Basford United U19 0 v Matlock Town U19 2 - NMU19L Div 2

Monday 25th February 2013,
at Mill Street Playing Field, Greenwich Avenue, Basford
North Midland U19 League Division 2
Basford United U19 (0) 0
Matlock Town U19 (0) 2
Adam Clarke 67
Alex Bradshaw 81
Attendance £2 inc. programme

Alas, it's true ... Smartphones take crap photographs

No Kyle Keetley or Luke Hodson, in Basford's line up tonight, but their prolific top scorer Dan Jackson was on duty, clocking up his 6th game in ten days (he also plays for their first team) as the fixtures come thick and fast for the Greenwich Avenue club.
They're away at Maltby Main on in two days time too ... and it's no wonder they're starting to look a bit knackered, if truth be told.
League leaders Basford, took a season long unbeaten run into this game and were sitting on an impressive goal difference of plus 34, whilst Matlock, who have a mountainous fixture backlog to get through now, having had 'time out' to pursue an impressive run in the FA Youth Cup, before the weather decimated the NMU19L fixture list, arrived in Nottingham, having won three of the seven league games they have played, off the back of the defeat at Harworth Colliery last Wednesday, a game that is featured on this very blog.
The first half was a fairly subdued affair, for the most part, although Matlock did ride their luck a couple of times as Basford had a number of promising efforts go narrowly wide of the mark.

A betting man would have studied these two teams respective current form and had this one down as a home banker, but Matlock were having none of that ... and having played a deep formation in an attempt to contain the home side thus far, they began to venture forward themselves and be a bit more adventurous. The longer the game went on without the usually attack minded Basford scoring, the more Matlock visibly started to fancy their chances of getting a result here.
On 67 minutes, Jordan Holland swung a high corner over from the left, to the far post, that was knocked back across Basford's goal to Adam Clarke, who rose above everybody to powerfully head the visitors in front.
On 81 minutes, the Gladiators were in the driving seat, after Jordan Holland cleverly released Matt Wilkinson through the left hand channel and he screwed the ball back from the bye line, into the path of Alex Bradshaw, who thumped the ball into the back of the Basford net.
A great result for Matlock, that makes things very interesting at the top of the table.
My companions for the night, were moaning about how cold it was. but snugly mummified in layers of wind stopper clothing that make me look even more like the Michelin Man than I usually do, I was blissfully unaware of the discomfort they were suffering < insert sniggering like Muttley emoticon >.
FT - Basford United U19 0 v Matlock Town U19 2