Venue: Greenwich Avenue, Basford, Notts
Competition: Midland Football League Premier Division
Referee: Mr. Richard Cattell
Scorers: Lee Hendrie (16, 88), Ruben Wiggins-Thomas (45, 45+1, 78), Willis Francis (65)
Line-ups (it transpired that Dunkirk had no subs despite naming four)
It was a really cold night, so minimal notes were taken. The actual report is based mostly on Basford United's twitter feed (thank you Basford!)
We stood with serial hoppers Chris Berezai and Neil Laughlin throughout the game - nice to see them both again.
The last fixture we
saw between these teams was a nine goal thriller – Basford edging out Dunkirk
5-4 in added time. This Dunkirk team is a shadow of that one. Bottom of the
league before kick off and unable to find any subs, this was never going to be
a good night for the Dunkirk faithful.
The fact that a win would take Basford back to top spot in the league could
only have added to the Dunkirk worries.
The home team started
well and Ryan Whitehurst went close to an opener as he forced Jake Want into a fine
parry in the 10th minute. They took the lead on 16 and it was a belter of a
goal. Whitehurst found Lee Hendrie some 20+ yards from goal and the former
Aston villa favourite crashed the ball into the top corner giving Jake Want in
the Dunkirk net no chance.
By now Basford were
shooting in, and Stuart Hendrie brought Jake Want into action in the 28th
minute, the keeper keeping out the effort. To be fair, Want made four of five terrific stops as a rampant United
looked to add to their tally.
Aiden Smith went down
injured, and after treatment the full back could not continue so with no
subs, the visitors were down to ten
men.
With two to play
before the break, Stuart Hendrie was tripped in the box and Ruben
Wiggins-Thomas fired home emphatically from the spot.
Wiggins-Thomas netted
his second soon after. Several Basford players had decent chances to beat Want,
but when the ball landed at the feet of the Basford no. 9 he made no mistake
from close range H-T 3-0
Willis Francis came
on for Rob Darkin after 65 minutes and bagged with almost his first touch, a simple tap in after
Nicky Hawkins tried to head clear but managed only to pick out the Basford sub
in front of goal.
Nick Hawkins handled
in the box on 78, and Wiggins-Thomas
blasted home from the spot to complete his hat trick. Lee Hendrie ended the scoring, grabbing his
second by selling a great dummy to Want and rolling the ball in the empty net
to make it six with just a couple of minutes left on the clock. F-T 6-0
Admission: £5.00
Programme: £1.00
Attendance: 80
Charity: £4.50
