OVER THE LINE

SOUTH NORMANTON ATHLETIC 1 MANSFIELD HOSIERY MILLS 0

CMA PREMIER SOUTH AT LEES LANE

9 MAY 2024 --- 7.45PM

SOUTH NORMANTON ATHLETIC V MANSFIELD HOSIERY MILLS RICHARDS V SUTER

South Normanton Athletic secured runners up spot following this 1-0 victory over neighbours Mansfield Hosiery Mills in the Turner twins derby.  A strange end of season encounter that still needed three points for The Shiners to get over the line yet despite a collection of chances a resolute effort from the visitors saw them go down to just a fluke own goal.

TIPTOE CONTROL

A lovely sunny evening greeted us at Lees Lane, arriving with Mr B of The Chesterfield Sunday League Parish he too had started collecting Coops it would appear as he snapped up as many pastries in the nearby outlet as me!

As ever nice to catch up with both sides and after seeing a superb encounter between these teams two weeks ago in which Mills pulled off a remarkable draw in a superb effort tonight's fixture felt as though it could turn out to be after the Lord Mayors parade.

The visitors were on a run of 4 games in eight days for the last couple of weeks and as mentioned in the last blog are well and truly tired out alongside work commitments and injuries they feel like a ravaged squad.  Tonight they would be without both front men in Matt Fowler and Luke Crosby but it allowed for a few new faces as manager Mark Turner once again got a squad of players out.

For The Shiners it was a strong line up although they were missing talisman Josh Parfitt up front an expected win would see them mathematically certain to finish second and with the end of season manoeuvrings looking likely to be offered promotion.

THE EVER DANGEROUS PERRY RICHARDS

The winning goal was the first thing of note in the chances stake and it would be a body blow so early on for the visitors to go behind.  Livewire Perry Richards was the danger man in the first half and non more so than in this his build up resulted in a low cross that keeper Tom Maxwell parried away and the defenders clearance struck a helpless Connor Barnes [await check] and flew back over the line for an own goal after 11 minutes.

Richards continued to be the conduit for Normanton's chances and on 25 minutes they nearly doubled there lead as he weaved his way into the box and crossed to set up Elliott Bland who saw his effort cleared off the line by Ryan Hancock.

The half was not at a serious pace with the warm weather and the visitors happy to sit back and let South Normanton retain possession but the chances came and went with some wayward finishing otherwise the boys in blue could have been five goals to the good.

NORMANTON PRESSURE WITH A CONSTANT SCOREBOARD AFTER THE EARLY GOAL

The second period started on an encouraging note for Mills who were looking for a breakaway goal when just eight minutes into the restart when Aaron Carrington beat the offside trap, plus a very good call from the assistant referee in this, to fire a cross goal shot past keeper Ross Etheridge but also agonisingly wide of the far post.

The substitutions came throughout the half and for Mills their tired squad was further tested with injuries tonight.

South Normanton could just not make a further breakthrough and that had to be testament to the continued determination of the visitors and they were indeed further grateful to keeper Maxwell who pulled off a full length low save from a shot that he saw late on 70 minutes.

At the final whistle though there was relief from the home fans when South Normanton could relax to their final league position being secured.  But having seen Mills quite a bit over the last few weeks of grabbing end of season football and knowing how ready for a season end these lads are they were an absolute credit to the club, manager and more importantly to themselves tonight when many other clubs are calling games off they just keep going.  Three more to go nearly over the line Mills.

Well done to Dave Turner and his team at South Normanton Athletic.

JACK HUTCHINSON 50TH GAME FOR THE MILLS TONIGHT