by Peter Scherer
Hopes of extending the unbeaten run to eight games came to an end as Mickleover visited Racing Warwick last Saturday.
Starting line-up: 1-Oliver Bosworth 2-Ali Mohiuddin 3-Archie White 4-George Wilkinson 5-Danny Benson 6-Brad Gascoigne 7-Michael Hollingsworth 8-Harry Wood 9-Josiah Dyer 10-Andy Dales 11-Thabang Dube. Subs: Stuart Beavon, Paddy Webb, Fraser Corden, Will Atkinson, Stanley Holder.
It was a reasonably strong start from Mickleover, with both Wood and Dube testing keeper in the first 15 minutes. But for the rest of the first half it was fairly even, with both defences holding firm, despite chances at both ends failing to reach the target.
Dyer had a couple of shots saved by the keeper, after crosses from White on the left, and Bosworth had to tip a Warwick shot over the bar.
There were no immediate changes for the second half and although Mickleover had more of the possession and some chances, the final ball to break the deadlock was missing.
Sports made a double substitution after 67 minutes when Beavon and Holder came on for Mohiuddin and Dyer, but four minutes later a mistake in the Mickleover defence allowed Ebbutt to open the scoring for our hosts 0-1. Beaten on the right, the ball passed four defenders before beating Bosworth on the far post
Corden then replaced Wood after 77 minutes, but Mickleover’s push for an equaliser continued to draw a blank, and with Webb on for Dube for the last nine minutes. Warwick had gone close just before the goal and had another shot shortly afterwards, well saved by Bosworth, as the back line seemed to have lost it’s way.
The final push came to nought and we suffered a first defeat in eight games, as we now face table toppers Carlton and Belper Town in our next two games.