National League U19 Alliance, Division H
at Greenwich Avenue, Basford
Basford United (1) 3
Callum Smith 27, Cardell Labban 56,
Remel White 82
Mansfield Town (1) 3
Callum Payne 35, Reece Lefley 54,
Myles Saxton 64
Photo gallery, click HERE
An absorbing game of football, a selection of well taken goals, some reet grand company and the finest weather that I've experienced this year so far, made for an enjoyable trip down to the outer city limits of Nottingham, for this 11AM kick off..
To avoid a colour clash, the Stags donned Basford's royal blue away shirts... and after they had a short warm up, due to their mini bus getting caught up in traffic, this end to end game of football got underway.
It was Basford who struck the first blow, when Callum Smith drilled the ball into the left hand bottom corner of the net, past Sam Bennett who saw the ball late and couldn't really have done much about keeping it out.
George Sansom, the Basford keeper, did well to make a double save from Ryan Evans and Connor Payne, after Jake Toon had forced his way through into the home side's area.
The new pitch at Greenwich Avenue, manufactured by Lanos Sports and laid expertly by Charles Lawrence Surfaces of Newark, illustrates just how much 'artificial turf' surfaces have developed in recent years... it provided a perfect surface for both sides to play on, and definitely won yours truly, a former 'astro-sceptic' over well and truly.
The Stags were level on thirty five minutes, when Sansom couldn't quite gather Evans' close range effort and Payne was on hand to knock the rebound just inside the left hand post.
Payne was involved in Mansfield's second goal nine minutes after the restart, when he rolled a measured pass into the path of Reece Lefley, who spanked the ball past Sansom from eighteen yards out.
Toon's cross from the left wing held up in the air before crashing off of the home side's crossbar, as the Brooksby youngsters, under the guidance of Simon Ward and Richard Cooper, looked to build on their lead
But Basford were level when .Cardell Labban saw a gap in the Mansfield back line and found the top corner of Bennett's goal from on the edfe of area.
Payne was involved in Mansfield's second goal nine minutes after the restart, when he rolled a measured pass into the path of Reece Lefley, who spanked the ball past Sansom from eighteen yards out.
Toon's cross from the left wing held up in the air before crashing off of the home side's crossbar, as the Brooksby youngsters, under the guidance of Simon Ward and Richard Cooper, looked to build on their lead
But Basford were level when .Cardell Labban saw a gap in the Mansfield back line and found the top corner of Bennett's goal from on the edfe of area.
Evans combined with Ward, who back-heeled the ball to Usamah Zerroug whose goal bound effort deflected over the bar for a corner, from which Myles Saxton headed home Reece Lefley's left wing delivery in the sixty fourth minute.
Evans had a couple of good chances to consolidate the Stags lead, but meanwhile at the other end, the visitors were grateful to see Bennett get down well to his right to keep out Smith's long range free kick.
It had been an evenly matched contest and I don't think anybody could've had any complaints when Remel White powered home a header from the eighteen yard line over Bennett, that brought the scoring in this game to a conclusion.
White and then Saxton both had late opportunities to claim the victory for their respective sides, but it finished three apiece, which was a fair result all told.
FT: Basford United Academy 3 v Mansfield Town (Brooksby) 3
