by Peter Scherer (Images: Steve Ingers)
After a disastrous own goal, Mickleover bounced back to dominate Corby Town, sealing victory with a Paddy Webb double and Manni Norkett’s third in four games for a 3-1 victory.
Starting line-up: 1-Jack McDowell 2-Jake Bennett 3-Louis Bonser 4-Will Atkinson 5-Brad Gascoigne 6-Danny Benson 7-Archie White 8-Ross Derham 9-Manni Norkett 10-Andy Dales 11-Paddy Webb. Subs: Harry Wood, Fraser Corden, Josiah Dyer, George Wilkinson, Thabang Dube.
It was strong start from Mickleover, straight into attack mode and putting the Corby defence under early pressure.
Sports were close to taking the lead after 10 minutes, when a Dales and Norkett one two, saw Norkett strike the post from close range.
Just a minute later there was a free kick to Sports too, which Dales sent curling towards the top corner, but it went out for a corner.
It had been all Mickleover until a bizarre misunderstanding gave Corby the lead. Benson made a back pass, but McDowell clearly wasn’t expecting it, and the ball rolled into an empty net, to give the visitors a 0-1 lead after 18 minutes.
Rather than dropping their heads, there was an immediate and positive fight back from Mickleover, with keeper Avery saving a Webb strike after 21 minutes.
It was all Sports again, with Atkinson, White and Derham dominating midfield to feed Dales, Norkett and Webb up front., while Bennett and Bonser were effective on the overlaps.
The equaliser came from an intercepted cross field ball from Jones. Webb got on the end of it and made it 1-1 25 minutes in.
Just three minutes later Webb sent another great cross over, but Norkett couldn’t quite connect, before the pace slowed for the remaining minutes of the first half, after a dominant Mickleover performance.
Norkett tested Avery again in the first minute of the restart, but Corby were trying to fight back too.
Mickleover made their first change when Dube replaced White after 54 minutes. Three minutes later it was 2-1 to Sports, when Webb brought the ball forward to find Dales, who put Norkett through to seal the chance.
Dyer and Wilkinson then came on for Norkett and Gascoigne, with Sports totally dominant again, which soon led to goal number three. It was Dales making the initial move, after picking up the ball following a Corby corner. The visitors defence was totally outpaced, allowing Webb to score his second of the game and make it 3-1 after 78 minutes.
Dube and Dyer both went close too in the final minutes, before Wood replaced Derham and Mickleover made it a winning double, having won at Corby back in October.
We had a few chances early doors, then conceded a haphazard goal. But the lads dug in and we got what we deserved. We played from the middle and controlled the game from early on and I was particularly pleased for Paddy getting the two goals he deserved.
said Sports manager Gareth Holmes.
