Aylestone Park v Ellistown And Ibstock Utd

In a controversial match, Ellistown and Ibstock came away with a lot of pride but no points as Aylestone Park took advantage of a dubious linesman decision to win the game 3-1 with two late goals.

We went into this game knowing we had to better the Arnold score to ensure our place in the league for next season.

As Arnold were quickly 4-0 down against St Andrews, we knew a little pressure had been lifted. Arnold continued to lose the game 8-0.

Back to our game, this was an excellent match with both sides giving it there all for the cause.

Both teams looked dangerous going forward and a little shaky at the back. You could not tell who was in the top 5 or bottom 3.
We should have taken the lead on 10 mins when we managed to over-play a 2 on one position.

We were punished straight away as from a suspiciously offside position, Nuno Monteiro slotted home to make it.

AP 1-0 EIBS 10 mins

We continued to match Aylestone and chances came and went to make it 1-1.

A Jamie Hunt 30 yarder was superbly saved by the goalkeeper deserves special mention.

Our reward came on 25 mins when Joe Neal was given time and space to drive into the box. Unlike the earlier chance, Joe showed great composure to slot the ball beyond the Aylestone goalkeeper and into the net.

AP 1-1 EIBS 25 mins

A deserved equaliser and at 1-1 this baring some crazy results would keep EIBS in the league.

Both teams went for the win and this meant the game was very open. With Carl Timms controlling the midfield, we were the better team and in control of the game.

That changed on 40 mins when an accidental coming together between our defender Adie Whitmore and ex-player Carl Benson, left Carl on the floor. The referee blew for the foul and the players regrouped for the free kick. The ref then noticed the linesman who had somehow missed the offside goal but had seen something in the coming together that all in the ground had missed.

With Adie last man, the players and crowd sensed this could turn into something more serious.

It did, as on advice from the Linesman, the referee sent Adie off.

The travelling EIBS fans went mad, while the Aylestone fans could not look us in the eye as we both knew the linesman had got it wrong.

Everyone makes mistakes and it was key EIBS made it to half time at 1-1 to regroup and go again.

That we did and the half time score was.

AP 1-1 EIBS HT

The 2nd half would be back to the walls but we knew we had enough threat to sneak a win.

As the 2nd half progressed, EIBS were dealing with everything that Aylestone could throw at us. We fought like tigers for every ball and frustrated Aylestone who could not make the break through and were running out of ideas.

We had some luck on the way, but we deserved that luck.

The Dave Hunt countdown started on 14 minutes as we knew the point gained today would make us safe.

The countdown got to 5 mins when our hearts were broken when Adam Joynson slotted home from 5 yards to make it.

AP 2-1 EIBS 85 mins

We had given everything and you could see we had no more to give.

Nuno Monteiro made the game safe on 87 mins when he slotted into an empty net.

AP 3-1 EIBS 87 mins

The game finished with teams shaking hands and the EIBS players cheered off the ground.

Summary

Another game we deserved to win and not lose. Going down to 10 men was the key moment of the game. The players deserve credit for how they matched Aylestone through out the game.

We head into the crucial game v Arnold Town in good form and knowing we are favourites.

This defeat leaves us in 17th position on 26pts from 35 games. We are 4pts above Arnold Town who have 2 games to play, while we have a +14 goal difference.