by Peter Scherer
Our visitors from Leicestershire proved to be just tOo much of a handful for the Mickleover youngsters and with four first half goals they ran out 6-2 winners.
Starting line-up: 1-Freddie Fleckney 2-Fynn Newman 3-Tom Bainbridge 4-Semilore Omotara 5-Josepeh Moore 6- Taylor Horbowyj 7-Cole Harrisn 8-Asher Lester-Newton 9-Efren Rolleston 10-Marats Sudavs 11-Zak Kirvan. Subs: Jon Hunt, Habibur Rahman, Harry Williamson, Ryan Martin, George Tunnicliff, Evan Cudworth.
Aylestone were straight into attack mode from the kick off and after two minutes a cross from the left was met with a miskick in front of goal, a lucky let off for Mickleover.
Two minutes later Yassine Haffaneh had the first shot on target for the visitors after the defence failed to challenge him, but fortunately it was straight at keeper Fleckney.
Saxon Nicholls then outpaced the home defence again after six minutes, he cut in from the right and fired a shot just wide.
But the luck ran out for Sports after seven minutes when keeper Fleckney came out to challenge Evan Kane for a cross from the right. He was alleged to have fouled the striker and the referee awarded a penalty, which was duly converted, 0-1.
Only a minute later there was another penalty appeal, but this time waved away. It wasn’t long though before Aylestone added a second, with the centre of the defence torn apart, the ball was struck firmly into the bottom corner, 0-2 after nine minutes.
The visitors had another shot blocked after 12 minutes before Fleckney claimed it, but in the first 20 minutes Mickleover had struggled to break out of their own half.
22 minutes and it was another lucky escape, when Newman was beaten on the right. The ball came into the box and there was a fumble from Fleckney, but Aylestone failed to get a free shot in.
Most of the 50/50 decisions seemed to be going Aylestone’s way and some dubious offside flagging went against Mickleover too, when barely having crossed the half way line.
Harrison nearly managed to break through and sent Sudavs on a run, before he was intercepted after 25 minutes. Two minutes later Harrison and Rolleston combined before a late saving tackle halted their progress.
Aylestone were then caught out by their own offside trap, when Harrison put Rolleston clear after 34 minutes. The striker went straight at the advancing keeper and slotted it neatly out of his reach to make it 1-2.
Sudavs then had a chase on a minute later after Moore played a lovely long ball out of the centre of defence, but it proved to be just out of reach.
But after a few minutes promise it was all Aylestone again to the half time whistle. 37 minutes and an unmarked striker gave Fleckney no chance from close range to make it 1-3 and three minutes later it was 1-4 after Fleckney managed to save the initial shot, before it bounced off him into the net.
Sports made two changes for second half with Pegg and Williamson on, joined five minutes later by Martin.
The defence seemed tighter and weren’t giving the visitors so much freedom, Omotara looking particularly strong as he tried to push forward.
Fleckney had to make a two footed save having charged off his line in the 54th minute and a minute later Martiin pulled one back with a lovely taken goal, after Harrison and Rolleston had combined to send him clear, 2-4.
Just four minutes later and it was 2-5, after Fleckney managed to palm away a good strike, before the rebound went in with no reaction from the defence.
Fleckney continued to be busy for the rest of the game, with four saves over the next 10 minutes, after the home defence were left floundering.
Kirvan tested the visitors keeper after 72 minutes and Rahman was the next sub to come on, and Hunt played the final 12 minutes.
But after some excellent saves to keep the score respectable, Fleckney appeared to drop the ball into the net with a minute left and the final whistle blew with Mickleover soundly beaten 2-6.
