Week ending 2nd November by Mason Norton

There was a top-of-the-table clash in the Everards Brewery Premier Division, as leaders Desford travelled to the Meadows to take on Magna 73. Nic Smith gave Magna the lead in the first half, and the hosts looked like they might secure a win. However, Mac Parnell equalised for Desford on 65 minutes, and with Magna reduced to 10 men, the home side ran out of steam, and sub Jamie York popped up to score the winner nine minutes from time, Desford winning 2-1. That left the door ajar for Anstey Town to move back into second, and for the second week in a row, they just scraped through. Jordan Small gave Anstey the lead in the first half, before Chris Galley equalised in the second period. It looked like Rangers might nick a point, but in injury time, sub Conor Jackson scored to give Anstey a late winner, 2-1 the final score. 


Magna actually slipped three places to fifth this weekend, as both Hathern and AFC North Kilworth found their scoring boots. Hathern hit Sileby Town for six, Kieran Chance smashed home early on, before Jack McLachlan scored to make it 2-0 with just 19 minutes gone. Sileby hit back, as Connor Packwood beat the offside trap and held his nerve when 1-on-1 to make it 2-1, but McLachlan scored just after the half-hour as Hathern caught Sileby on the break to restore the two-goal cushion. Sileby then should have scored when the Hathern offside trap malfunctioned spectacularly, and the Sileby attacker took the ball round the keeper, but slightly underpowered the shot, which allowed a Hathern defender to get back and clear, which he then nearly turned into his own net as the clearance smashed against the post- and ricocheted past two Sileby attackers and was then hooked up field by Hathern. 


The game looked poised at the break, but was over as a contest within a few minutes of the restart. McLachlan turned provider within a minute of the restart, squaring back to Dolton Taylor who stabbed the ball home, before Taylor provided a Bobby Dazzler of a goal, pickpocketing a pondersome Sileby defender in possession, turning back round to face goal, and then unleashing from 30 yards a firecracker that dipped viciously like a Stuka and hit the far post in the top corner and rebounded into the net. That broke Sileby, who looked sucker-punched from that point on, as they allowed McLachlan to waltz down the wing along the dead-ball line and shrug off three quarter-hearted challenges to slot past the keeper for 6-1, and it could have been 7-1 when Taylor caught the Sileby keeper off his line and lobbed him, only for the goal to be chalked off as Taylor had returned from an offside position. 6-1 was the final score in the Charnwood derby, Hathern's biggest-ever win over Sileby. 


Meanwhile North Kilworth went fourth after thumping struggling Ellistown, who were down to a bare eleven, 5-0. Ellistown managed to limit the damage to 1-0 at the break, having also spurned a host of chances in the first half themselves, Dom Lanni heading home for NK at a corner. Unfortunately, the visitors, who were tiring anyway, found themselves attacking uphill in the second half, and were undone by a Reece Hookway brace that ended the game as a contest, before sub Brandon Beardmore scored from the penalty spot to make it 4-0, and Ellis Weston's glancing header rounded off the scoring to send Ellistown on the long trudge back to the north-west of the county. 


Those were the only changes to the morning table in the Prem on Saturday- everyone else stayed exactly where they were. At the bottom of the table, Burbage & Huncote were on County Cup duty, Friar Lane did not play, Ellistown lost, and Cottesmore, who could be classed as being on the fringes of the basement battle, lost 4-3 at home to Leicester Atletico. Atletico raced into a 2-0 lead, but Cottesmore finished the first half strongest, and it was 2-2 at half-time thanks to goals from Leon Kavanagh and Kadeem Price. Cottesmore thought they had taken the lead in the second half, but Price's goal was disallowed for offside. That sparked Atletico back into life, as they scored twice in the last 15 minutes, although Brima Daramby almost set up a grandstand finish when he pulled one back for Cottesmore in injury time, but Atletico held on for the win, Kosi Ezeja (2), Malcolm Onochie and sub Mamadu Djalo on the scoresheet. The only other game in the Prem saw Aylestone Park Reserves win 3-0 at Thurnby Rangers, Shea Bates, Ethan Clarke and Evan Kane the scorers. 


The County Cups meant that there was a much-reduced programme in Everards Brewery Divisions One and Two. There were no changes to the top half of Div1, the main story coming at the bottom of the table, where Holwell Sports Reserves climbed off the bottom and out of the relegation zone with a 3-2 win at Sileby Town Reserves, Tallen Burt, Max Fisher and Finley Scarborough scoring for Holwell, Taffy Pariva and Jack Wardle for Sileby. Dunton & Broughton United now prop up the Div1 table, with Sutton Bonington falling back into the drop zone one week after climbing out of it, Holwell climbing up three places to 13th, also overtaking Birstall United Reserves, who lost 3-2 at home to Saffron Dynamo Development, Blake Mackness (2) and Callum Briers for Saffron, Ash Jordan and Jake Robertson for Birstall, Saffron climbing up a place to 11th at the expense of Heather St John Reserves. 


Those were the only changes to the morning table- the only other Div1 game saw Loughborough Dynamo beat Ingles Development 3-1, Dynamo scorers not yet in, Micah Lawrence with a consolation from the bench for Ingles. There was only one game in Div2, which did not change the morning table at all- Whetstone Athletic won 4-0 at Highfield Rangers Reserves, Regan Angrave, Taylor Blatchford, Harvey Coulson and Ryan Richmond the scorers.


That's it for this week. Next week's triple bill brings you the rest of the County Cup action, including the first competitive Ingles-Hathern derby match since Ingles moved to Thringstone, and a top-of-the-table title tussle as leaders Desford take on chaser Anstey Town, who sit six points behind Desford with two game in hand. The bottom of the Prem sees Burbage & Huncote take on Cottesmore. Div1 sees a full coupon again, and there's likely to be goals in Div2, where the top two take on the bottom two. Just a reminder that next weekend is Remembrance weekend, so there will be a minute's silence before all games next Saturday. We'll be back next week. See you then.