A good week for Ilkeston who made it 3 wins in a row with a 1-0 win against Marine and a 2-1 against Rushall Olympic. This young side is really beginning to gel and play without fear. Kevin Wilson has taken a lot of flack from some supporters who didn’t buy in to his vision of bringing through players from the academy. Last season was the first season where the youngsters began to “take over” and because the good results were not instantaneous the doomsayers began to feel vindicated. Yes they had the skill but you can’t have a team made up of kids. Apparently. We need to spend money on more experienced players. Apparently. We’ll never get promoted with youngsters. Apparently.
After we had secured safety from relegation Kevin decided to step up his plan and fully adopt the formation that the Academy had been brought up on. The change was incredible. Suddenly the young players were now playing the system they knew so well and they ended up losing only 1 of their last 5 games, winning 3 of them.
This season the Robins have been scoring goals for fun and currently sit 4th in the league. The majority of the team are under 20 and Kevin’s unfaltering belief in them is starting to pay dividends. However, it would seem that attendances this season are disappointingly lower than previous years. This is a real shame. If the “unbelievers” are still not converted then they need to take a chance, get down to the NMG and see the entertainment these kids are serving up. Maybe they’ll attract a few more back if they beat Stockport in the FA Cup on Saturday.
The senior side are not the only ones going great guns. The Under 21s took on Heanor and beat them quite convincingly, 11-0. They have scored an incredible amount of goals this season already and are proving way too strong for the league they are in. The downside to this is that they are not being stretched and they need tougher opposition to help with their own development. Their cup runs should be quite interesting!
The Musings Of An Ilson Fan 