Kane Richards tormenting the Marine defence (c) Craig Lamont Photography
Ilkeston: Smith, Wright, Maguire (c), Lane, Shaw, Wallace, Morgan, Chettle, Duffy, Richards, Adams
Marine: Cooper, Wainwright, Short, Hessey, Nicholas, Goulding, Whitehall, Foley, Codling, Fearnehough, Owens
Attendance: 312
Back to the league only 2 days after Saturday’s FA Cup victory (Ilkeston have been drawn away at Stockport County in the next round). A win today would move the Robins up from 12th to 4th place but today’s opponents had beaten Conference North side Hyde on Saturday so they would be no push over.
For the first 20 minutes Ilkeston played the ball well, often at times with no Marine player even looking like wanting to make a challenge. Despite all the possession though they couldn’t find the final ball to make it count. This soon became a theme for the whole match.
Marine’s first shot on goal came when David Morgan was muscled off the ball but the shot was hit weakly into the arms of Jordan Smith.
Chey Adams and Kane Richards were causing plenty of trouble and Kieron Wallace was crossing in some dangerous balls but there was never anybody there at the end of them.
One highlight of the half was the sight of Marine’s number 7 punching the air with joy as he won a throw-in. Wow, just wow!
Luke Shaw put another good cross in, again nobody was there, and Morgan had a fierce shot from outside the box go just wide. As half time approached Ilkeston won a free-kick but Morgan’s effort went just over. A frustrating half as Ilkeston dominated possession but just couldn’t score.
HT: Ilkeston 0 Marine 0
The second half continued exactly the same as the first half. Ilkeston continued to play nice, tidy football but the final ball was lacking. Adams was getting frustrated, thanks mainly due to the rough treatment he was getting from the Marine defence, all of which the referee waved away.
There was good play from Wallace who beat his marker and crossed the ball, substitute Mike Williams stretched but just couldn’t reach it, the ball found it’s way out to Morgan but his shot went just inches wide.
The longer the game went on like this the more the dread started to build up that Marine was going to nick the win.
However in the 88th minute that changed. Ilkeston won a free kick which was swung in by Wallace. Shaw got to the ball first and glanced his header into the top corner. The young wingback was then mobbed by his teammates as the relief amongst them, and the fans, was palpable.
Marine managed to fashion a chance in the dying minutes as they got past the challenges of two defenders (to the cry of Noooo! Noooooo! Noooooooo! from one fan) but the cross into the box was easily dealt with. Relief all around.
FT: Ilkeston 1 Marine 0
Luke Shaw celebrates after his 88th minute winner (c) Craig Lamont Photography
Ilkeston were very frustrating tonight. They played some great passing football, had the vast majority of possession, but found it very hard to beat Marine’s defence. In contrast, Marine were quite poor going forward and Joe Maguire, Akil Wright and Jack Lane all had good games making their jobs look easy. The goals that were flowing at the start of the season are now becoming harder to come by. We are making the chances but just can’t put most of them away. In the end though we kept on going and got the three points that we deserved.
Not Just Geek Reviews Man Of The Match: Luke Shaw
League Position: 4th
The Musings Of An Ilson Fan 