Linby lost their winning streak this evening when they were beaten 1-0 by South Normanton who now sit second in the league, writes Kieran Booker.
The two sides competed in quite an even match but it was the Derbyshire side who had the better of the chances before winning the game through a first half Robert Fretwell penalty.
The contest started on an even footing with both sides generating half chances. The first moment of note was in the 21st minute when Charlie Holman saw his effort chalked off for the home side. The referee disallowed the goal, which had come as the result of a corner because he saw a foul take place in the build up.
Four minutes later, the Shiners were ahead. Young defender Edward Heginbotham was bested by usual South Normanton first teamer Tom Lewis and unfortunately for his side brought the player down in the box leading to a penalty. Robert Fretwell stepped up and placed his effort low to the keeper’s bottom left to open the scoring.
Fretwell nearly doubled his personal tally two minutes later when he was able to cut inside his man before rocketing a shot across goal. His effort clipped Joshua Downie’s left hand post before deflecting away from danger.
Linby felt they should have been awarded a penalty of their own just after the half hour mark. Captain Aidy Harris was clearly bundled over in the box when preparing to receive a cross but the referee waved his claims away despite being in a good position to see the foul.
Both Fretwell and Lewis had chances to score a second early in the second half. First Tom Lewis saw his shot curl over from the edge of Linby’s area before Robert Fretwell’s chance forced a great save from Joshua Downie, the ball deflected to Shaun Smith who could only fire the rebound wide.
Just after the hour mark Linby had another claim for a penalty. Again captain Aidy Harris was involved, this time the playmaker was getting back to his feet when he was chopped back down. Both dugouts argued with the referee over his indecision to penalise either side, South Normanton were demanding the Linby man received a card for diving whilst the away side were screaming for penalty but neither was given.
Matt Murphy had Linby’s best chances. He could only fire a shot straight at the keeper after a great team passing move after 74 minutes before seeing his shot deflected for a corner which came to nothing 4 minutes later.
With the game nearly over it was the home side who nearly doubled their lead. Substitute Josh Hooley was able to win the ball on the edge of the Linby box before slipping over, recovering to his feet and was given time to fire a shot at goal. He saw his effort hit the Linby post and again bounce away from danger.
Linby will be hoping to get back to winning ways when they host Matlock Town Reserves next Saturday.
