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Captain's View- Shirebrook Town Recap

Captain's View- Shirebrook Town Recap

Matthew Wilkinson17 Jan 2018 - 14:34
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The Eagles skipper reflected on a crucial victory over fellow promotion hopefuls, Shirebrook Town.

As I've said before this will be a very tough month so it’s vital we have a strong squad and taking maximum points will be a massive boost for our promotion hopes, so we knew this was going to be a big game.

Going into the game, we had an incredibly strong squad available which was a massive boost for the squad and with that being said we still have Anil Sing & Ben Hardy to return soon, which will only make us stronger.

The last team we played Shirebrook at the start of the season, myself included, it was one to forget... we were embarrassing and got what we deserved. Therefore it was important to show how far we've come from that heavy defeat.

We started the game very well and could have been 1-0 up in the first minute with Shirebrook clearing off the line. But just a few minutes later Shirebrook had a really good chance to go in front but Dom Smith pulled off a great save.

Both teams battled well and it was a really physical game, I thought Sean picked the perfect team to compete with their size and strength, we matched them all over the pitch.

A great run from Luke Harrop, showing some pace which I didn’t think he had drew the free kick that led to our opener. It was a poor free-kick but it fell to Charlie who scored a worldie. He is a key player every year for us so I was really happy for him to get that goal.

I think the first half was an even game, even when we were 1-0 up Shirebrook still battled well and created some good chances.

Sean and Chris were pleased with our performance at halftime and told us to keep working hard and keep chasing a second goal. A second goal was vital.

I have to mention the goal that was disallowed from Harrop, the referee initially gave the goal and then after 5 minutes canceled the goal. After watching the goal on video after the game it should have stood as he was onside.

I thought we were the better team in the second half, defensively we were solid & Shirebrook struggled to break us down. We were constantly looking to get a second & finally we made the breakthrough.

Another brilliant run from Harrop, who delivered a perfect front post cross and Johnny rose highest to head home.

Shirebrook did manage to pull one back but we managed the game well and saw out the game. It was a brilliant win which gives us a four-point gap between 2nd and 3rd.

Man of the match for me was Chris Lever, I thought he was fantastic all game and he won every header, no one could handle the big man, it was good to have him back.

We look forward to another massive game Saturday that is equally as important against another tough side.

See you at the game,
Sam Bradley (Club Captain)

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