes McGrath headed an important clearance from a dangerous cross as it seemed like the home side’s pace and quality crossing could reap further reward. Sure enough on 38 minutes Litchfield lost possession and Barwell broke forward, creating a one on one with King and ANDERSON clipped a brilliant precise first-time lob into the net. It almost got worse. A Burgin clearance took a ricochet off his own man and Barwell would have added to their tally but for the on-rushing King to put in a tackle then get up to clear the ball forward. In the last minute of first half stoppage time Sports put a slick move together and suddenly LITCHFIELD was through on the keeper. It ended with a challenge from behind and a penalty which Brodie put away with aplomb. The persistent complaints to the referee by Barwell’s goalkeeper Castle after the whistle went unpunished.

 HALF TIME Barwell 2 Sports 1

The general view at half time was that the penalty could be a turning point, although it was a surprise to see that Schofield had been replaced by Will Norcross at the resumption. For one so inexperienced at this level Will settled in his position well but the majority of play in the early second half was still directed towards Sports’ goal. Burgin was booked for an errant challenge and the free kick was headed clear by Sims. The resulting corner was volleyed over. McGrath lost the ball in midfield and a pacy move ended in an overhead kick wide by Julien. In a rare Sports foray, Norcross beat his man and fired wide from 25 yards. It was difficult to see where an equalizer going to come from. On 62 minutes Litchfield was booked as he threw himself into an aerial contest and on 68 minutes Minott replaced Baskerville. Bennett was pushing forward in an effort to give some width down the right and when a good move put him in on goal the referee’s assistant flagged him offside. It must have been marginal. As frustration grew Dales was booked for something he said to the referee. For Barwell, Sandhu replaced Shannon-Lewis on 74 minutes but the hosts continued to look the most likely. Bell wriggled free down the left and forced an excellent save by King, low down to his right. Then we had a bizarre incident when a through ball was collected by King under pressure by Bell who collided into him. The home fans seem to think it was a penalty and King appeared to be spoken to by the referee while Bell received lengthy treatment. In the end he gave a free kick to Sports and booked Bell following a long period of confusion. Julien was then booked for a heavy challenge on Dales and Ballinger replaced Anderson as Sports had a sustained spell of pressure in the last 5 minutes of normal time and the five minutes of additional stoppage time, They never looked like getting a leveller.

 FULL TIME Barwell 2 Sports 1

The young lads Sims and Norcross acquitted themselves well and Bennett attacked and defended well throughout but too many of the more experienced players will be disappointed with their performances.

(Written by James Capps)

Mickleover Sports recovered from a nightmare start to brush aside Skelmersdale United, and move up to 5th place in the Northern Premier League in the process.

The visitors drew blood first in a frenetic opening five minutes, as Benito Lowe expertly tucked home after excellent work on the right flank from Kenny Strickland.

Photo’s: Courtesy Of Sarah Middleton