The Red Round-Up - 14th April

Here’s the round-up of the weekend action for each of FC’s teams.  

Men’s First Team

Like the previous weekend, the men’s first team were on the road in Derbyshire and played out a 1-1 draw – this time against promotion-chasing Ilkeston Town.

Skipper Charlie Ennis gave the Reds the lead in the eighth minute. Jordan Buckley made a good break up the middle before being bundled off the ball just outside the box. However the ball fell to Ennis in space, allowing him to fire a powerful shot beyond the reach of goalkeeper Yates from 20 yards out.

Ilkeston were back level in the nineteenth minute. The FC defence allowed a long ball to bounce, with the nod-on finding L’Varn Brandy unmarked in the box who finished well past Conor O’Keefe.

FC had some good chances before the break, most notably through Adam Le Fondre hitting the crossbar, before Jan Palinkas got his head on the end of a cross in front of goal, but he was unable to get enough on it to hit the target.

The hosts had more of the game in the second half, but without causing the FC defence too many problems - their best chances for most the second period coming from free kicks. In the 89th minute, Dec Evans had to make an important last-ditch tackle to keep FC in front. As the clock ticked over into added time, Ilkeston did have the ball in the goal, but the linesman quickly raised his flag for offside. 

Mark Beesley praised a “good, positive performance” but expressed some disappointment that his side were unable to get a second goal in the first half given the quality of some of their play.

Under 18s

The Under 18s took another big step towards the league title with victory away at Chadderton Park on Saturday morning.

The Reds took a one-nil lead into half-time courtesy of a Dan Morris header from a Sean McDonagh cross. The match then took a turn with goalkeeper David Shama receiving a red card (described as ‘harsh’ by manager Martin Morris) shortly before half time, with Haris Latif filling in in goal for the rest of the match.

Despite the setback, the young Reds doubled their lead shortly after the break; Morris this time the creator as his cross was headed home by Andrew Ndhlovu. The points were sealed with Dan Morris’ second goal of the game, with a run down the left and a finish low past the keeper to make it 3-0.

Martin Morris and Mark Crilly praised their side’s workrate as “second to none” and talked of a “brilliant, gutsy, focused and energetic” performance as they hunt down the championship.

The side now sit three points clear of Woodhouses Junior with both sides having one game left to play. Roach Dynamos are a further three points behind but with two games to play. One of those comes against FC on the 26th April, and if the Reds can get at least a point, they will guarantee themselves the league title.

Academy

The Academy played out a 0-0 draw against league leaders Chorley at Broadhurst Park on Wednesday afternoon.

The result sees FC remain in third place, but likely puts paid to any hopes of a second successive division title for the Reds, with them now five points behind Chorley with two games left to play.

COMING UP

The Men’s First Team are back at Broadhurst Park on Good Friday (18th) as they host Whitby Town in a 3pm kick-off.

The Men’s Development Team head to Atherton LR on Tuesday evening (7.30pm) knowing that a victory in their final game will seal a league championship for them in their maiden season. It’s free entry at Crilly Park and the bar will be open, so if you’re at a loose end, make sure you get down there to cheer on the lads.

The Academy travel to Alfreton Town on Wednesday afternoon (1pm) as they look to finish the season strongly.

The Under 18s now have a couple of weeks before their decisive final league match of the season against Roach Dynamos on April 26th.