by Peter Scherer (Images: Steve Ingers)
A good crowd and a reasonable day were welcome additions, as two late goals secured Mickleover all three points against local rivals Matlock Town.
Starting line-up: 1-Yusuf Mersin 2-Callum Moore 3-Ryan Wilson 4-Curtis Weston 5-Will Atkinson 6-George Taft 7-Andy Dales 8-Dan Bradley 9-Jahvan Davidson-Miller 10-Cieron Keane 11-Dylan Edwards. Subs: Luke Cox, Charlie Hickingbottom, Lejo Davidson, Stuart Beavon, Fin Ryder.
It was another strong start for Mickleover, with Dales hitting the post after seven minutes, before the rebound was cleared.
But the visitors had early chances too, with Poole firing over the bar after an 11th minute corner
Only four minutes later Mickleover went close again, but keeper Ravenhill denied Sports skipper Wilson, before the rebound was flagged offside.
Former Sports favourite George Milner then tested Mersin with a distance shot, which after being parried away, Morris was blocked as he went for the rebound.
Mickleover were playing a positive game and pushing forward on the wings at every opportunity, and only a last minute tackle from West stopped Edwards after 25 minutes, before Dales collected and fired his rebound over the bar.
Ndlovu then had a chance too on the half hour, after a momentary slip in the home defence, losing out in a one on one with Mersin, as he fired over the bar too.
Essien then tried his luck for Matlock, but fired over from distance, just before Wood was booked for a foul on Keane, who then went into the book too for pushing his rival.
Some good work from Davidson-Miller then set up Edwards again after 41 minutes, but once again West was on hand to deny the Mickleover striker.
“We went very close a few teams in the first half and our performance was good. We had a lot of the ball, but didn’t take our chances. We were more progressive and showed a quicker route to goal though,” said Sports manager Gareth Holmes.
Early into the second half Essien sent Ndlovu on another run, but his cross was straight into Mersin’s hands.
Sports made their first change with Hickingbottom replacing Moore at right back after 52 minutes, but the chances continued to flow too, when after 54 minutes Ravenhill managed to intercept a curling shot from Edwards, before Davidson-Miller shot wide from just outside the box, following a Dales cross.
Beavon then came on for Weston in the 67th minute, before Ndlovu had another shot saved for Matlock.
Dales was next on the attack for Mickleover, cutting in from the left he curled a shot just wide of the left-hand post five minutes later.
It took until the 78th minute for the deadlock to finally break, when Taft rose above the defence to head goalwards, with a bit of assistance from a defender on the line and the underside of the bar, to make it 1-0.
Matlock tried to push for an equaliser and Morris had a shot saved by Mersin after 82 minutes. Durose then put the ball in the net, but was declared offside.
Almost on full time Edwards had a free header from a corner and made no mistake in making it 2-0. Cox replaced Bradley for the final minutes, but the first home league win, fifth game unbeaten and third consecutive clean sheet were assured.
“Matlock has a good spell of 10-15 minutes in the second half, before we established ourselves control. But Dales on the left and Edwards on the right were very effective, both having chances and nice to see Taft back and getting a goal,” Holmes concluded.
