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Ashby Ivanhoe FC

Archers of Ashby

The day had started with continuous rain throughout the morning, which was going to make the pitch very heavy. Dave Kenning once again reverted to goalkeeper in the absence of Mark Curtis, who was unavailable due to a family illness. Tony Rush replaced Trevor Hebberd in midfield for his second start of the season and John Lennon replaced Mark Fawbes in midfield, also for his second start of the season. Nick Glynn partnered Lee Edwards up front with Phil Killen moving in to the right side of midfield.

Broad Oak came in to this fixture with only one point from five games, but from the start of the game the showed that they were a team that still needed to be treated with respect. They started the game confidently, which was in sharp contrast to Ivanhoe. Ivanhoe looked like a team who were very low in confidence, which showed in the early stages of the game. Broad Oak scored first with a goal from Everton Richards. The ball was played down the Ivanhoe left wing and was crossed low in to the Ivanhoe goalmouth finding Richards unmarked to coolly slot the ball past a stranded Dave Kenning. Richards found himself in a similar position later in the half, but was denied by some superb goal keeping by Dave Kenning.

Ivanhoe started to settle down and played some neat football, especially along their right wing. Martin Bassett combined well with Phil Killen and Nick Glynn who were starting to ask questions of the Broad Oak defence. Ivanhoe's breakthrough came with about ten minutes of the half remaining. The ball fell to Ivanhoe's current leading scorer Lee Edwards, who controlled the ball well to fashion an opening to enable him to unleash a superb drive ending up in the top left corner of the Broad Oak goal. The goal settled Ivanhoe's nerves, who then started to play much more confidently. The score at half time was 1-1.

The second half started once again with Broad Oak pressing forward. They changed formation to three up front, and they constantly tried to play the long ball forward and over the Ivanhoe defence. Ivanhoe's defence stood firm, and in fairness were rarely troubled by Broad Oak. Ivanhoe started to put some good moves together, and Lee Edwards started to lead by example and played some excellent football. Ivanhoe's second gaol was scored by Nick Glynn, who fired the ball in to the top of the Broad Oak goal from close range. Nick was again on hand to get the third goal. The ball fell to him from about 15 yards out, and after positioning himself well under pressure fired a well hit shot high in to the Broad Oak net.

Ivanhoe were denied several times by some excellent goal keeping from the Broad Oak keeper, and Broad Oak continued to push more players forward looking for a reply. Ivanhoe's defence stood firm and the game ended 3-1 to Ivanhoe.

Special mention must be made to Lee Edwards, Nick Glynn, Tony Rush and Martin Bassett who put in very good performances. Once again, the overall team performance was superb, and character was shown by all to recover from the early setback of a conceded goal.