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25 November 2006

Town make it three in a row

Coalville Town 3 South Nottingham 1

DTZ East Midlands Premier Division

Ryan Mason's fourth consecutive two-goal haul helped Coalville overcome South Nottingham in their latest DTZ East Midlands Premier Division clash at King Edward VII College.

Town came into this match full of confidence after rattling up 15 goals in their previous two matches against league strugglers Soar Valley and Loughborough Town.

The opening exchanges were fairly even, as both sides settled down and sought the initiative. But it was Coalville who began to gain the territorial advantage, squeezing South Nottingham into their own half and picking up the ball easily whenever they entered the Town half.

Under such pressure, Town were sure to create chances and Adam Barnett soon went close to opening the scoring, firing just wide after a good ball from Chris Vernon. The South Nottingham keeper was soon forced into a couple of good saves to deny Mason and Ollie Knight as Coalville began to really turn the screw.

The pressure had to tell, and it did. With a little over 10 minutes gone, Coalville opened the lead when a penalty corner seemed to break down. But Coalville continued to play despite the routine not working as planned, Barnett picked up on the baseline and slipped it back into the area for Mason to slide home past the diving South Nottingham keeper.

South Nottingham created a few half chances after this, but the defence of Mick Clarke, Andy Newman and Gareth Gamble were largely untroubled. Coalville continued to create chances, and Mason soon went close again while Brian Robinson saw an effort turned away by the visitors keeper.

Coalville had drafted in another young player, Liam McArthur, from the second string, and he was having a superb game, linking up well with Mark Newman and Vernon in the middle of the park.

The visitors had their best chance of the half after 25 minutes when a ball was fired across the Coalville dee and a player was able to get a stick on it, only to see Clarke do superbly to deflect the effort wide on the goal line.

A couple of minutes before half time, Town got a crucial second goal that ultimately put the game beyond the reach of the visitors. Vernon slipped the ball through to Mason just outside the dee. Coalville's leading scorer squeezed past a defender and despite a strong challenge from the South Nottingham keeper, he kept hold of the ball and was able to slip home his 11th league goal of the season into the empty goal.

Coalville continued to play intelligently in the second half, and less than 10 minutes after the restart they'd made it 3-0. Town won a free hit on the edge of the area, and as South Nottingham argued with the umpire, Vernon fired the ball into the area for Mark Newman to deflect home at the far post for his fifth goal of the season.

South Nottingham tried to up the tempo after this, but still the Coalville goal wasn't threatened. If anything, it was Town who looked more likely to score again, with Mason wasting a couple of chances to complete his hat-trick, Vernon firing wide and McArthur seeing a good shot saved by the visitors keeper.

With just under 10 minutes remaining, South Nottingham did get a way back in the game when, from their only penalty corner of the game, a player was able to flick the ball past Paul Marston in the Coalville goal.

Coalville then settled on killing the game, and saw out the final minutes comfortably to secure a third successive win that lifts them into sixth place in DTZ East Midlands Premier Division. Town will hope to continue the run when they travel to Boots on Saturday.