After conceding a soft looking goal in the first minute the Eagles did extremely well to strike back and get themselves into a 2-1 lead at a decidedly balmy Eagle Valley. Sadly things began to slide slowly South in the sunshine from thereon in, particularly during a progressively below par second half.

Injured skipper Kyme Mason (reduced to sponge duty) was sorely missed in defence for this one and with Jamie Royle also not available space opened up for Jake Ogden and Callum Jones to return to a slightly reshuffled starting line-up.

Early first minute goals have become quite a feature of Arnold Town games this season and today’s arrived via a speculative long punt from Derby keeper Kiran Savage. Still involved with last minute raffle sales I didn’t actually witness what happened but I hear a single bounce was neatly converted into the top right hand corner of the Oxton Road net presumably with such alacrity as would have bamboozled even a Premier League defence.

The worst of starts for the home side and the visitors almost added to their lead five minutes later. Following a move down the right wing the ball entered Arnold’s area and sat up beautifully for Derby’s wide man to unleash a goal bound volley which George Harrold did well to deflect away for a corner.

Thankfully things soon began to settle and by the 12th minute the Eagles had already shown enough to justify getting back on terms. A yard or two inside Derby’s half Toby Francis used his body strength well to turn his marker before fizzing a top draw cross field pass over the head of a central defender to drop into left winger Gerrard Hallam’s path. Hallam, with the defender desperately trying to pull at his shirt, determinedly made his way into the area before drilling a low shot into the bottom right hand corner of the brand new rather swish Colin net.

Arnold were enjoying their best period of the game and four minutes later should have added a second goal. After forcing a free kick on the extreme left hand corner of Derby’s area Callum Jones stepped up and delivered a lovely curling dead ball which crashed half way up the left hand post. The ball looped up bouncing unattended around the penalty spot crying out for an alert Arna player to pounce on the “seconds” but sadly far too much time was afforded to the visiting defence to clear the danger.

The game took up a pacey end to end look about it with both teams pressing for a second goal. It duly came for the Arna with 25 mins on the clock from a somewhat unlikely source. A throw in from the left by Callum Jones was aimed towards the near post where George Harrold managed to beat off two defenders to head the ball back across goal directly into the bottom right hand corner.

After joining the Eagles in mid August central defender George has been a virtual ever present and has managed to put himself in endless goal scoring positions in his 29 appearances to date. This was undoubtedly an extremely popular debut goal. I only hope he was able to turn round quick enough to see it go in!

Sadly for the Eagles their joy proved to be short lived with the visitors getting themselves back on terms just three minutes later. A deep corner delivered from the right flew across the face of Arnold’s goal reaching an unmarked Singh Brothers striker who gleefully headed home from a yard out at the back stick with keeper Danny Rigley left totally unprotected.

In truth up to this point the game had been played out in a rather “tetchy” fashion with harsh dissenting voices of various volumes and pitch creating a constant carping in the general direction of the referee. Sadly for Toby Francis his contribution to the noise must have been the only one to register with the match official’s wave length and Arna’s number 20 was duly despatched to the Sin Bin with about ten minutes of the half remaining.

It was a closely fought ten minutes with the last real chance of the half falling to the home side. A lovely ball from within the centre circle by Callum Jones sent Jake Ogden flying on a promising path towards the right side of the area. With Akeem Campbell tracking Oggy’s run and arriving in open space in the centre Jake appeared to be in two minds and skewed a cross come shot wide of the the left hand post to leave the sides level at the break with two goals apiece.

The second half opened with Arnold applying some pressure. A well struck long range effort from right back Tyreece Warren-Wilkinson was deflected off target in the box and could have ended up anyway but luckily for the visitors flew away from harm. The resultant corner was headed towards goal by Harrold but his usual luck had swiftly returned and a handily placed defender was on hand to block.

Derby then took the action to the other end of the pitch where, with the Arnold defence starting to wilt, Danny Rigley was forced into action twice in the space of two minutes the second save involving a rather dramatic full stretch two handed tip over his crossbar.

The teams were taking it in turns to press for a third goal but the Eagles were perhaps not enjoying quite the same level of confidence and flow in their overall play that we’ve seen at times recently. Nevertheless Toby Francis’ last action before being replaced by Adam Stevenson on the hour mark was a positive piece of work on the left. Working himself into position to deliver a delightful curling cross into the danger area the teasing ball just evaded Nicko Campbell in the centre before falling into the path of stand in skipper Jamie Crawford’s lunge at the back post with the over stretched attempt flying a yard wide.

Frustration was mounting for the home side and cracks were getting bigger at the back as the visitors continued to apply their fair share of pressing. However, Derby’s game winning third goal was very much of Arnold’s own making. Out of nowhere out on the right of the Eagles’ midfield Warren-Wilkinson, who’d had a pretty game up until this point, was forced back towards goal with two opponents hard on his heels. A woefully under hit back pass towards his area sold keeper Rigley far too short and left the two Derby attackers with the simple task of working the ball into the bottom left hand corner to complete the scoring on 74 mins.

With the Arnold attack looking increasingly less threatening as the second half wore on Derby’s gifted third goal would prove to be a costly misstep. Even so the Eagles were very unlucky not to conjure up a share of the points a couple of minutes later. A ball delivered into the Oxton Road area was causing a measure of panic in the visitors’ defence and Arna sub Sam Freeman (on for Hallam) did his level best to try and repeat his rescue act at Melbourne the previous week.

With the ball bouncing up invitingly for Sam three or four yards from goal in a crowded box his goal bound effort was extremely well saved by the outstretched arms of a defender. Sadly the fact that he wasn’t wearing a keeper’s jersey at the time appeared to be of no consequence to the match officials.

With a decent amount of time still remaining for the Arna to find an equaliser my notes came to an abrupt end as the goal scoring opportunities completely dried up and the three points made their way back down the A52.