Main Menu

11 November 2006

Seconds hang on for win

Derwent 2nd XI  3  Coalville Town 2nd XI  4

DTZ 2nd XI East Midlands Division One

Coalville's second string very nearly managed to clinch defeat from the jaws of victory in their latest DTZ East Midlands Division One clash at Derwent.

Town fielded a strong and experienced side, but found themselves a goal down after three minutes when indecisive defending allowed a Derwent player to smash home past Joel Barker.

It didn't take long for Coalville to level the scores, though. A strong run by Scott Meadows split the Derwent defence and the pacy winger was able to blast the ball home from just inside the dee.

Town began to wrestle control of the match, with Tony Crowie and Stuart Jobburn in the centre of the park running the show and Coalville began to pin Derwent back in their own half.

After 16 minutes, Coalville's dominance was confirmed when they took the lead. Meadows was again the architect, with his speed and direct running again splitting the Derwent defence to leave him through on goal. At the last minute Meadows intelligently slipped the ball through to allow Brent Clamp to slide home with a good finish.

Town were now well on top, but failed to make their dominance tell thanks to a combination of poor finishing and some fine goalkeeping by the Derwent keeper. Sporadically, the Town defence of Glen Marston, Carl Marshall and Ian Wright were pressurised, but they had no difficulty in breaking up the home sides attacks.

Six minutes after the restart of the second half, Coalville managed to break through again. Town had applied constant pressure on the Derwent defence, and after the home side had failed to adequately clear, Jason Sign was on hand to blast an unstoppable shot home.

But Coalville's old mistakes then began to creep in, and Derwent were allowed to get back into the match and began to threaten the Coalville rearguard. However, on 49 minutes Town further extended their lead when a through ball from Sign allowed Andy Whitby to thunder home another unstoppable shot to make it 4-1.

Coalville then lost Jobburn to a foot injury, though, and Derwent began to get a grip on the game. Four minutes after Town had made it 4-1, the home side pulled one back from a penalty corner, and then a terrible defensive mistake allowed the home side to pull it back to 4-3.

Coalville were now beginning to panic, and Barker was forced into three excellent saves to keep the home side from taking a share of the spoils. Coalville clung on, and should climb back into second spot with this win.