Saturday afternoon football makes a welcome return to Broadhurst Park as we host Ilkeston Town from Derbyshire. Volunteer reporter, Finn Honeywood provides this preview…
Our Opponents – Ilkeston Town, The Robins
Playing in their second season following a lateral move from the Southern League Division Central, Ian Deakin’s Ilkeston Town have made a bright start to the 2024/25 campaign with four points from their opening two games. A former Robins goalkeeper and coach, Deakin took the reins from Gary Hayward in September last season, guiding the Derbyshire side to an eleventh place finish in their NPL Premier Division debut.
Ilkeston Town in their current form were founded in 2017 in the wake of Ilkeston F.C’s folding, and enjoyed a rapid rise up the divisions in their first few years. Back-to-back promotions through Steps 6 and 5 in the Midlands League saw the club land in the NPL Division One Midlands in 2019/20. Two years later, The Robins won the division to claim a Step 3 spot for the first time in their short history, and have remained there ever since.
Previous meetings:
The two encounters between FC and Ilkeston last campaign saw the home sides victorious on both occasions. In the first meeting in Moston in late August, a solitary goal from Nic Bollado on the stroke of half time gave FC the points in the away side’s first ever league visit to Broadhurst Park. In the reverse fixture, the Reds’ first trip to the New Manor Ground since April 2009, two second half goals meant Ilkeston Town claimed a 2-0 victory at the turn of 2024.
Manager Neil Reynolds said: ‘‘They’re still a bit of an unknown quantity to us having only moved across last season, but they were very strong when we went to their place last year and they beat us comfortably.
‘’Ilkeston have started really well so far, so we’ll look to take the positives from Tuesday night and be ready for another challenge at Broadhurst Park on Saturday.’’
Ones to watch:
The Robins are captained by former Nottingham Forest, Newcastle United and Wigan Athletic defender James Perch, who joined the club in September last year after departing home-town club Mansfield Town. Perch has made over 650 career appearances across all four top English divisions, as well as appearing in two Europa League campaigns with Newcastle and Wigan.
Ilkeston’s top scorer from last campaign, Jamie Walker, remains with the side. His tally of 17 goals last term saw him land inside the top 10 goalscoring charts in the NPL Premier Division. Walker notched two assists in Tuesday night’s 3-1 victory for Ilkeston on the road at Mickleover.
Reynolds on Perch: ‘’The fact that the league is able to attract the likes of (James) Perch and Adam Le Fondre is testament to the strength and quality of the league. I think players are coming to this league because they see how competitive it is.
‘’We can really learn a lot from these kinds of players who’ve played at the top level. They aren’t just here to participate, they’re here because they’re winners and they still want to achieve new milestones.”