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Coalville Town 3 Leicester Thursday 4 

BodyKraft East Midlands Premier Division

Coalville's home hoodoo continued as they were narrowly beaten by old rivals Leicester Thursday in their latest BodyKraft East Midlands Premier Division clash.

County Drains-sponsored Town started the game much the stronger and piled the pressure on Thursday in the opening minutes. Chris Vernon and Ryan Mason were combining well up front, and Brian Robinson was causing problems on the right flank.

With less than 10 minutes gone, Coalville opened the scoring. Robinson dragged out a penalty corner to Vernon and Town's leading scorer promptly thumped home his 14th league goal of the season.

But the lead lasted only a few minutes as Thursday levelled the game when their dangerman, Mike White, managed to outpace the Coalville defence, round Town keeper Paul Marston and then fire a shot which just managed to cross the line before the stick of Gareth Gamble cleared it.

Coalville sought to get back in front again, and Vernon again went very close when another shot at a penalty corner beat the Thursday keeper only to bounce back off the outside of the post. Mason then saw a reverse stick strike well saved by the Thursday keeper, while Robinson also saw another shot go wide.

It seemed Coalville had the edge, but some slack defending allowed the visitors to take the lead. A free hit was awarded on the right side of the Town dee, and despite repeated calls for Town to lower their sticks, no one reacted, the ball was smashed into the area and a Thursday player was on hand to deflect the ball into the far corner of the goal.

It was a very soft goal for Coalville to concede, but they again sought to take the game to Thursday. Phil Sign and Liam McArthur were working hard in the centre of midfield, and a pass from Sign soon gave a chance for Mike Browbank, but the Coalville player saw his shot go just wide.

But Thursday again went close when a shot from former Coalville player Phil Bowerman cannoned back off the Coalville post shortly before the break. Town went in 2-1 down at the break, but the score really didn't reflect the balance of play.

After the restart Coalville again applied some early pressure without creating a clear cut chance. And they were then again caught with the sucker punch as White burst away and used his searing pace to maximum effect to fire home and make it 3-1.

For the first time, Coalville's heads dropped slightly, and during this slack period Thursday made it 4-1 when Bowerman thumped home a well hit shot from the right hand side of the Coalville area.

Town knew they were now up against it, and things got worse when Vernon had to leave the field with an injury. But Coalville showed fight and as Thursday took their foot off the gas, Town again began to get the upper hand.

An excellently worked out penalty corner gave Town hope when Mason on the left hand side of the dee played the ball across for Mark Newman to turn home and make it 4-2.

The Coalville fightback was on, and it was definitely on when after another penalty corner had broken down, Sign latched onto the ball at the edge of the area and hit a shot which got a deflection and went into the goal to make it 4-3.

There were still around 10 minutes left at this point, and Coalville piled forward in search of the equaliser. Browbank saw a well struck penalty corner shot turned wide by the Thursday keeper's stick, while Mason, Robinson and Mark Newman all had shots go just inches wide.

Thursday always possessed a threat on the break, and Gamble cleared one effort on the line, while Marston and James Woodard combined to deny White after he'd again broken through on goal.

Despite a good effort, the final whistle blew with the score at 4-3 and Town were left ruing the fact they had lost their fourth consecutive home game. They put their 100 per cent away record on the line when they visit second-placed Jaguar Coventry on Saturday.