by Peter Scherer
After a fairly even first half, it was Wellingborough that struck with an early goal to seal all three points.
Starting line-up: 1-Aaron Chapman; 2-George Wilkinson; 3-Sam Sanders; 4-Charlie Hickingbottom; 5-Dwayne Wiley; 6-Hamza Bencherif; 7-Andy Dales; 8-Josh Ashman; 9-Harvey Smith; 10-Jude Taylor; 11-Kane Richards. Subs: Theo Rowe, Manni Norkett, Stuart Beavon, Josh Carter. Darryl Powell.
Mickleover were forced to make one change before kick off when Cieron Keane pulled up in the warm-up and was replaced on the bench by Stuart Beavon.
The first 10 minutes were fairly scrappy, with Mickleover relying on the long ball out of defence, but neither keeper were tested.
Sports had their first real attack after 13 minutes, when a good build up down the left found Dales, who sent Sanders on the overlap, before his curling shot was easily collected by keeper Snedker.
Two minutes later Dales was hacked down on the halfway line, which brought the first of seven yellow cards for our hosts midfielder Buckby.
The following free kick came to nought, but Mickleover continued to push forward, with Taylor outpacing the defence on the right, only for his cross to go behind Smith on the edge of the box.
Just before the half hour mark the tide turned in Wellingborough’s favour and Ashman had to clear off the line, for what looked to be a certain opening goal.
For the following few minutes the Mickleover defence was under pressure, with Bencherif blocking a shot from the right and after Sanders lost out on the left, Wilkinson made the clearance.
Jones then had a great chance for our hosts but fired well over the bar, but in the final throws of the first half it was Sports threatening again. Dales had a shot well saved by Snedker, while Higginbottom fired in the rebound, just over the bar and so it remained goalless.
Mickleover were forced to make a change for the second half, with Powell on for Sanders, which meant a reshuffle on the backline.
Just two minutes into the half Wellingborough attacked down the left, Wiley pulled up in challenge allowing Jones to find Fifield, whose shot was parried by Chapman, but fell to Ball who made the rebound count, 0-1.
Wiley then had to come off too and was replaced by Carter, who moved into the left back position, with Powell on the right and Wilkinson in the middle with Bencherif.
Seeking to expose more vulnerability in the defensive changes, Wellingborough tried a number of quick breaks, but overall any threat was dealt with admirably.
But Sports weren’t able to create anything going forward, which prompted more changes just before the hour mark, as Smith and Dales came off, to be replaced by Norkett and Rowe.
A goal mouth scramble after 65 minutes could easily have brought an equaliser. Norkett had the ball but with his back to goal and couldn’t turn, the ball was played back out, before Carter fired it in again and the home defence finally cleared it.
Rowe managed to get a break on the left, with Richards free on the right yelling for the ball. But he continued his run a step too far and lost possession.
78 minutes gone and Beavon replaced Richards, but as Mickleover tried to go for a final push, Wellingborough went close again. After an 82nd minute shot went over the bar, Green tried his luck three minutes later but it was an easy catch for Chapman.
Time had almost run out when Sports won a sequence of corners, which brought keeper Chapman into the attack too. The final chance fell to Beavon in time added on, but he sliced it wide of the right-hand post and the whistle went with a second successive defeat on the road, as we now look to our visit to Shepshed on Saturday.
