HILTON HARRIERS 5 TEVERSAL RESERVES 1

My first visit to Hilton Harriers was greeted with torrential rain and a few claps of thunder. But fortunately they didn’t last and the sun was quite hot by kick off on a perfect green playing surface.

Hilton made an impressive start with Tom Harlow heading wide following a corner in the sixth minute. But it was the young Teversal second string which had the better of the first half. Indeed, as early as the 14th minute it took a splendid Chris Smith tackle to stop Regan Cooper breaking through for the opening goal.

Regan Cooper did better on twenty minutes, engineering the lead for the visitors. His low angled drive came back off an upright and JOE GEESON was on hand to turn the ball home.

Hilton hit back immediately and Ryan Thompson made a good run down the right but a hash of his cross with unmarked players waiting in the middle.

The game was open and Dan Waltho headed a free kick onto the top of the net, whilst a minute later at the other end a deflected shot from Joe Gleeson was headed off the line by Harlow. It was followed by Mark Parkes’ header from a free kick being saved by Harry Wood.
The game changer came two minutes before the break.

David Cockerill’s astute pass put Joe Geeson in with a great chance in front of goal but Harry Wood twice thwarted his efforts before Harlow thumped the ball clear. It could, and should, have been 2-0 to the visitors. Within a minute Hilton were level. A long throw in caused havoc in the Tevie area and MAX BULMER found a yard of space to thump home the equaliser and Harriers first Central Midlands League goal.

Teversal opened the second half brightly and Macauley Short sent the lively Joe Geeson on his way to shoot inches over the bar with Wood beaten. After this though, the Notts side dropped to pieces defensively and Hilton took complete charge of the game.

They were in front on 55 minutes when skipper CHRISTIAN BARCZ splendidly headed home a free kick, and they looked to extend this nine minutes later when the excellent Chris Smith hit a speculative shot from distance just over the angle. It delayed the inevitable only momentarily. Smith’s 68th minute corner was deftly headed home by CHRISTIAN BARCZ, and within three minutes the diminutive CHRIS SMITH had got the goal his performance deserved with a delightful shot into the top corner from a Carl Chadfield pass. The Teversal defence was now all at sea and they conceded a fifth goal on 78 minutes when home substitute HARRY MATHER headed home a deep left wing cross.
Note for Teversal. Three of these second half Hilton goals came from headers.

Five might well have been six and a top of the table place for Harriers tonight. Chadfield was tripped just inside the area as he went past a defender but Chris Smith managed to blot his copybook by firing the 90th minute spot kick high over the bar.

HILTON HARRIERS: Wood, Barcz, Harlow, Atkinson, Fox, Smith, Saville (Oxley 80), Chadfield, Waltho (North 82), Bulmer (Mather 76), Thompson. Substitute not used – Oakton

TEVERSAL RESERVES: Corey Bulheller, Brett Dodsworth (James Summers 58), Phil Griffiths, Mark Parkes, George Simpson, Regan Cooper, Joe Geeson, Dave Cockerill, Macauley Short (Billy Bradley 69), Craig Newton (Brad Newby 76), Lewis Brown. Substitute not used – Simba Ganyiwa.

REFEREE: Simon Kells

YELLOW CARDS: Hilton – Carl Chadfield (55), Christian Barcz (59), Teversal – Craig Newton (72)

HEADCOUNT: 51

STAR PERFORMER: Chris Smith (Hilton Harriers)