by Peter Scherer
Mickleover will be hoping to bounce back from their disappointing defeat at Corby on Tuesday night, with a visit to Basford Utd on Saturday.
Sports are now 11th in the table, while our hosts are 14th, after a 4-2 win over Bourne Town last Tuesday.
Andy Dales must be a doubt for Saturday following the horrendous tackle made by Corby’s skipper that went unpunished, but Harvey Smith came through the latter part of the game as a sub, despite originally being a doubt.
In this fixture last season we won 2-1, with goals from Archie White and Stuart Beavon and won the return at Mickleover 3-1, thanks to White, Dan Benson and Jake Bennett.
Gary Setchell took over as manager for hosts in August, after spending 12 months as Director of Football at Harborough Town. He was previously manager of Corby, Wisbech and Kings Lynn.
For our visitors first choice goalkeeper and captain is Matt Yates who arrived at the beginning of last season from Ilkeston. He went to Ilkeston from Gainsborough in July 2023. Originally a Derby County Junior, he was loaned to Gloucester City, Hereford and Telford Utd prior to his release.
Amarvir Sandhu is a left back who came from Barwell in August after a very short stay with the Leicestershire club. Last season he was at Rugby Borough and Barwell too and has played for Harborough Town, Corby, Coleshill, Hinckley Leicester Road, Shepshed Dynamo and Quorn.
Defender Owen Betts started off at Notts County and played for Spalding and Worksop too, before going to Long Eaton from Basford in February 2024. He made his return in pre-season.
Brad Wilson is another experienced and versatile defender who came from Anstey in March. He was previously at Long Eaton and has also played for AFC Mansfield, Rainworth MW, and Worksop.
Centre back Ethan Stewart was signed in July 2024 from Stafford Rangers. He started his career with Nottingham Forest, who loaned him to Billericay and Alfreton, before joining Nuneaton on his release. He then returned to Alfreton, before moving to Stafford Rangers in October 2021.
Ryan Ebanks came to Greenwich Avenue at the start of last season. He plays on the right side of the defence and lists Grantham, Newark Flowserve, Newark & Sherwood Utd and Coalville on his CV after playing junior football at Notts County.
Signed just a couple of weeks from Anstey Nomads, Kyle Tomlin is another centre back. He played his youth football at Mansfield Town, and has played for Coalville, Carlton and Eastwood too.
Harry Twite is another centre back who started out at the Warwick Academy in Bermuda. He then joined Kings Lynn who also loaned him to Wisbech, before he started with Loughborough Students in October 2024. He came to our visitors in pre-season.
Bodi Thistleton is a defender or midfielder on loan from Burton Albion. He’s also had loan spells at Kettering and Rugby Town.
Former Sports Centre back Brad Gascoigne has recently joined our hosts too, after starting the season at Eastwood. A Birmingham City junior, his non-league journey began in 2014 with Ilkeston Town. This is his third spell at Basford, going back to 2019, among many more mainly East Midlands clubs.
Right sided midfielder Nyle Blake arrived from Eastwood in February. He is a former Mansfield Town junior, who joined Alfreton following his release. He’s played for Frickley, Belper Town, Carlton, Hyde, Gainsborough, Stamford, Newark & Sherwood and Anstey too before joining Eastwood last November.
Nat Peters is a midfielder that came through Basford’s own scheme, before moving onto Kimberley MW. He returned to our hosts last November.
Cain Noble is a midfielder who came from Shepshed in August. He was a junior at Tranmere and Chester, before joining Loughborough Students in 2020. He moved on to Nuneaton, Shepshed and Corby, before spending the last three years at Quorn.
Charlie Gill is a young striker who was signed from Notts County in pre-season. He spent much of last season on loan at Alfreton.
Signed back in August Tristan Thompson-Matthews is a striker too, who came from Belper Town. He was previously at Long Eaton, Corby Town and Loughborough Dynamo.
Jack Goodman is currently on loan from Mansfield Town. As a Doncaster Rovers junior striker he was loaned to Stamford, Gainsborough, Matlock, Peterborough Sports and Bradford Park Avenue, before joining Basford on his release at the start of last season. After moving to Mansfield he was then loaned back to our hosts, plus spells at Kings Lynn and Alfreton, before returning on loan again at the start of this season.
Tyreace Palmer is well-known to Sports after his spell at Mickleover couple of seasons back. A striker from the Notts County Academy, he was loaned to Melton Town, Basford and Loughborough Dynamo, before coming to Mickleover in November 2024. He returned to our hosts in March 2025.
A number of home-grown talents have recently made their debuts too, including Academy captain and midfielder Lewis Brown, Taylor Dean Alijah Mignott and Jenson Brooks.
Striker Dameer Rose and midfielder Luca Burton also came through the Academy and broke through to make their first team debuts last season. Burton is also dual registered with Hucknall Town.
Finally striker Luis Rose made his debut last Tuesday, having just signed from Anstey Nomads. It was his second spell at Nomads, having originally joined them from Harborough in 2023. He also played for Leamington last season, before returning to Anstey in March.
Kick off at Greenwich Avenue is 3pm, your support would be most welcome, as Sports look to getting back to winning ways.