It was Derby Day at Sandy Lane with Retford United providing the opposition in Mick Godber’s first home game in charge. The team was unchanged from Wednesday night’s draw at Cleethorpes as The Ambers sought to move back into the top three.
It was a strong start from the home side, and a first minute mix up in The Badgers defence let in Alex Rippon but his shot was blocked with Jon Froggatt firing the loose ball wide. The Ambers were in complete control of the early stages and both Kieran Wells and Kieran Scargill had half chances before the visitors had their first opportunity when Bradley broke away but fired over as Archie Sneath raced out of his goal.
A great run and cross from the impressive Danny Buttle evaded all the onrushing Ambers and when a Scargill corner was punched away, it was returned with interest by Sam Denton way out on the right, but his effort hit the bar and was smuggled away.
After Wells and Scargill again both went close, the inevitable happened and the visitors took the lead when Lee broke away on the right and crossed to Bradley whose header was cleared off the line by Gareth Griffiths, but only as far as Roper who fired home.
It was a devastating blow to The Ambers but they came close to levelling things up almost immediately when Froggatt headed just over from a terrific Ben Starosta cross. We didn’t have to wait much longer though and two minutes later, a Rippon cross was deflected to Froggatt who made no mistake from the edge of the box, smashing his volley home for 1-1.
As half time approached it was Buttle who was stealing the show with a series of great runs down both flanks, one of them an incredible 60 yard sprint where he left the Retford players in his wake before setting up Luke Fletcher who shot just over.
The second half was only five minutes old when the decisive goal arrived, courtesy of a trademark header from Wells from a fine Denton cross. The big centre back then tried his luck from distance before Starosta tried to get in on the act, his excellent strike curling away at the last moment beyond the far post.
With Wells withdrawn and replaced by Bruno Holden, there was no let up for the beleaguered Badgers backline, and after Froggatt was crowded out after a Holden flick on, the top scorer bagged his second of the game with a good header from a Buttle free kick on 78 minutes. Just two minutes later, Froggatt came so close to his hat trick when his excellent diving header beat the keeper but came back off the bar.
As the game petered out, The Ambers kept control and eased to another three points against a team who will undoubtedly cause problems to others on their day.