Main Menu

30 September 2006

Winning start for seconds

Coalville Town 2nd XI  4  Barton 2nd XI  2

DTZ 2nd XI East Midlands Division One

Coalville's second string got off to a winning start with a strong display against a Barton side who finished in third place in DTZ East Midlands Division One last season.

The game started off as an even affair, with both sides grappling for dominance in the midfield in the opening exchanges. Coalville managed to create a couple of openings, with Scott Meadows firing wide and Ollie Knight almost getting his stick onto Brent Clamp's cross.

But it was Barton who were to strike first at King Edward VII College, when the Town defence was split open and a player was able to bat the ball home in mid-air to put the visitors in front.

Coalville fought back quickly, though, and were level within a few minutes. Niki Arnold picked the ball up in midfield and dribbled past a couple of players to the byline. From there he crossed to the far post to leave Knight with a simple two-yard tap in.

Town continued to apply the pressure after this, and got in front with around five minutes to half-time. Coalville won a penalty corner after a foul on Andy Whitby inside the area. The ball was played out to the top of the dee and Arnold dribbled inside before striking low into the bottom left hand corner of the goal. Only minutes before, the same player had seen a similar effort go just wide of the goal.

Coalville were happy at the break, but knew they had to shore up at the back while also going for a couple more goals to secure the win. Although there were a few hair-raising moments defensively, Town looked impressive going forward.

10 minutes into the second half, Coalville's fragility at the back was exposed. A Barton penalty corner effort was saved by Paul Marston, but Town then failed to clear the ball. A rebound effort came in that Marston also saved, but failed to clear and a Barton player was able to squeeze the ball home from close range.

But Town went straight back on the attack, and five minutes later they were back in front. Another penalty corner saw Arnold slip the ball into the path of Andy Whitby, who dinked the ball over the onrushing keeper and against the top of the backboard.

The game was now at a critical point. Town knew they needed to score again to secure the points, but it wasn't until the final couple of minutes that Coalville did secure the win with the best goal of the game.

Glen Marston won the ball deep in his own half and drove forward with it, before switching the play to the left flank to Ollie Knight. Knight exchanged passes with Brent Clamp before giving the ball to Arnold. Arnold exchanged passes with tireless skipper Tony Crowie before slipping the ball by the keeper and into the path of Scott Meadows who fired home for an excellently worked counter attacking goal.

Town travel to county rivals Leicester Westleigh on Saturday, hoping to pick up another three points.