Match Report: Ilkeston Town 0-5 Redcar Athletic

Another away trip, this time to Derbyshire, and it was a performance akin to last season's Steelmen showings

An Ilkeston side with a new manager were our next opponents, with their boss spending the first half just a row away from me in the stands so he could watch his side from a better spot.

What he saw in the first half would’ve been promising, as the hosts would start with chances, with a cross in the opening minute being floated over the heads of everyone.

We would find our feet, though, and test another Ilkeston debutant, with their goalkeeper having to make some solid stops early on.

It would be mostly us as the minutes progressed, with an Oscar Fletcher shot in the 12th minute hitting the crossbar.

A lofted ball over the top would look to land at the feet of Bosh, but their goalkeeper would race out of his goal to get there first, and a stretch of possession for the hosts would end with a Redcar counter, with Ilkeston failing to have a shot in that time.

We would hit the half-hour mark with some promising play as a cross from Curtis Round would loop towards goal and go narrowly past the post, and a few minutes later a threaded pass in the direction of Brad Fewster would be intercepted.

However, the opening goal would come within a few minutes of that intercepted pass, as Fewster would receive the ball on the left wing and proceed to whip a ball into the box that would be swept in by Adam Boyes, giving us our first of the game, and him his eleventh of the season.

Ilkeston would try and level the game up, with the hosts denied a strong shout for a penalty, with their players, fans and coaches all adamant that their attacker was fouled in the area.

Instead, nothing would be given, and despite their best efforts, we would remain solid at the back, stop them when they had chances, and ultimately enter the break ahead.

Whatever happened during the break was great for us, but torrid for Ilkeston, with chances for us spilling from the restart.

A Fewster cross from the whistle would float behind; a dummy from Bosh would be followed by an onrushing Lewis Hawkins; his shot cleared, and we would then get a second as a ball would be headed by Curtis round, bounce to the feet of oscar, and he would cut in and wrap a shot into the far corner of the net from outside the box.

A doubled tally within 5 minutes of the second half starting, it was exactly what we wanted, and we would continue having chances as he hit and passed the hour mark.

Chances would come and go, and then we would get a third bizarrely, as a strike from Fewster on the edge of the box would clip a defender’s back and loop over the keeper and into the back of the net.

Our fourth goal would then follow almost immediately, as a threaded pass from Fewster would meet Bosh, who would poke it past an onrushing goalkeeper to put us 4-0 up.

We would start making changes from the 70th minute, with the first seeing Owen Burns brought on for Connor Smith, and our second in the 73rd seeing Andrei Ardelean on for Brad Fewster.

Four goals up, but we would still be tested at the other end, with Josh Mazfari producing a brilliant stop as a flashed effort towards the bottom corner would force our keeper to get low and tip it behind

Jayden Jefferson would come on for Curtis Round in the 78th minute, and another bit of defensive brilliance would come too, as another solid stop from Mazfari would be followed by a clearance off the line to retain our clean sheet.

A few more stops from Mazfari would follow, and a spurned chance for the hosts as they missed an open goal would sum up their afternoon, and things would only get worse for Ilkeston in added time.

Oscar would be fouled in the box, the referee wouldn’t hesitate in pointing to the spot, and it would be Oscar to take the set piece as he placed a solid strike into the bottom corner that squeezed past the keeper’s hand.

The whistle would come almost straight after, and it would wrap up a solid afternoon in Derbyshire.

Up next is a home match against Avro, with the high-scoring side being one of the other to have come up from Step 4 last season.

See you there

Line-ups:

Redcar Athletic: Mazfari, Guru, Round [Jefferson, 78′], Bartliff, Rowe, Lay (C), Smith [Burns, 68′], Hawkins, Boyes, Fletcher, Fewster [Ardelean, 72′]

Unused subs: McDonald, Burgess

Ilkeston Town: Alexander, Davis, Grewal-Pollard, Hawkridge, Omoregbee, Johnson (C), Reason [Jennings, 63′], Yaya [Brandy, 46′], Dwyer [Seaton, 69′], Daniel [Robinson, 58′], Hunter [Hunter, 72′]

Unused subs: