Leek Town
Matches
Sat 22 Feb 2020  ·  South East Division
Ilkeston Town
2
0
Leek Town
Leek Town
LAMBERT BRACE SINKS LEEK

LAMBERT BRACE SINKS LEEK

Jonathan Eeles22 Feb 2020 - 21:34
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UNBEATEN RUN COMES TO AN END AT ILKESTON

Leek Towns eighteen game unbeaten run came to an abrupt end against a well drilled and hard working Ilkeston Town, however with several games off in the the division they still remain 8 points clear at the top.

A wet week across the Midlands meant that although playable the surface was very soft at the Manor Ground and Ilkeston to their credit adapted to the conditions much better than their Leek counterparts. The swirling wind throughout the game meant this was not the best spectacle for the supporters as any balls played above head height were affected by the wind.

The Leek started brightly and had the majority of the play for the first few minutes, with alot of the attacking play being directed through Stevenson. Billy Reeves collected the ball in midfield playing across to Lewis Keenan, who in turn fed Charlie Walford - his pass to Stevenson resulted in a shot which was deflected for a corner.

A Reeves corner was delivered and Olly Harrison met the ball well, however once again the ball was deflected for a corner. The subsequent corner was met at the near post by Grice but his flick was cleared.

On 6 minutes a little against the run of play Ilkeston scored when they played the ball to the edge of the Leek box, and a slip from Olly Harrison on the poor surface, allowed Kole Lambert to shoot unchallenged into the far corner leaving Danny Roberts stranded.

This led to a good spell from Ilkeston who frustrated Leek, who could not get their passing game going. Possession was given up by each side and several niggley free kicks were awarded, this resulted in a yellow card for Billy Reeves in the 27th minute.

When Leek were allowed to build their link up play they looked better, and on 34 minutes Bell collected the ball and played it to Grice in the area, he was able to square it back to Bell whose deflected shot looked goal bound as it looped over the scrambling Ilkeston keeper, but the impressive Ross Durrant recovered and palmed it away for another corner. A few minutes later Durrant came to the rescue again as a through ball from Bell found Grice but a combination of a poor touch and advancing keeper saw danger averted.

The first half came to a close with Leek having their strongest period of the half.

HT Ilkeston town 1 - Leek Town 0

Leek started the second half brightly and in the same vein they finished the first, with numerous corners from Reeves & Bell and some good delivery from the left hand side and Louis Keenan. However, Ilkestons game plan was effective as they soaked up the pressure and stifled the game in midfield frustrating Leek in process. Neil Baker rang the changes in the 69th minuted with a double substitution and change in formation - Tim Grice made way for Valdemar Schousboe and Charlie Walford for Lewis Short.

However almost immediately Leek fell further behind on 70 minutes, a long free kick was launched into the Leek area from Joe Maguire, the resulting defensive header fell to Reece Fyfe who shot from distance with a thunderous volley. The ball moved and dipped before reaching Danny Roberts who only managed to parry it as far as Kole Lambert who made no mistake from close range to score his second goal of the afternoon.

The game now looked beyond Leek but to their credit they kept at it and were a little more direct, on 74 minutes a good move found Stevenson who shot fiercely and had the ball in the net but was deemed to be fractionally offside to disappointment of the Leek faithful, as this would have set up a grand stand finish.

Ilkeston were now content to sit deep and invited Leek to pressure them, this resulted in numerous attempts on goal and it was Durrant who kept Leek at bay - with a good save at the near post and a point blank range block on 87 minutes from Stevenson once again.

The game petered out and Ilkeston, who were worthy winners on the day, celebrated to end Leeks long unbeaten run and inflict only their second league defeat of the season.

FT Ilkeston town 2 - Leek Town 0

Report by MoreNewsFromNowhere

Leek Town line up as follows

  1. Roberts
  2. Agbozo replaced by Baker (82)
  3. Keenan
  4. Grocott
  5. Harrison
  6. Chadwick
  7. Bell
  8. Reeves
  9. Grice replaced by Schousboe (69)
  10. Walford replaced by Short (69)
  11. Stevenson

Substitutes : Bavanganga, Twyford (Unused)
Attendance 568

Match details

Match date

Sat 22 Feb 2020

Kickoff

15:00

Attendance

568

Competition

South East Division

League position

1
Leek Town
9
Ilkeston Town
Team overview
Further reading

Team Sponsors

Club Sponsor - F Ball & Co
Community  Partner - Leek Building Society
Club Sponsor - M + M Group
Club Sponsor - LILA Connect
Club Sponsor - Buxton and Leek College
Club Sponsor - Faulkner Powell
Club Partners - KMF Group
Club Sponsor - Staffordshire Moorlands Chamber of Commerce
Club Sponsor - Railtrail Tours
Club Sponsor - MC Cleaning
Club Sponsor - MC Janitorial
Ladies Sponsors - Protech Electrical
Club Sponsor - LSGK Accountants