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Thirds fantastic fight back

Coalville Town 3rd XI  3  Nottingham 3rd XI  2

Bodykraft 3rd XI East Midlands Premier Division

Coalville's third string produced a fabulous fight back to come back from two goals down to defeat Nottingham in their first game of the East Midlands Premier Division season.

In truth, Town dominated this match and could, and probably should, have won by a far more comfortable margin. Coalville created early chances and nearly went ahead after five minutes when Gareth Toyer latched onto Dave Mee's pass and hit a shot towards goal which deflected off a defender's stick and onto the crossbar.

Against the run of play, though, Nottingham drove forward and took the lead with a well taken goal. But Coalville continued to have the better of the play, with Jason Sign and Simon Clare dominating in the centre of defence and Scott Meadows proving to be a handful on the right.

Chris Pearson soon went on a run down the left which gave Mee a sight at goal, but his shot was blocked by a defender. Further chances came the way of Toyer, too, but he blazed hopelessly over the bar when it looked so much easier to hit the target.

It seemed it wasn't going to be Coalville's day, and this seemed to be confirmed when Nottingham struck again with what seemed like only their second shot at goal in anger. Town went in 2-0 down at the break despite dominating much of the game.

The second half saw Coalville up their game even further, and this brought it's rewards. Within 10 minutes Coalville had got a goal back when Toyer raced through on goal and firing the ball towards the target. It deflected off a defender's stick and looped up over the Nottingham keeper and into the goal to make it 2-1.

Nottingham's advantage was then quickly cancelled out with what can only be described as another freak goal. Chris Woodard, returning to Coalville colours after a spell with Aston University, latched onto a Meadows pass and lifted the ball towards goal. The Nottingham keeper parried the ball, but only managed to propel it over his head and into the goal to make it 2-2.

It now seemed the sporting gods were shining on Coalville. Town kept hammering away at the door, and Meadows and Pearson both soon saw fierce shots flash wide. With 10 minutes to go, Coalville found the go-ahead goal. Pearson drew the keeper and slipped the ball into the path of Toyer who tapped home from close range to put Coalville 3-2 in front, a lead they richly deserved and hung on to to get the season off to the best possible start.