at Cannon Park/Jones & Co. Stadium
CMFL Reserves Supreme Division
Retford United (0) 2
Jack Ward 77
Aaron Hutchinson 86
Heanor Town (1) 1
Jack LIghtly 27
Admission £2. Programme £1.
All goal times are approximate, given that Kev Blackburn, the match referee, paid scant regard to any sort of accurate timekeeping tonight. Though his questionable understanding of how his wristwatch works, is infinitely better than his grasp of the actual rules of the game of Association Football and his joke telling.
He might have meant to go for goal ... and it might have been a speculative cross ... either way, they all count and it gave Heanor a bit of a lift and they looked more comfortable with the ball, than they initially had, as half time approached.
Retford had to wait patiently until the 77th minute, until their efforts were finally rewarded and Jack Ward headed home the equalising goal.
But Lightly should have regained the lead for the visitors shortly afterwards. Alas, having done the hard part, of collecting a long pass into the Badgers penalty area and advancing past Retford's keeper, Tom Fuller, with a burst of pace, he blazed his effort wide of the inviting open goal ... he didn't mean to do that ;-)
Inside the final five minutes, Sam Hutchinson saw his well struck free kick from 25 yards out, tipped over the bar by the Heanor keeper.
But Sam's younger Brother Aaron did find the net, heading home a left wing corner to finally give the Badgers the lead right at the end of the game.
All in all, a good performance from Retford's second string, who made good of the squad available to them tonight, by introducing two goal scoring substitutes into the mix.
It's just a shame that there weren't a few more people here to see it.
FT - Retford United Reserves 2 v Heanor Town Reserves 1
