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Town end season on a loser

Sikh Union (Nottingham) 2nd XI 4 Coalville Town 2nd XI 3

Bodykraft East Midlands Premier Division

Coalville's second string continued their stuttering end to the season with defeat against a far from outstanding Sikh Union (Nottingham) side.

Town started the game brightly enough, with Jordan Ward and Scott Meadows linking up well down the right flank and Gareth Gamble and Stuart Jobburn combining as an effective combination in the middle of the park.

Midway through the first half Town eventually did manage to slice their way through the Sikh Union defence and Niki Arnold fired towards goal, only to see a defender block the effort with his body on the line. A penalty stroke was rightly awarded and central defender Ian Wright stepped up to score his first goal of the season - although the keeper did get a glove on the effort.

But the lead was shortlived. Sikh Union overloaded the Town defence down the left. The ball found it's way to their right winger who flicked the ball towards goal. Keeper Paul Marston parried the effort, but was helpless to prevent a waiting forward from bundling the ball home at the second attempt.

Things soon got worse for Town when Sikh Union took the lead. The home side were awarded a penalty corner and switched the ball to their left where a player was given too much time and flicked the ball through the legs of Marston to make it 2-1.

Town poured forward in search of a leveller before the break, and Arnold again went close seeing another effort cleared off the line - but this time fairly. Brent Clamp also saw a shot go wide, while a mazy Jobburn dribble almost created a clear opening, but a fine challenge denied him the shooting opportunity.

Coalville came out for the second half eager to ensure their season didn't end on a poor note. But things soon got much worse when the home side added a third goal after again catching Town shorthanded at the back.

To some extent Coalville were being their own worst enemy by not getting tight enough to their men and giving the ball away cheaply. Sikh Union had a couple more good opportunities, but this time Marston came to the rescue deflecting a cross across goal away with his stick and making a triple save to deny a Sikh Union forward who'd got away on goal.

Coalville suddenly got the spur they needed. Town finally started to use their left hand side and Tom Sloan found Clamp, who cut inside and squared the ball across the area where Arnold was on hand to reverse stick the ball past the Sikh Union keeper.

Town were now fired up and soon caught Sikh Union with a classic counter attack of their own. Town won a hit out on the edge of their dee and Carl Marshall played the ball out to the right for Ward. He beat his man slipped it into the path of Meadows, who beat his just inside the Sikh Union half all ends up. There was still a lot to do, but Meadows again outpaced another Sikh Union player to get into the dee and as the keeper came out, he smashed a fierce strike into the far corner of the goal for a cracking effort.

Coalville decided to go all out for the winner, but with less than five minutes to go they conceded another soft goal. Two players were left unmarked as a player dribbled along the left hand side of Coalville's baseline, slipped the ball for a player to slot another effort through the legs of Marston, who was having what can only be described as an erratic day!

Town battled to try and get level again, and twice went close. First Clamp saw a shot go narrowly wide, and then in the dying seconds Meadows again used his pace to great effect but, with just the last man to beat, he tried to dribble round him rather than slip Arnold in for a clear strike at goal and was tackled.

So a disappointing end to a good first season back in the East Midlands Premier Division. Town will hope to get back to the form shown in the earlier part of the season when they return to action in the autumn.