Venue: The Welfare Ground, Pinxton, Derbys.
Competition: CML South Division
Referee: Martin Fryer
Scorers:
Pinxton - Tom Ellis (17), Luke Walker (85)
Town - Ben Wapplington (58)
Line-ups:
This was a little gem of a game, played between teams third and fifth in their division. Hucknall were third before kick off, with Pinxton fifth. After the game,the teams had changed positions with Pinxton sitting in third spot, and Town in fifth!
The 60+ in attendance were treated to a cracking game. Although it was played on a very sticky pitch, both sets of players coped admirably, played some decent stuff and on the whole were a credit to the Central Midlands Football League.
We have a lot of friends at Pinxton FC and Hucknall Town, so for me and Kev it's always a bit of a fence-sitting exercise when these two meet.
Pinxton boss Benjamin Newman and Yellow's boss Andy Graves must have been delighted with how their teams acquitted themselves in the tricky conditions, but Andy must be wondering how his charges ended up with nothing from this game.
The action was end-to-end straight from the start, and it was something of a surprise that it took 17th minutes for the first goal to arrive.
A foul on the right gave Danny O'Donnell the chance to curl a free-kick in at the far stick. The ball flew across the goal, and past Town keeper James Beddingham before nestling in the far corner of the net. Striker TOM ELLIS appeared to get a toe to the ball before it crossed the line, but that's open to debate, with photographic evidence proving inconclusive........
Pinxton almost doubled their advantage with 7 minutes of the first half remaining, Luke Walker charging past Josh Henry before firing at goal - unfortunately for the flying winger Bedddingham was well positioned to save at his near post.
Wnen Tom Ellis hacked down Cameron Davidson on 40, it looked as if Referee Martin Fryer would be producing the first caution of the game, but the Pinxton no. 9 got away with just a talking-to. H-T 1-0
Pinxton's Joel Smith had a run and shot at goal in the third minute of the second period, but Dave Leak did well to block the effort. Five minutes later Leon Aikman advanced down the Hucknall right before picking out Aaron Evans who saw his shot well saved by Gareth Briggs.
Hucknall got their well deserved equaliser in the 58th minute when BEN WAPPLINGTON slammed a right foot rocket into the top corner after Briggs had seemingly cleared the initial danger.
On the hour mark, Elliott Pitt made a great foray down the left wing and played the ball into the box to where Adam Nelson was waiting. The striker connected well but hit the ball straight at Briggs. Cayne Maxwell created trouble as he drove into the Pinxton box on 62 - the ball eventually fell to James Rigg whose goal-bound shot was brilliantly turned away for a corner by Briggs.
Real end to end stuff, and very entertaining. Walker brought out a neat stop from Beddingham in the 74th minute, then as Town countered, Aikman tried his luck from 18 yards and hit the base of the post - Wapplington hit the rebound back at goal, but again Briggs was up to the task and tipped away for a corner.
Pinxton were awarded a free-kick on 76, and from fully 35 yards out Nathan Hollingsworth hit a screamer that Beddingham did well to hold on to. Ellis saw the Town keeper also save his shot on 83, but the stopper was unable to keep out Pinxton two minutes later. Hollingsworth played the ball into the box, and although Anthony Rowley made a mess of controlling, the loose ball fell invitingly to LUKE WALKER who lashed it home through a crowd of players from the edge of the box.
A draw would have been a fair result, and it looked as if Town had levelled with seconds of the game left. ELLIOTT PITT curled a sweet free-kick towards the Pinxton goal and watched in agony as the ball hit the underside of the bar before bouncing down onto the goal-line, where it was hacked away to safety. F-T 2-1
Admission: £3.00
Programme: £1.00
Attendance 60 (head count)
Charity: £2.25
Pics: courtesy Kev Goodman
