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3 December 2006

Trophy dreams ended

Melton 4 Coalville Town 2

Harrod EH Trophy Round Two

Coalville's hopes in this season's Harrod Trophy were ended by county rivals Melton in an entertaining game at King Edward VII School in Melton.

Town came into the game in confident mood, particularly giving their hosts plight towards the foot of the DTZ Midlands Division One and Coalville's own improved form of late in DTZ East Midlands Premier Division.

But the home side were stronger early on, showing Town why they play a division higher than them, and it took around five minutes for Melton to break the deadlock with a well worked move. A player dribbled along the baseline and pulled back for a team mate to fire home from close range.

Town tried to up things after this, and Ryan Mason soon went close with one shot which brought out a good save from the Melton keeper. Adam Barnett also saw a shot go wide.

Things then got harder for Coalville as they were reduced to ten men when Brian Robinson picked up a yellow card after a poor tackle, but Town continued to battle hard, with Glen Marston and Sam Crowie both doing well on their first starts in the first team down the right side.

Town weathered their man disadvantage, but fell further behind once Robinson returned. Coalville failed to clear their lines and a player was able to slide home from six yards out.

Things looked unpromising, but Town showed some spirit and held things together, with Gareth Gamble and Andy Newman both doing well at the back, and 16-year-old Liam McArthur continuing to show his talent.

Town were a different side in the second half, starting brightly with Barnett again seeing a shot go narrowly wide and Mason having a reverse stick effort saved. 10 minutes into the second half and Coalville had halved the deficit.

A superb through ball from James Woodard put Mason away on goal. He took it around the Melton keeper, who managed to get his stick on the ball, to block Mason's initial effort. But the rebound fell back to the Town forward and he was able to fire through the backtracking Melton legs into the goal.

Town's fightback was now on, especially as Coalville had scored despite only having 10 players on the field after another player had received a completely undeserved yellow card. Melton upped their game a little, but Townhad further chances, with McArthur and Robinson both denied by the Melton keeper.

With 15 minutes to go, Melton won a penalty corner and a tame flick managed to wrong foot Town and find its way into the bottom corner. That could have been game over, but Coalville again fought back and quickly pulled it back to 3-2.

Vernon picked the ball up just outside the Melton 25 metre line and drove forward, beating a couple of players before lashing a thumping strike into the far corner of the goal to silence some of the home support (briefly!)

The final 10 minutes were then a bit of ding-dong battle, as both sides looked for further goals. Coalville keeper Paul Marston made a couple of good saves to deny Melton, while Mason, Vernon and Barnett all went close at the other end. A mistake in the final minutes, as Coalville hurried a hit out, allowed a Melton player to get through and he took it around Marston and slotted home from a tight angle just inside the near post.

 2 December 2006

Winning run comes to an end

Boots 2 Coalville Town 2

DTZ East Midlands Premier Division

Coalville had to settle for a point in Saturday's DTZ East Midlands Premier Division clash at Lady Bay in Nottingham against Boots.

The result means Coalville have now gone five games unbeaten in the division, but brings to an end a three-game winning streak. Town were a little sluggish starting, but managed to make an early breakthrough when a Vernon pass managed to squeeze through to Mark Newman and his shot, despite the Boots keeper getting a touch on it to slow it down, managed to trickle into the goal.

Coalville came under pressure after this, and within five minutes the visitors had levelled the game. Town keeper Paul Marston managed to block an initial run by a Boots forward, but the ball squeezed into the path of a team mate, who fired towards goal, only for Mick Clarke to block the effort with his foot giving away a penalty stroke, which was converted.

Coalville finally found some rhythm after this and a good move almost saw Ollie Knight find the target. Town then regained the lead when a Vernon penalty corner strike found the goal, although Brian Robinson was sniffing around, but later gave the goal to Vernon.

The game continued to be tightly fought after this, but Coalville had more than enough chances to put the game out of Boots' reach. Mason, Barnett and McArthur all brought good saves out the Boots keeper, while Newman failed to hit the target when in a good position.

But this was still not the Coalville of previous weeks, and in the second half they allowed Boots too much of the play. Keeper Paul Marston made a good save from a flicked penalty corner effort, and managed to turn another effort wide shortly afterwards.

With 10 minutes left, Town still led. But Coalville then failed to clear a Boots attack properly, and a player hit a shot from the edge of the area which squeezed through the legs of Marston.

Both sides then sought a winner, but neither could find a way through. The result leaves Town in sixth place in DTZ East Midlands Premier Division, still three points above Boots, who drop into the bottom three courtesy of Barton beating Loughborough Town.