Maltby Main 4 v Ollerton Town 5 - PSF

Maltby Main (0) 4
Hill 55 pen Gregg 58 69 J Poole 75
Ollerton Town (2) 5
Ludlow 11 44 Dockwray 63 Stretton 73 Bingham 90
Admission £5

I found a tight corner to squeeze my motor conveyance into, in the packed car park at this increasingly popular South Yorkshire football emporium and strode eagerly into the ground, anticipating an evening of enthralling football, commitment and endeavour, between two attack minded sides. I wasn't to be disappointed.
An elderly gentleman with a football at his feet challenged me to try and tackle him. So I humoured the old guy and even stood with my feet four feet apart so he could 'nutmeg' me. It made his night and I had a nice warm glow in my heart all night knowing that I had helped to bring some happiness into his life, while chuckling to myself about I'd only been a split second away from launching into a good old fashioned (and recently outlawed) proper slide tackle and smashing both of his shins into a tangled mess.
Enjoy your moment Wilf!

Maltby almost took the lead inside the first five minutes, when Josh Poole let fly with a speculative shot from all of forty yards, that crashed off of the left hand upright.

But it was the visitors who started the ball rolling towards a landslide of goals, when the ball broke to Kyle Ludlow on the left hand edge of the visitors goalmouth and he drilled the ball past Danny Rusling.

Maltby went in search of an equaliser straight away and Les Hill released Ollie Lawrence down the left wing and Ollerton needed to adopt a safety first policy and clear his cross at the expense of a corner.

Hill met the resulting corner with a textbook downwards header, but the visitors defence scrambled the ball away.

Craig Fletcher rolled a sideways pass into the path of Lawrence who tested Simon Smith from 20 yards, but the 'Town' keeper was well placed to take an easy catch.
Fletcher once again set an attack in motion for the home side with a well weighted ball into the path of Connor Gregg, who saw off a challenge before picking out Nicky Darker with a measured cross that the Maltby captain struck first time from the edge of the area, forcing a good save out of Smith.
In the last minute of the first half, Rob Doolan fired a low free kick across the Maltby penalty area that found it's way through to Ludlow at the back post who doubled the visitors lead with a poachers goal from close range.
There were claims that the Ollerton front man had strayed offside, but in the week when the nation celebrates the 50th anniversary of the national side winning the Jules Rimet Trophy, it is probably to respect the decisions of linesmen the world over.
HT: Malty Main 0 v Ollerton Town 2

The visitors almost gave themselves a three goal cushion, but Ben Bowring's strike from long distance skimmed past the post. Maltby advanced from the goal kick and in a frenzy of action that unfolded in the Ollerton goalmouth, the referee spotted an infringement and pointed to the penalty spot.
Hill stepped forward and halved the arrears with an emphatic finish.
Maltby regained the ball straight from the rebound and went on the attack, with Smith doing well to block Fletcher's shot, but the rebound fell to Ryan Poole who only had to keep his shot on target with an open goal begging and he... err, will want to forget that one, as a spectator carrying a drink back from the refreshments bar, needed to take evasive action to prevent the ball from knocking his tea all over him. I know it was tea because they're not posh coffee drinkers round these parts.

But Maltby won back possession straight from the goal kick and Connor Gregg soothed the nerves of the tea drinkers behind the goal, when he kept his closae range thumping shot on target and the 'Miners' were on level terms just three minutes after hill had pulled a goal back from the spot.
But in the 63rd minute, the visitors were back in front, when Sam Dockwray homed in on the Maltby goal through the right channel; Rusling came out to narrow the angle and went down bravely at the Ollerton playmaker's feet, but inexplicably missed the ball with his outstretched hands and Dockwray strode on to claim an real opportunist goal.

The home side were soon level again, as an end to end game of non-stop attacking football, broke out all over the place... you couldn't take your eyes off of this incredible game for a moment. or you ran the risk of missing a goal.
Jordan Poole crashed a thumping shot past Smith that came down off the crossbar to where Gregg provided the finishing touch.
The crowd were kept waiting a whole four minutes before they saw another goal, when Sam Stretton rose, salmon like, to connect with Josh Dodds left wing corner and head the visitors back in front.
If you are struggling to keep up with the score, that one put the visitors 4-3 ahead.
But straight from the restart Jordan Poole made in four apiece when he took the ball round Smith with a darting run and rolled the ball into the goal.

Inside the final 5 minutes of the game, Dockwray controlled the ball well on the edge of the area allowing Lewis Bingham just enough space to get his shot away in a crowded goalmouth and snatch a fifth goal for Ollerton.
As the game went into stoppage time, Rusling conceded a penalty with a clumsy challenge on the edge of his area. Thankfully the referee took the timing (90+ minutes), the nature of the infringement and the friendly status of the game into consideration, before deliberating Rusling's fate... and he stayed on the pitch to face Ludlow's spot kick and denied the Ollerton striker his hat trick, by dropping quickly to his right and and getting his body behind the ball.
But it was too late for any more goals and we all had to be content with just the nine, as an enthralling, amusing and highly entertaining game came to a close and Ollerton claimed their first pre-season win this summer after three straight defeats.
Some people give pre-season games a wide berth, but you really don't know what you're missing!
FT: Maltby Main 4 v Ollerton Town 5
Ollerton Town's friendly at Pinxton this weekend was cancelled, but they are now travelling to Swanwick Pentrich Road instead for a game that has a 1pm kick off, while Maltby Main's next game is on Saturday too, when a Sheffield United XI are visiting for a game that kicks off at 3pm.