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14 October 2006

Fight back not enough for Town

Coalville Town 3 Northampton Lions 5

DTZ East Midlands Premier Division

Coalville have now dropped into the bottom three in the DTZ East Midlands Premier Division after unbeaten Northampton Lions showed why they are one of the teams to beat.

The youthful Northampton side blitzed Town in the first half, and despite a brave second half fightback from Coalville, it was ultimately not enough to avoid defeat.

Town made a sloppy start and fell behind early on. Coalville keeper Joel Barker was soon being forced to make a number of good saves to keep Lions from adding to their lead, but even he couldn't do anything to stop the visitors to King Edward VII College doubling their advantage after around 20 minutes.

Coalville were struggling to get the balance right between attack and defence, and often the back three of Andy Newman, Gareth Gamble and Matt McRobbie were being left exposed. Northampton soon sliced through again with a flowing move and a finish that left Barker with no chance.

At 3-0 down, things did not look good for Town and it seemed they could go down by a hatful. But they then showed a little bit of fighting spirit. Brian Robinson drew the Northampton keeper and slipped the ball across for Mark Newman to fire home his second of the season and bring Coalville back into the game.

But Town were soon caught out again, and Northampton struck again to lead 4-1 at the interval. There were some harsh words said during the break by coach Jim Lamb and Coalville came out for the second half fired up.

With less than 10 minutes gone in the second period, the game then came alive. Coalville won a penalty corner and skipper Chris Vernon stepped up and blasted the ball home.

But having been the hero with the second goal, Vernon then had a moment of complete madness that resulted in a yellow card and Coalville being reduced to 10 players. Town battled hard, and were actually more than a match for Northampton throughout this period.

When Vernon returned from his temporary suspension, Coalville moved up a gear again and pulled the score back to 4-3. Another penalty corner saw Vernon step up and blast home into the bottom corner for his third goal of the season.

Town now pushed for an equaliser, but with two minutes remaining a Northampton player burst through on the Coalville goal. Barker managed to save his effort, but unfortunately saw the rebound fall to team mate who slid the ball home to end Town's hopes of picking up a point.

It doesn't get an easier for Coalville this weekend, either, with a trip to top of the table Derwent.