by Peter Scherer
For various reasons it’s been a difficult campaign for Mickleover Reserves in the Central Midlands Alliance League, but with the visit of third in the table Melbourne Dynamo on Tuesday evening it all came good.
Starting line-up: 1-Josh Bull 2-Toby Smith 3-Zak Sandhu 4-Jared Cholerton 5-Will Robinson 6-Bobby Battisson 7-Mason Tudgay 8-Chris Palmer 9-Fin Ryder 11-Sam Tomlinson12-Marcus Tudgay. Subs: Louis Mas-Hall, Josh Carter, Liam Carter, Silas Donker.
On a very windy night it didn’t take long for Mickleover to show their intentions. Palmer put an early free kick just over the bar after Battisson was fouled just outside the box.
As Sports continued to push forward Mason Tudgay sent a long ball through the middle for Ryder to chase, but the tightening angle was just too much for his final shot.
But Ryder was straight back on the attack, forcing the keeper to make a low save to his left, before Robinson went on a long run out of defence, finding Marcus Tudgay, whose cross from the right was cleared.
Smith made a good run down the right 14 minutes in, but his cross was caught by the wind and failed to reach the strikers, but a minute later Melbourne had a break, but the wind caught that cross too and it went out of play.
Tomlinson burst through the visitors defence again after 16 minutes, he was blocked last minute but as the ball ran free to Ryder, the keeper charged off his line to intercept.
Barely was the ball back in open play and Smith picked it up on the right wing. This time his cross found Tomlinson with perfection and the young striker made no mistake as he slotted it past the keeper, 1-0.
Sports then had a corner which was headed clear, before Sandhu was fouled to give a free kick on the left.
The visitors were struggling to break out of their own half, but Bull had to block a 21st minute shot and the following rebound as they sought an equaliser.
Both Smith and Sandhu were pushing forward on the wings and the experience of Palmer and Battisson was showing in midfield, as Tudgay’s Senior and Junior, Ryder and Tomlinson played with freedom up front.
The keeper had to make a good save from Tomlinson again after 22 minutes, earning a succession of corners. Skipper Cholerton had come up for the corners and was still on hand to try his luck , but his shot was easily saved.
But the visiting defence was breached again when another Smith cross from the right found Tomlinson’s head and it was 2-0 after 26 minutes. Two minutes later and Ryder made it three, when he split the defence and slotted neatly past the advancing keeper 3-0.
Melbourne continued to try and find the breaks and forced Bull into another save on the half hour. But Robinson and Cholerton both looked comfortable in the middle of the Mickleover defence.
Tomlinson had another shot wide after 33 minutes, before Ryder had the defence in turmoil. He found Marcus Tudgay, but the following shot was blocked.
40 minutes though and it was goal number four and a hattrick for Tomlinson, as he side footed home in a crowded box, following a Palmer free-kick on the right, 4-0.
Marcus Tudgay came off with a couple of minutes left in the first half to be replaced by Carter, but it was a dominant Mickleover performance that took us to half-time.
As the second half got underway, Melbourne initially came out fighting. They earned a free kick after 49 minutes, but placed it straight into Bull’s hands. But two minutes later they were considerably closer, firing a shot just over the bar.
From there it was all Mickleover and after 55 minutes it worsened for the visitors when their keeper went off injured, to be replaced by an outfield player. During his treatment Palmer had been waiting to take a free kick, and when play resumed his kick was met by Ryder, who fired in number five from close range, 5-0.
Both Tomlinson and Mason Tudgay tried to test the sub keeper, but were off target, until the 68th minute. After charging out of his goal to try and intercept, he missed and left Tomlinson with a virtually open goal to tap in number six, 6-0.
The rest of the subs came on for the last 15 minutes and the sub keeper managed a couple of blocks from Carter and Tomlinson, before Cholerton shot over the bar as full time approached.
But Carter made it seven without reply in time added on, to completing a totally dominant victory.