by Dave Mackenzie
Hot on the heels of the enthralling encounter with AFC Mackworth, we welcomed Stapleford Town to the Don Amott Arena.
Against Mackworth the lads showed great tenacity, high skill levels and courage to overcome Derby’s top Sunday League outfit by the odd goal in eleven!
Stapleford play their football in the Nottinghamshire Senior Premier Division and they topped their table, losing only two games during the season.
To give a measure of their success they finished 31 points clear of Borrowash Vics and 14 points ahead of Keyworth Utd in second place.
Starting line-up: 1-Josh Bull 2-Will Coffen 3-Brandon Ferron 4-Tony Smith 5-Silas Donker 6-Harry Atwal 7-Sam Tomlinson 8 – Fin Ryder 9-Luis Mas-Hall 10- Josh Powell 11-Mason Tudgay. Subs: Owen Slater, Hamza Konane, Liam Carter, Sam Johnson, Josh Maher.
The conditions couldn’t have been more contrasting. Gone were the monsoon rains of Wednesday evening, being replaced by intermittent cloud and sunny spells.
Holidays meant there were three changes, with Will Coffen, Silas Donker and Luis Mas-Hall starting. Stapleford had a nucleus of experience and from the start you could see they would provide a stern test for the young reserve side.
It was however Mickleover that started well with strong defending from Silas and Toby aided by good work in midfield from Fin R and Josh P.
Sam Tomlinson was showing well and from a powerful run he beat the full back and he got away his shot before the keeper could set himself. 1-0.
Stapleford got themselves back in the game when a good cross found a Stapleford player unmarked at the back post. The goal was well taken with a calm side foot back across the keeper. 1-1.
What followed was a goal of great quality. The ball was played down the left to Mason Tugay who spotted Brandon Ferron moving forwards down the left. Although the pass was good Brandon still had work to do, cutting inside taking out two defenders. The ball was then on his standing foot, but Brandon didn’t panic as he stroked the ball into the corner of the net. 2-1.
That ended the scoring as Stapleford gave away a gilt-edged opportunity by skying a penalty high and not very handsome.
The half time interval gave Leigh Parr the chance to explain the importance of some of the players’ positions in maintaining a good shape to the team and moving across the pitch in relation to an attack.
The Gaffer was also able to highlight a couple of areas where the team could improve out of possession.
The team reacted well to the half time coaching and put in a controlled second half that saw them restrict Stapleford to long balls, which the defence, including the introduction of Owen Slater dealt with well.
The third goal showed the effectiveness of a long pass. After some interchanges between Toby S and Fin R, Fin hit a lovely diagonal which found Liam Carter running into the box on the angle. Liam’s first touch took out the defender and his second placed the ball under the advancing keeper to seal the game. Great goal.3-1.
Overall another very positive performance against a competitive Stapleford team. The lads have shown that they are taking on board instruction and benefitting from the structure and coaching provided by Leigh Parr and Steve Powell.