Midland Football League Premier Division
Heanor Town 4-1 Tividale FC (H-T 0-1)
Admission £6.00 / £4.00 concession
Programme £1.00
Attendance 183
Me and the daftlad were back on the road, albeit just a few
miles across the Notts/Derbys county border. There were plenty of familiar
faces present and we took up our favoured position with Heanor regulars Chris
and Alan in the stand behind the top goal. We were later joined by Blidworth's Scott Ward and prolific hopper Pete Chappell - and the general consensus was that although Heanor eventually won the game by a reasonably comfortable scoreline, they should have killed the game off early doors.
Tividale looked a
very young side, but were arguably the footballing better side in the first
half. Heanor fluffed a plethora of chances midway through the first period, and their profligacy was punished on
39, when Daniel Smith converted a cross from the right after some really neat
passing play had left the home defence flat-footed. H-T 0-1
Nathan Benger’s 55th
equaliser for the home team was somewhat controversial, and the “was it in,
wasn’t in it” debate lasted a fair few minutes. Did it hit the keeper’s water
bottle? Was it over the line? The goal was eventually given after Referee
Darren Laska took advice from his assistant. The ball was down at the foot of
the post and was heading over the line before it was cleared. From my point of
view (behind the goal), the whole of the ball hadn’t crossed the line. My poor
eyesight has been brought into question on many occasions in the past though,
and as the goal was given, who am I to argue?
Alex Brown added a second for
Town on 65, firing in off the bar. Town youngster Keenan Layton fired in from
an acute angle to make it 3-1 on 80, and from an even more acute angle to make
it 4-1 on 85. Two cracking finishes, but the goalkeeping for the final goal left a little to be
desired, to say the least.
Heanor should have won by an even
greater margin, but the usually dependant Benger had a bit of a ‘mare in front
of goal – he should have scored more than the one he did chalk up, but I
suppose everyone is entitled to an off day.
Listened to Radio Nottingham on
the way home and had to smile when Notts County boss John Sheridan talked about
his “game of two halves” (Notts lost again) – we were certainly treated to a
“game of two halves”, but in reality Heanor should have had the result sewn up
in the first half.
F-T 4-1