by Peter Scherer
With Worksop Town vying for the top of the NPL table, it was inevitable that their visit to the Don Amott Arena would be a tough challenge for Mickleover.
It proved to be almost one way traffic for 90 minutes, with the visitors securing a 0-4 victory, with three second half goals.
Starting line-up: 1-Kieron Flavell 2-Jake Bennett 3-Ryan Wilson 4-Curtis Weston 5-Luke Cox 6-George Taft 7-Andy Dales 8-Charlie Hickingbottom 9-Justin Iwobi 10-Marcus Barnes 11-Cieron Keane. Subs: Jahvan Davidson-Miller, Brandon Ferron, Stuart Beavon, Callum Moore, Dylan Edwards.
It was a quick pacey start to the game from both sides and after four minutes Bennett lost possession and left Josh Wilde with a clear run on goal, but fortunately his shot was over the bar.
The visitors were on the attack again three minutes later, but this time Keane managed to intercept just inside the box.
Aleks Starcenko then fired across the face of the goal, that was cleared, before Luke Shiels headed wide from the following corner.
Mickleover managed to hold out for 12 minutes, when Dan Bramall was free close in on the right. After strolling around the back line he struck a low and precise shot into the far corner, giving Flavell little chance. 0-1.
Only three minutes Regan Hutchinson cut inside after a charge upfield, but his deflected shot was comfortably taken by Flavell.
There was brief rally from Sports after 16 minutes, when Bennett found Keane, and after a nice one two, Bennett’s cross was cleared on the edge of the box.
Only a minute later a Bennett free kick was headed away for a corner, followed by a second corner on the other side, before any threat was cleared.
Luke Hall then went close for Worksop after 27 minutes, cutting in from the left, his curling shot was aimed at the far corner, but Flavell saved well at full stretch.
Keane was then booked for a foul, but Mickleover were struggling to break out of their own half as we reached the half hour mark.
But 31 minutes in and Dales set up a promising move, his run down the left, saw a cross field ball to Keane, but his pass was just too long for Barnes to chase and it rolled out for a goal kick.
Dales then had a run on goal himself two minutes later, but keeper Seb Malinowski was quick off his line to intercept, getting his first touch in the whole game.
Hall tried a random shot from distance after 36 minutes, but was comfortably wide. Mickleover’s defence however were now relying on a big boot upfield to clear their lines, before it was fired straight back in by the visitors. So it remained 0-1 at half time, with Sports relatively lucky to have kept the score down.
For the second half Edwards and Davidson-Miller came on for Iwobi and Keane, but within three minutes of the restart it was 0-2, after Hall headed home at close range from a Bramall pass, with the defence seemingly rooted to the spot.
Worksop were soon looking for more, with Mickleover looking almost powerless to respond. 56 minutes and they had another break, but Weston made the saving tackle and a minute late Flavell kept out another Hall shot, after Starcenko’s pass split the defence again.
It was Flavell to the rescue again a couple of minutes later, saving a long shot from the left from Bramall, before another goal mouth scramble saw the young debutant keeper punch the next effort over the bar.
Shiels then went in the book for a foul on Davidson-Miller, before Dales managed to make a break on the hour, with Hickingbottom’s shot was blocked.
Hall went close again following a corner, Flavell couldn’t quite hold the powerful effort, but Vaughan Redford effort from the rebound was luckily off target.
It was almost three for Worksop when Starcenko hit the post from a Hutchinson cross, but just after Ferron had replaced Barnes for Sports, the inevitable happened, and after 75 minutes Bramall hit his second, to make it 0-3.
Mickleover had been trying to push forward, but Hutchinson and Jordan Burrow combined and outpaced the recovering defence.
After a number of Worksop substitutions Mickleover looked in total disarray and with five minutes left Liam Hughes found Jacob Gratton, who made it 0-4 to Worksop.
So Mickleover’s run of five unbeaten and three consecutive clean sheets ended with a bang, soundly beaten in all departments with the visitors keeper virtually redundant, as we now look forward to the visit of Blyth Spartans on Saturday.
