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24 March 2007

Season ends in success

Coalville Town 2nd XI  3 Boots 2nd XI  1

DTZ 2nd XI East Midlands Division One

Town ended their successful 2006/07 season with a hard-fought win over a determined Boots side.

Coalville went into the game knowing that promotion from the DTZ East Midlands Division One had been secured after third-placed Barton had slipped up last week against Boots, but Town still had a sniff of going up as champions.

As it was, Coalville were to miss out on the title by two points as Northampton Lions picked up a 4-0 win at Nuneaton to secure the title. Coalville's match started off at frantic pace, with Boots having the better of the opening five minutes.

The resilience of Tony Crowie, Phil Sign and Stuart Jobburn eventually wrestled the initiative off Boots, and after eight minutes Town had the lead. Good from the midfield trio allowed Sign to play a super through ball for Niki Arnold, who held off a defender before smashing home his 22nd league goal of the season.

From then on the tempo of the game actually increased as both sides seemed to forget it was the end of the season and not the start. Boots gave no quarter and every ball was fiercely contested and the Town back four of Mick Clarke, Ian Wright, Carl Marshall and Steve Partner had to be watchful.

Coalville continued to have the better of it, and it took a string of fine saves from the Boots keeper to keep out efforts from Sign, Arnold, Crowie and Ollie Knight.

The second half continued at a frenetic pace with some hard, but completely fair, play from both sides. Marshall had to be in particularly good form to pull off a number of key tackles. At the other end, Arnold and Sign were both denied by the Boots keeper, while Scott Meadows had three efforts that would have beaten any other keeper saved.

After 53 minutes Boots found the breakthrough. A Coalville attack broke down and Boots hit on the counter and although Joel Barker managed to save the initial efforts, he was eventually beaten at the third time of asking.

Boots now looked to have the better of it, but Coalville clung on doggedly. Town won a penalty corner after a good attack down the right and in the 64th minute Crowie slipped the ball for the unmarked Sign to slot home past the helpless keeper.

Boots' heads then dropped and three minutes later Coalville were able to capitalise. Good approach work allowed Meadows to latch onto the ball and lash it home to give Coalville a deserved win and the perfect way to end a successful season.