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Matlock & District Football League
reports from Saturday, 31 October, 2009

Telepathic duo earn Shirland top slot
Shirland Miners Welfare 4 Harveys Bar 3
Home scorers:- Hegarty (2), Wright (2)
Away:- Haywood, Swift, Goodall

Shirland Miners Welfare retained their one hundred percent record and jumped to the top of the Matlock & District Football League with a 4-3 victory over Harveys Bar.

   And it was Dale Hegarty and Steve Wright put a smile on the face of manager Dave Thurnham and their team-mates by developing an understanding so scarily good, they have become almost telepathic.

   The duo made life difficult for Harvey's in the first 70 minutes with both lads scoring two goals each.

   Harveys started the game the better team, testing Shirland's reshuffled defence three times in the first two minutes but once Shirland got into their stride there was no stopping them.

   The first goal for Shirland was out of this world and worked to perfection. It started with keeper Daz Shaw who rolled the ball out to Paul Hardy, his pass then found Oliver Brown on the left wing. Brown turned and came back on himself to cross a perfect ball to Gareth Brown on the right wing who collected the ball and sprinted from the halfway line to deliver a pinpoint cross which found the head of Hegarty who fired home.

   Shirland's second goal started with Matt Murphy who danced around two players before setting up Gareth Brown, who again raced down the wing and curled over a cunning cross that found the head of Wright who scored his 4th goal in three games.

   Wright had to produce the spectacular again nine minutes later as he was on target to score his second goal after Harveys failed to control the striker.

   In the second half Harvey's came out more organised and kept the home side at bay for ten minutes but it was the partnership of Wright and Hegarty that led to Shirland's fourth goal with Hegarty scoring his second of the match to make the score 4-0.

   Certainly not disheartened, Harveys took advantage of Shirland's defence problems. They were already missing Gaz Bacon and lost Matt Murphy and Dean Cupit to injuries. Harvey's began hammering the Shirland goal, resulting in two fantastic, well-earned goals to completely stun Shirland.

   With two minutes left on the clock, the visitors scored again which made the score 4-3. All credit to Harvey's who fought like lions and never gave up until the final whistle, their goals came from Chris Haywood, Darren Swift and Dave Goodall.

    Shirland MOM: (from Harvey's): Richard Harrison

Spoils shared in cracking clash
Hilcote United 4 Darley Dale Lions 4
Home scorers:- Ryan (2), Guy, Gibson
Away: O'Neill (3), Allsop

Hilcote United came into this game on the back of some lacklustre performaces in recent weeks. So against tabletoppers Darley Dale Lions nothing less than 100% was needed from the team.

   The home team started the game with real purpose and took the game straight to the visitors with fast attacking football.

   Midfielders D.Gibson and E.Crump took control in the middle of the park putting in plenty of solid tackles and playing well placed passes to feet going forward.

   With Hilcote dictating the pace of the game in the first half they were unlucky not to be more than one goal up at half-time, after a well worked goal which ended in D.Ryan scoring his first of the match.

   As the second half kicked off Darley came out not only looking a different team after a kit change but playing like the Lions we expected from the start. Darley came out with all guns blazing. Aaron O'Neill scored two and Matthew Allsop one in the first ten minutes after the break and soon after O'Niell scored a much-deserved fourth goal completing his hat-trick to round off a m.o.m. performance.

   With the game seemingly out of reach for Hilcote and it would have been if not for one point blank stop from M.Turner it was make or break time and thankfully they picked themselves up and showed real character and determination to come back into the game and pile the pressure on Darley again.

   The turning point for Hilcote was when D.Ryan leapt to meet a well taken R.Pepper corner and direct the ball into the goal. This gave the team the belief to go on and turn things around and one scramble in the box resulted in Darley keeper G.Widdowson tipping the ball over the bar with a good reaction save.

   Soon after there was another goal mouth scramble which this time Darley could do nothing to stop D.Guy from forcing the ball over the line making it 4-3.

   With ten minutes remaining Hilcote's best performer of the day D.Gibson scored a fitting equalisier after much endeavor from the captain.

   With the game coming to an end there were still oppurtunities to win the game but it wasn't to be as the spoils were shared in what was a great game to watch.

   Hopefully Hilcote go on to take there newfound energy and enthusiasm into Saturday's Notts Cup game. Good luck lads!

Round up of other matches

Matlock Town Youth continued their impressive form with a 6-3 away victory against Tibshelf Community, showing strength in depth as goals came from Max Marsden, Scott Martin, Craig Purcell, Dan Barlow, Andrew Brown and David Whitworth.

   AFC Lea Holloway continued their improving form with goals from Scott Andrews, Shaun Bott and Nigel Emberton in their 3-1 victory over Black Hippo who competed strongly and deserved their goalÊfrom Thomas Jackson.

   Laburnum Saints improved on previous performances but still ran out 2-1 losers to Riddings Rovers.

   Manager Nick Wildgoose charged the team for action and got his reward as his side looked much more like the natural scorers. However, Laburnum went behind after 20 minutes when goalkeeper Greg Swift fumbled Mark Turner's shot which slipped through his legs.

   After the break Riddings were two up with a superb goal from James Simpson but from there on Laburnum dominated and got their reward when Michael Charlton chipped the keeper from 45 yards.

   Riddings hung on to ran out worthy winners in a tense game. James Thompson, Martin Carson and Jon Sellors fought like tigers for the Saints but it was Dan Killick that caught the eye and won man of the match.

    Kings Arms Sam Barsby and Adrian Noble were on target in their 2-1 win away against Ashbourne, Chris Newton scored for the home side.

Reports from..

Saturday, 17 October, 2009

Saturday, 17 October, 2009

Saturday, 10 October, 2009

Saturday, 3 October, 2009

Saturday, 26 September, 2009

Saturday, 19 September, 2009

Saturday, 12 September, 2009

Wednesday, 9 September, 2009

Wednesday, 5 September, 2009

Wednesday, 2 September, 2009

Wednesday, 29 August, 2009

Wednesday, 26 August, 2009

Read our archives from the 2008-2009 season