by Peter Scherer
Two goals in the second half made sure that Mickleover Reserves secured a 3-1 victory over Arnold Town in their Central Midlands Alliance Leage clash.
Starting line-up: 1-Josh Maher 2-Brad Brittan 3-Brandon Ferron 4-Harry Atwal 5-Silas Donker 6-Ted Stevenson 7-Mo Shweikh 8-Chris Palmer 9-Arnold Marimbe 10-Bernard Nsiah 11-Luke Thompson. Subs: Mason Hoult, Jared Cholerton, Marats Sudans.
Barely had the game kicked off and Shweikh made a break down the right wing to earn a corner. Palmer’s kick then met a scramble in the box, but Atwal’s head got the final touch to make it 1-0, despite protests that the ball hadn’t crossed the line.
Just two minutes later Ferron and Thompson combined, totally outpaced the visitors defence and earned another corner, which went straight into the side netting.
It took a while for Arnold to settle into the game, but they earned their first corner after seven minutes, which came to nought.
Ferron once again tore passed the visitors defence and sent a cross in a few minutes later. But Nsiah couldn’t get control and any chance had gone.
Nsiah then had another shot saved after cutting inside from the left, Stevenson’s shot on the rebound was saved too, before Shweikh fired his effort over the bar.
13 minutes in and another Ferron and Thompson move found Palmer in the middle, but he struck his shot wide.
But the visitors were back on equal terms a minute later, when a gap opened through the middle of the Mickleover defence, making it 1-1 with their first shot on target.
Mickleover were quickly back on the attack and after cutting inside again from the left, Thompson fired over the bar, before a perfect cross from Ferron forced a goal mouth scramble, before it went for a goal kick.
Arnold put a weak shot wide of Maher’s left- hand post after 17 minutes, but it was Ferron leading the Mickleover breaks and after 23 minutes, another long run and some accurate interpassing came to nought again.
The visitors won a 27th minute free kick which sailed over the bar, but they started to win more possession, when Sports started to give the ball away in midfield.
33 minutes in and a casual mis-pass set up another Arnold break, but they failed to maximise the opportunity with a shot wide of the left-hand post, followed two minutes late with another weak shot wide of the goal.
After Thompson was fouled, Palmer’s free kick found Shweikh, he took the ball to the line to cross, but there was no one in the middle.
With seven minutes of the first half left Shweikh broke again, but his chase ended when the advancing keeper managed to intercept.
Arnold had another chance when Sports lost possession again, but the visitors striker tried a spectacular acrobatic shot, missed the goal and injured himself in the process.
But there was more drama almost on the whistle, when Sports keeper Maher was alleged to have punched the ball outside his box. He was yellow carded and a free kick awarded, which went sailing over the bar again.
Mickleover started the second half with tremendous pace, and just five minutes into the restart Shweikh’s cross almost connected with Nsiah, but the visitors keeper just got there in time.
It was almost a repeat a minute later, with the same two players, but this time Nsiah struck to make it 2-1.
Thompson had continued to cause chaos on the left with two more breaks approaching the hour mark. After being hacked down to earn a free kick, Palmer sent a curling shot just shy of the top corner.
Palmer almost connected with Nsiah a few minutes later, before Shweikh found himself clear. He had time but rushed his shot, sending it well wide of the goal.
The visitors had begun to look jaded and the youthful Mickleover side soon took advantage again. Marimbe was through with just the keeper to beat, his shot was blocked, but Thompson followed up to make it 3-1 after 72 minutes.
Nsiah had another good shot well saved after a cross from Shweikh, before Stevenson limped off to be replaced by Surats.
Maher was also injured and so Palmer went into goal for the final minutes, with Cholerton on as sub.
In time added on there could have been two more goals, firstly Ferron’s long run ended with him hitting the post and then Thompson was blocked with a last minute tackle, so it remained a fairly comfortable 3-1 win for Sports.