Competition: NCEL Premier Division
Scorers:
Lions - Kieran Debrouwer (88)
Welfare - Joe Flint (63), Nick Hague (64)
We were supposed to be visiting Awsworth Villa, but the downpour around 1:30pm meant a quick rethink - there is no cover at the Shio. We opted for the Heanor v Staveley game hoping to see Keiran Debrouwer create his own personal landmark by converting his 50th goal of the season.
It's always good to see Scott Ward, Tony Squires, Ian Duffield and Chris "Tall-Lad" Dent - great banter as usual!
Shake
Coin toss
Kick-off
Staveley were in a bright orange strip, as were Athersley Rec on Tuesday. As Athersley also did on Tuesday, Staveley caused havoc in the shaky looking home defence from the start.
Mark Frost in the Heanor goal pulled of a couple of neat saves early doors to keep his team in the game, and his opposite number, Ben Townsend, had to be alert on 12, finger-tipping the ball away from goal when Nathan Benger fired the ball in from a tight angle.
Matt Blake nodded on a Brett Peel header after 15 minutes, but the Heanor defender's header flew just over the bar. A Gary Webster free-kick created a scare for the visitors in the 22nd minute. As the ball curled into the box, no-one picked up Benger on the far stick, but luckily for the Welfare the striker failed to connect with the header.
Benger - so close!
JARROD HOLMES was dismissed on 44 for taking a kick at a Staveley player. I missed the infraction, but Kev saw it, and said straight away that he thought Holmes was going to be sent. H-T 0-0
Off you go, Jared
Heanor had the first chance of the second half soon after the restart, Lee Stevenson's terrific volley from 25 yards smashing into the side netting, when it looked for a while as though it was going in.
Frost dived well to save at the feet of Staveley striker Joe Flint on 52, and on 62 we all cringed when Heanor right back Josh Raven got the ball smacked straight into his taters! Ouch indeed!
Painful, Josh?
As he was trying to recover, his fellow defenders were struggling to defend a corner. When James Colliver fired the ball back into the danger area after it was half cleared, Ryan Dickinson headed it on. JOE FLINT instinctively stuck out a foot and was rewarded when he connected well enough to divert the ball past Frost.
Joe Flint scores the first for Stavely
60 seconds later the lead was doubled. This time the ball was played over the Town midfield, and NICK HAGUE reacted quicker than the home defence, running into the area before calmly lifting the ball over the head of Frost from 15 yards.
Staveley players celebrate
KEIRAN DEBROUWER grabbed his 50th goal of the season with just 7 minutes left to play, running across the goal and drilling the ball across Townsend. Another fightback on the cards? Not really, this was too little, too late for the Lions and Staveley recorded only their fourth away league win of the season. F-T 1-2
Heanor looked a little jaded from the start. This was their fourth game in 8 days, and sadly, this is to be expected when the games lost to inclement conditions have to be crammed into the final six or seven weeks of the season.
Admission: £3/£5
Programme: £1
Attendance: 171
Referee Andy Newbold was quite anonymous, so must have had a good game. The red card was justified - kicking out at another player is a no-no, and inevitably a go-go......
