Match Report By Kieran Booker
Linby lost their unbeaten home record today as Hucknall won 3-0 on derby day. First half goals from Matt Brian and Michael Banister helped set the away side up before Jamie Crawford sealed the victory in second-half stoppage time.
Church Lane was bustling as supporters took the opportunity to take in some local action on a sunny bank holiday afternoon. There had been 43 goals scored in the 8 games the two sides had played so far this season so it was no surprise when Hucknall was able to open the scoring after just 6 minutes.
The opener came when Hucknall’s first corner of the day wasn’t efficiently cleared. The ball was then pumped back into the box by Jamie Crawford before being put away by striker Matt Brian. The striker was able to turn with the ball at his feet before firing into the top corner.
It was a very tight affair as neither side was able to create many clear cut chances. A Matt Murphy effort which fired just inches past Michael Randall’s left post being the home side’s only real effort of note in the first half.
Just before the half hour mark Hucknall were able to double their advantage. The goal came after a long free kick was played in, the ball ended up with Jamie Crawford who was again able to assist by crossing in for Michael Banister who rose the highest to head into Glenn Guyatt’s top corner.
The second half continued much like the first with neither side able to trouble the opponent keepers. Linby were unable to effectively break through a very tight Hucknall defence with Jonathan Drake’s effort from the edge of the box being the closest they got during they got during the early stages of the second half.
Ashley Whitt thought he had grabbed a third for Hucknall when he smashed the ball into the empty net just after the hour mark but unfortunately for him the referee stopped play after Linby keeper Glenn Guyatt had been wiped out by his team mate during the build up. He then had another effort for Hucknall fly across goal and out only minutes later.
As the game neared the end Lewis Saxby decided to push more of his men forward in hopes of getting something from the game whereas at the other end of the pitch Glenn helped keep the score down when he was forced into another great save by Jordan Phillips.
Both sides had a great opportunity to get themselves the next goal as the game entered injury time. First Linby’s Nick Davies could only fire wide from the edge of the box after great hold up play by Matt Murphy before a deadly Hucknall ball across the penalty area was missed by two attacking players as any contact would have led to a certain goal.
The away side soon made up for that miss though as in the last action of the game the provider became the scorer. Jamie Crawford was able to wrap the tie up by smashing the ball low under Glenn Guyatt and into the keeper’s bottom corner.
