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Town finally pick up first home win

Coalville Town 3 Northampton Lions 2 

Bodykraft East Midlands Premier Division

Coalville finally brought their home hoodoo to an end with a deserved win in a six-pointer that leaves Northampton Lions staring through the relegation trapdoor.

Town's victory, coupled with Leicester Westleigh's surprise win over North Notts, leaves the visitors to King Edward VII College six points adrift of the pack of sides above them, while pulling Town clear of the bottom two.

County Drains-sponsored Coalville were under pressure early on as Northampton came out of the blocks sharply, and the Town defence of Mick Clarke, Liam McArthur, James Woodard and Rich Wright were soon being tested.

The visitors won a couple of early penalty corners which brought saves out of Town keeper Paul Marston, and the Town keeper had to react sharply to stick the ball away when a cross, from inside the circle, hit Andy Newman's foot and looped towards the Town goal.

But Coalville were soon creating chances themselves. Ryan Mason saw one shot flash wide in what was to be another frustrating game for the Town centre forward, and Chris Vernon was twice denied by the Lions keeper.

A couple of minutes before the half time interval Coalville managed to break the deadlock. Northampton first saw a player yellow carded for playing the ball with his stick above head height. Town took a quick free hit and Phil Sign played the ball into Vernon in the area.

He tried to wriggle free, but looked up and saw McArthur on the edge of the area to the right, so slipped the ball into the central defender's path. McArthur met the ball and fired it forcefully through the Northampton keeper and into the far corner of the goal for the 17-year-old's first 1st XI league goal.

With that Town turned around a goal up, but they knew the game was far from over. Things looked a little more comfortable though when, within a couple of minutes of the restart, Town doubled their advantage. Adam Barnett and Sign combined to set Newman away down the left. He crossed the ball into the circle where Vernon picked it up, got away from his marker and smashed home his 18th league goal of the season.

But the two-goal advantage was quickly pegged back by the visitors. Within a couple of minutes Northampton split the Town defence for their tricky left winger to get into the circle, round Marston and slip the ball home to make it 2-1.

Nerves began to jangle in the Town side, and it took them a few minutes to regain their composure. But eventually Coalville got back to their game and started to probe at the Lions defence again. Vernon soon brought another good save out of the Northampton keeper, and then Mike Browbank saw an effort flash wide when he probably should have hit the target.

Midway through the half Town restored their two goal advantage with another unlikely young scorer getting on the scoresheet. Vernon received the ball high on the right flank and beat a couple of players along the baseline before squaring the ball across goal for Sam Crowie to turn home his first 1st XI goal of the season on the far post.

But the drama wasn't over as Northampton again hit back almost instantly when a player somehow managed to dribble along the backline, got a lucky deflection off the stick of Woodard, and then smashed home into the roof of the goal.

Town continued to seek a fourth goal and Mason saw one reverse stick effort go wide, while Northampton came close in the final couple of minutes when some neat interplay allowed a player to deflect the ball towards goal. Fortunately, it went just the wrong side of the post. And with that Coalville were finally able to pick up their first home win of the season. They must hope that their good away form continues when they go to the side just above them on Saturday, Barton.