STRONG SHOWING ON FIRST HOME FRIENDLY

by Peter Scherer

For a change it was dry, sunny and a pleasant evening as Mickleover Sports welcomed Alfreton Town to the Don Amott Arena, for their first pre-season home match for 20/21.

Manager John McGrath went for a strong starting line-up 

1 Joe Slinn 2- Jake Bennett 3-Alex Morris 4- Mason Warren 5- James Butler 6 Phil Watt 7- Aman Verma 8- Ben Gowing 9 -Patrick Webb 10- Stuart Beavon 11- George Milner

Alfreton were straight on the attack and had a shot blocked within two minutes.

But Sports settled quite quickly and responded with a good build up with a shot from Milner just wide of the post.

When Webb found Bennett in space, a telling return pass allowed Webb to put Milner through, but his blocked attempt went out for a throw-in.

Webb had taken a knock and after about 15 minutes he went off and was replaced by Josh Satchwell.

Webb wasn’t the only one in the wars as Morris had to leave the field to have his head bandaged and on his return, seemed to be on the receiving end of some hard challenges.

It had been fairly even, but most of the play was just into the Mickleover half. But after 34 minutes Bennett had a shot from the right, which bounced off the Alfreton bar.

Only a minute later it was Alfreton’s turn to go close, when space to the left provided an opening for a shot just wide of the post.

There were probably more chances for Alfreton during the first half, but with the final ball letting them down, they went in 0-0 for half time.

Manager McGrath made one change for the second half initially with Elliot Murray on for Watt, whereas Alfreton manager Billy Heath opted for a whole side change, as he had done last weekend at Basford.

Sports started the second half strongly, with Milner shooting high over the bar, before his pass to Gowing, allowed Warren to shoot just wide.

The attacks continued when Verma put a good ball through to Milner, but he couldn’t find enough space to get a shot in.

Satchwell was the next to try his luck but after 51 mins Alfreton broke down the left after Verma lost possession, and the ball was into the area met with a powerful header from an Alfreton striker to give them a 1-0 lead.

Only a minute later Stuart Beavon was left in the clear and his shot was initially saved but the Alfreton keeper couldn’t hold it and it was 1-1.

Alfreton began to settle down again after Sports had dominated the first 10 minutes, but just after they had a shot straight at Slinn, Beavon almost found his way around the back of the defence.

Morris eventually came off just before the hour, with Beavon soon following, just after he had latched on to a cross from the right.

But Alfreton then went 2-1 up after a defensive mix up, where Slinn was unable to get to the ball in a crowded area.

It could have been another goal for Alfreton after they had outpaced the Sports defence, only to put the ball across the face of the goal.

But Mickleover still kept pressing forward, with a good build up just failing to connect with Milner, before Alfreton made another break with a shot straight at Slinn.

Alfreton did put the ball in the net after 79 mins, but it was ruled offside, before Gowing put Satchwell through only to have his shot blocked.

There had been a number of further substitutions for Mickleover, but they kept pressing forward, Gowing had wild shot over the bar, but Alfreton were almost through again before a saving tackle from Murray in the 86^th minute.

But with a minute left on the clock Murray was dispossessed and the Alfreton striker piled in a powerful shot, tipped over the bar by Slinn.

So it finished 1-2 but there were some promising performances, returnee Bennett looked strong throughout especially on the overlap and the tenacity of Milner was a continuous threat for the Alfreton defence.

Next game is away at Frickley Athletic on Saturday, before returning to the Don Amott Arena next Tuesday when Guiseley are the visitors.

Match report by Ian Hawkins

MICKLEOVER Sports took home the KC Trophy with a 2-0 victory over a young Burton Albion XI at the Don Amott Arena thanks to first half goals from Nathan Modeste and Jack Smith.

Sports grabbed the lead after just two minutes when the imposing figure of their triallist, wearing the number eleven shirt, got up well to meet a cross and head it into the path of MODESTE who made no mistake from eight yards.

Albion’s young guns were playing some nice passing football and triallist linked up well with Ethan Vale before finding Jack Holmes on the right, his low cross, inadvertently deflected behind by Sports Tom Eccleshall.

Sports almost doubled their lead on 25 minutes when a direct ball over the top picked out the run of Jack Smith but Callum Hawkins was smartly off his line to block with his leg. And the young Brewers keeper was quickly out to block Modeste at close quarters as the striker showed good pace to get away from Rueben Lal.

Three minutes before the break it was the home side who got the vital goal to give them a 2-0 advantage when SMITH rose to powerfully head home a corner.

Half time: Mickleover Sports 2-0 Burton Albion XI

Albion made two changes for the second half with Jack Livesey taking over in goal from Callum Hawkins and Ben McClean coming on for Ben Hart who played a significant role in Tuesday’s game at Solihull as well.

And a third change saw Ben Radcliffe replace Luke Redfern at right back eight minutes after the restart. The fresh legs of Albion were certainly seeing more of the ball and both Manny Shittu and Yewo Nyirenda added more pace and power in the attacking areas. Young defender McClean did superbly well to slide in and make a timely challenge on Sports substitute striker Tomas Junek as he looked to get a shot away and Livesey’s goal was under threat again when James Cadman got away a sharp strike that just went wide of the post.

Livesey was forced into meaningful action moments later when Cadman again found himself in space with room to shoot and the young Scot spread himself well to block the shot at fairly close quarters.
Shittu went closest to getting Albion back into the game with a effort from range that the Mickleover keeper could only push against his own crossbar with nobody in a yellow shirt able to make ground into the penalty area to capitalise on the rebound.

Adam Prusa went close to adding a third for Sports late on but Livesey showed good hands to hold on to his rising drive at the first time of asking but neither side could find a goal to end the game on a high with Sports Tyreece Robinson eventually lifting the trophy at the end of the game.

Full time: Mickleover Sports 2-0 Burton Albion XI