SOLDIERS WIN AT CRESWELL

 Pre Season Friendly

AFC CRESWELL 1 SHIREBROOK SOLDIERS 5

The other day Darren Wragg asked if there was any local matches on, I spotted this friendly that caught the eye for a couple of reasons, one being Ive never been to Creswell in my life, so kept saying to them I would get there and also Shirebrook Soldiers are a new team entering the Nottinghamshire Senior League. Good time friend Darren picked me up and we soon entered the country lanes through south Derbyshire in to the village of Creswell before seeing the ground on the left hand side, to where we turned and then went down a cul de sac before turning in to the car park.

We was greeted by husband and wife, Manager and Secretary of AFC Creswell Mr and Mrs Hufton, who kindly fetched us both a couple of chairs and some umbrellas and spoke to a couple of players whilst the away side began to arrive.

The game began in showery weather conditions and in the second half though it had stopped raining the temperature dropped. The first few minutes players were just passing the ball around, but on 7 minutes saw the first real attack and a Soldiers players was bought down in the area, which gave the referee no choice but to award a penalty, to which the forward struck in to the net.

The side from Shirebrook could have doubled their lead but for good goalkeeping from the home keeper, but he could do nothing in the 37th minute, when he was beaten by a lovely finish to make it 2-0.

In the 62nd minute, Creswell were back in the game when they reduced the arrears, but in the 76th minute, Soldiers scored their third of the night through a lovely volley. This seemed to spur the visitors forward and they increased their lead to 4-1 through a well struck free kick from just outside the area in the 83rd minute. Just before the final whistle, the visitors added to their total to make the score 5-1 to them.