Men's 2nd XI Vs Belper 5th XI

Sunday rearranged match

South Notts Mighty 2’s 5-5 Belper 5’s

Tom fletcher reports

The second game for the team in as many days saw the squad make the short trek to a small leisure centre just outside derby acting as Belpers replacement for their flood damaged pitch which had postponed the original fixture. Despite the double header, with a bit of asking around and a few painkillers (Neil Batty), a healthy 12 travelled for the game thanks to the welcome return of Mike Shapland from the 1’s along with a guest appearance from Tom Fletcher as well.

The formation adopted was the well known 2-3-2-2-1, playing to souths midfield and defensive strengths.

The game began with a scrappy, exciting first 10 minutes with lots of end to end stuff, some great hits out of the back from Brian and a few great runs through the middle from Chris as well as on the wings from Nathan and Gary but no real chances at either end. Until, true to form, up popped the skipper at the top of the D and struck his reverse beautifully right into the bottom corner!

South Notts 1 - 0 Belper

A sleepy restart and some quick hands from one of their players quickly brought them back level.

South Notts 1 - 1 Belper

Settling back into the game, South started to string some nice passes together with Batty dictating the play from midfield. The sensible possession and and good running from the forwards allowed a swift ball from right back down the line to Mike who drilled the ball from the baseline to the P-spot where Grozzy was waiting to sweep it into the net.

South Notts 2 - 1 Belper

A rare miscommunication but crucial mistake from south handed Belper a 3 on 1 situation which they took advantage of.

South Notts 2 - 2 Belper

Half time followed, including an upbeat team talk and some refreshments to spur us onto what would hopefully be a win in the second half.

Disappointingly, they put 2 past us in quick succession.

South Notts 2 - 4 Belper

A real shock to the system and all of a sudden, we were kicked into life! A flurry of south finesse ensued starting with a period of play leading to Gary selflessly bouncing a cross through the D to hand the captain his hat-trick.

South Notts 3 - 4 Belper

Another neat play found south in much the same place as the first goal after some good skills and a burst of pace from Nathan, pulling it back again to Grozzy, but this time the reverse shot was neatly stolen by Mike and put in the goal for the equaliser!

South Notts 4 - 4 Belper

As the game started to come to a close and both teams began to tire, more spaces opened up and the win was there for the taking. More frantic end to end play and again the ball found its way to the right at the back, down the line again to Nathan who beat his man before sending it to the far post for another goal from Mike!

South Notts 5 - 4 Belper

Spirits were high as surely this was the last goal of the game. The umpire signalled 2 minutes and all south had to do was keep the ball. Little over 2 minutes later, Belper had the ball again and were advancing on the D. They drilled a cross from the edge towards the back post which was blocked by Fletch but flicked upwards and floated over our goal line earning him DOD. The umpire signalled own goal and the end of the match.

Full time : South Notts 5 - 5 Belper 5’s

MOM -
DOD - Fletch