Hucknall Town 0 - 2 Mickleover Sports

With the departure of the management duo of Brett Marshall and Graham Walker after Tuesday night`s defeat at Belper, it looks like our friends Julian Topliss, Rob Paling and Jason Fisher are going to need all the support they can get so Dudsey and Hales have decided to go and give the Lads a shout against local rivals..Mickleover Sports.

Sitting five places above Hucknall in seventeenth spot, 'Sports' have also had a bit of a chequered start to life in the Evo-Stik Division 1 South, Won-3, Drawn-5 and Lost-6, so on paper the fixture looks fairly evenly balanced.

In the absence of a regular manager, Tony Crook, Jody Caudwell and Physio..Dave Lester have taken up the reigns until a new manager is unveiled.

Looking at the today`s result it looks as though it`s a case of...."Hucknall have lost again", and points wise they have.. but anyone in attendance will definitely concur, there wasn`t two goals difference between the sides on display this afternoon.

Hucknall were definitely the better of the two sides and richly deserved something from a game in which they played with a great passion and flair, despite the events of the last four days.

The game flowed well from the off and Mickleover enjoyed a decent share of the play early on in the first half, although if  Hucknall`s front pairing of Topliss and Ben Spargo had not been so quick out the blocks the numerous off-sides they found themselves pulled up for would have surely led to at least one or two decent goalscoring opportunities from the excellent link play supplied by Alton Rennals and Evan Garnett in the opening half-hour.

'Sports' then had their brightest spell of the game for the last twenty minutes of the first-half, which resulted in two goals within six minutes. A quick substitution for Mickleover proved to be the undoing of the home-side as with only his fourth touch of the ball Robert Smith had the ball in the back of Fisher`s goal, 0-1 with ten minutes to go.

A couple more chances for the visitors go begging as Kieran O`Connell and Alex Steadman push on hard and eventually supply Micky Williams with a great opening as he makes it two with five minutes of the half remaining. Hucknall are still trying to push for a goal as the Sun and the stop-watch fade into the break, ht 0-2.

Without the warmth of the Sunshine we enjoyed in the first-half it`s turned decidedly cold for the second half, we share a hot drink and a chat with Rob Paling`s parents in the early part of the second half. Hales comments how impressed he`s been with Hucknall`s commitment, to which we all agree. The visitors have a few flurries down the left-flank but Paling seems to have it covered and Topliss is giving him good support on the over-lap when required.

From the hour mark on, it`s all Hucknall. Warren Hatfield and Topliss are forging some good openings down the right wing, and on any other given day the home-side should have had three in the net, but when your lucks out, it`s out, and despite numerous corners the second half remains goal-less. 0-2 at the final whistle.

A cracking performance from a side who had little to cheer about in previous days and although it`s another three points gone, there were plenty of good points from today`s game, Mickleover`s keeper, Tom Gutteridge was definitely the busier of the two, and when called into action Jason Fisher made some fine saves for the home-side and no doubt will be a bit peeved at the two goals which did manage to beat him. 

So where did it go wrong for 'The Yellows', Mickleover took there chances and converted them.On the break Hucknall looked very sharp and once the off-side trap is beaten it looks as though there`s goals in the front pairing of Topliss and Spargo, plus unfortunately the finishing just didn`t drop into place for them this afternoon but a performance well appreciated by the Watnall Road faithful.


My Man of the Match - Evan Garnett`s first half contribution was faultless for Hucknall and apart from the finishing touch, Topliss was on fire in the second half.  Well done lads!!


Attendance - 113


Click here for the match pictures.


Teams - Hucknall: Fisher, Paling, Leggitt, McAnulty, Green, Hayes, Garnett, Rennalls, Spargo, Hatfield, Topliss. Sub - Brown

Mickleover - Gutteridge, Land, Guy, Martin, Wood, Storey, Raves, Williams, Steadman,O`Connell, Smyth.
Subs- Munn, Smith, Moon, Hoyle.