by Peter Scherer (Images: Peter Scherer)
Mickleover were soundly beaten in their re-arranged visit to promotion chasers Anstey Nomads, with two second half goals sealing a 3-1 win.
Starting line-up: 1-Jack McDowell 2-Josh Ashman 3-Danny Gordon 4-Will Atkinson 5-Danny Benson 6-George Wilkinson 7-Archie White 8-Cieron Keane 9-Paddy Webb 10-Will Smith 11-Josh Carter. Subs: Stuart Beavon, Louis Bonser, Thabang Dube, Manni Norkett, Josiah Dyer.
Anstey earned a corner in the opening minute as the game kicked off with frenetic pace. Carter was first to try a run at the home defence, but he was soon chopped down.
Gordon then took a long throw to find Webb, but the Mickleover striker was given no room as the defence closed in to clear any threat.
Eight minutes in and Keane made a timely interception to find Webb again in the box, he had his back to goal and again was unable to turn find shooting space and the ball was scrambled clear.
Anstey had already shown their pace in attack, they had a couple of shots on target, but with no power they failed to trouble McDowell.
But 13 minutes and there seemed to be some miscommunication in the Mickleover defence and with McDowell off his line, an Anstey striker tried a lob, landing just on top of the net and a lucky escape.
The pressure was building and Sports were having difficulty in breaking from their own half. A 17th minute free kick was just wide of the post, but a minute later the defence failed to pick up Anstey skipper Annable, who had a free header to meet a corner from the right and it was 0-1.
They were almost through again in the 23rd minute, the defence beaten, McDowell did enough to narrow the angle and the ball ran wide.
On the half hour Gordon managed to find White, he got in the the box before being intercepted, but had no support as Mickleover continued to lack any real creativity.
Benson had to head a couple of crosses clear, but White almost managed to get a break down the right after 35 minutes, after a lovely crossfield ball from Keane. But keeper Nunez reacted quickly and ran well out of his goal to intercept on the wing.
Anstey had another free kick over the bar and a final shot just wide before the half time whistle, with Mickleover being totally outplayed and failing to have s single shot.
There were no half time changes and the pattern continued as before as we got into the second half. Carter and White were both trying to use the wings, but had no service and despite the efforts of Keane, Atkinson and debutant Smith in midfield, it just wasn’t flowing.
Carter managed to get a cross into the box on the 50-minute mark, which Nunez failed to collect. Despite a scramble the defence still managed to clear the danger.
Four minutes later Anstey put another random shot from distance over the bar, but that was soon followed by goal number two just before the hour. Another set piece and Rose benefited as the defence were caught flat footed, 0-2.
The first changes came after 62 minutes when Norkett and Beavon replaced Carter and Smith, but it continued to be the hosts creating the chances, with an attempted overhead kick failing after a cross from the right.
With changes made Mickleover began to at least get further forward and another scramble in the box after 74 minutes almost fell to Beavon. He managed to connect but couldn’t get a shot in.
McDowell saved another attempt from a 75th free kick, before Dube replaced White. Both Norkett and Beavon had started to show in attack, but the game took another twist after 82 minutes, when a long clearance from McDowell caught the home defence on the back foot.
Norkett was chasing hard as Bestwick chased back to defend, but the Anstey player went down and as Norkett went to hurdle him, there was some contact and the referee went for a straight red card.
Dube curled the free kick in and Beavon got the first shot Mickleover had on target in the entire game, but comfortably taken by Nunez.
Only a minute or so later it was 0-3 when the defence again failed to react and allowed Murphy to collect a long ball, before cutting inside unchallenged to fire home.
Mickleover tried a few hopeful shots in the time remaining, but the drama wasn’t over though, as a penalty was awarded and Norkett stepped up to make it 1-3 with the last kick of the match.
Outplayed for the whole 90 minutes against a team, mainly on strength and tactics. Sports may have had the edge on skill, but there was no opportunity for that to come to the fore. But three defensive errors actually settled it in the end.
