Season: 2018/19
2018/19
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Grantham Town vs Mickleover Sports
Grantham Town 2-1 Mickleover Sports
Tuesday 4th September 2018
Written by Sam Goldsworthy
Sports fell to another defeat on Tuesday night as they went down 2-1 to Grantham Town. Two goals either side of half time from Michael Hollingsworth, the first one being a spot kick, saw the Gingerbread men into a two goal lead. However Sports dominated large parts of possession during the game, had a missed penalty by Nathan Jarman and had several chances to score before and after Evan Garnett pulled a goal back in the last minute of normal time. Sports will have gone back into the dressing room at full time wondering how on earth they had lost the game. But it was down to Grantham capitalising on their mistakes and not the same way vice versa.
The Sports team consisted of Lewis King in goal as normal. Jake Scott slotted in at right back alongside Tom Burgin, Tyreece Robinson and Ben Turner. In midfield were John McGrath and Mason Warren with Jimmy Phillips and former Grantham player Curtis Burrows. Up front were the two strikers Evan Garnett and Nathan Jarman. On the bench were Oli Roberts, Will Norcross, Lewis Belgrave, Isai Marselia and Clinton Morrison.
Early on a Grantham corner headed on towards goal was cleared off the line before the rebound was saved by King. Two efforts from Nathan Jarman and Jimmy Phillips then proceeded as Sports got a foot. Garnett and Burrows then had further chances to grab a Sports goal before Grantham Town took the lead from the spot after a Sports defender pulled back a Grantham attacker who went down and the referee awarded the spot kick. Hollingsworth stepped up and drilled it into the bottom left corner leaving King rooted to the spot. However not too long after Sports were awarded a penalty for a similar incident in the opposite box as Garnett was pulled back. Nathan Jarman stepped up and had his spot kick saved in the bottom left corner and tipped round the post for a corner by the Grantham keeper. Jarman would have two further efforts before half time with a header in from a Turner cross before a long range strike went over the bar to signal an end to the first half.
Into the second half and Sports had two further chances either side of a Robinson error which gave Grantham a chance at goal. Phillips smashed an effort onto the bar and Jarman put a half volley attempt over the bar. Curtis Burrows then had two chances to grab one against his former side. First a Phillips crossed was just out his reach then a another cross from the other side was met with Burrows head but was put straight into the keepers hands. Sports were then made to pay for these missed opportunities as Grantham took advantage for a mistake to extend their lead. The ball was crossed low into the box, Robinson tried to clear it but it got caught under his foot and fell out to Hollingsworth who smacked one under King into the net to make the score 2-0 to the Gingerbeads.
Sports reacted by making two substitutions within a five minute period. McGrath was replaced by Roberts and Burrows was replaced by Norcross. Tom Burgin was given a yellow card for a challenge near the centre circle late on. The changes seem to work well as Sports grabbed a goal back just as the game was about to tick into added time. Evan Garnett was played through and managed to slot one past the keeper to get Sports back into the game as five minutes were added. However for all the pressure that Sports put on Grantham they only created one concrete effort to equalise in the 9rd minute of the game. Garnett again was played in 1v1 and just had the keeper to beat. But under pressure from the Grantham defender he strike was at the keeper and palmed away from danger.
That’s as close as they came as the game came to an end which signalled a second loss in a row for Sports however they still sit outside the relegation zone as none of the four teams below them (Lancaster, Marine, Matlock and North Ferriby all failed to register wins. Sports will need to get their league campaign back on track pretty quick but for now their attentions turn to the start of their FA Cup journey as they face a home tie with Step 6 West Midlands Regional League side Haughmond. The side from Shrewsbury caused an upset as they defeated Step 4 side Market Drayton Town 1-0 away from home to set up the tie at the Don Amott Area on Saturday 8th September with a 3pm kick off.
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Warrington Town vs Workington A.F.C
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Buxton vs Basford United
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Gainsborough Trinity vs Lancaster City FC
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Bamber Bridge vs Witton Albion
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Marine vs Grantham Town
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Whitby Town vs Hednesford Town
vs Mickleover Sports vs Buxton
Saturday 1st September 2018
Written by Sam Goldsworthy
A day to forget at the Don Amott Arena as a controversial decision by the match referee payed a big part in Sports falling to their first home loss to Buxton FC, going down 3-1. After a scrappy first half Buxton took the lead in the few minutes of the second half through Bradley Roscoe. Evan Garnett got a superb equaliser for Sports before a Nico DeGirolamo goal which was originally given as offside by the linesman was overturned by the referee to put the Bucks back infront. A late Jude Oyibo third wrapped the points up for the Bucks as Sports pressed to get a point but the injustice of the Bucks second goal will be the talking point from a very physical Derbyshire Derby.
Sports were able to welcome back Tom Burgin, Jake Scott and Nathan Jarman into the starting lineup after the trio missed the game at Stafford Rangers through injury. The lineup consisted Lewis King in goal with a back four of Kevin Grocott, Pablo Mills, Tom Burgin and Ben Turner. The midfield trio of John McGrath, Jake Scott and Mason Warren were behind the attacking three of Oliver Roberts, Nathan Jarman and Evan Garnett. On the bench for Sports were Curtis Burrows, Tyreece Robinson, Isai Marselia, Jimmy Phillips and Will Norcross.
There were plenty of hard challenges and tackles flying in for the first 10 minutes as the tone of the game was set. But Garnett had a chance to score after he was played in over the top by Roberts before forcing a save from Buxton keeper Theo Roberts. Pablo Mills had to be taken off on 16 minutes with that looked like a dislocated shoulder again after another heavy challenge from the visitors; he was replaced by the young Tyreece Robinson. For the action off the ball there was little on it in terms of chances as each side would only have one more concreate effort each before the half time break. First Buxton’s Garry Gee fired a fantastic volley straight into the chest of King with almighty power but the Sports keepers did well to hold the ball in his arms. Finally a Nathan Jarman free kick was tipped over the bar by the keeper as it looked like it was going in to round off the minimal first half chances.
Within two minutes of the game restarting Sports were forced into another forced change as yet again Buxton took out Kevin Grocott who was unable to continue and was subbed at right back for Curtis Burrows. Soon after the Bucks were ahead. A corner ball from the far side was headed in after a rebounded effort was cleared. Lewis King tired his best to keep the ball from going in over the line but despite his best effort it wasn’t enough as the ball crossed the line. Another great save from King kept the Bucks from making it to then a long range free kick from Roberts from a very long way out was on target as the Bucks keeper palmed the effort away for a corner.
Then on the 71st minute Sports effort were rewarded with an equaliser. The ball was played in from the left to Garnett who cut inside on his right a few times before driving an effort into the bottom right corner which left the Buxton keeper rooted to the spot. But just when it looked like Sports were in the ascendency the Bucks scored the controversial goal that would give them the win. A free kick was played in and as Lewis King went to punch it away he missed it. The ball was the headed back into the danger area and as Nico DeGirolamo tapped the ball in from close range the assistant referee flagged for offside. But after a conversation with the referee the man in the middle overturned the assistant’s decision and awarded the goal. Analysis later on proved the assistant referee had made the right call thus meaning the Sports player’s protests were justified.
This was a real setback for John McGrath and his Sport side who has they tried to press and grab another goal to equalize Buxton broke on the counter to make it 3-1 in the final minute. Jude Oyibo went on a darting run dribbling up the field and his strike beat King as his near post in the bottom left corner to seal the win for the visitors. A tough one to take all round for Sports but unfortunately as we know these things are very common in football, sometime they go for you and sometimes they don’t. Sports will now move on very quickly as they travel to another tough test in Lincolnshire to Grantham Town on Tuesday 4th September, 7:45pm Kick Off.
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