Hucknall's valiant effort ends in no reward

 HEANOR TOWN 3 HUCKNALL TOWN 2

UCL PREMIER NORTH 

MON 28TH AUGUST 2023 3 PM KO

MATCH REPORT

TEAMS: Heanor Town

! Emery 2 Horne 3 Nice 4 Craddock 5 Marriott-Lane 6 Thornberry 7 Gordon 8 Moore 9 Markelic 10 Debrouwer 11 Taylor

Subs: 12 Scott 14 Sandhu 15 Morris 16 Britton 17 Graham

Hucknall Town

1 Alfie Smith-Eccles 2 Jamie Crawford 3 Raife Poplar 4 Sam Sims 5 Aaron Short (Capt) 6 Billy Brooks 7 Trevell Lindo 8 Kai Wilson 9  Niall Towle 10 Joe Ashurst 11 Louis Czerwak

Subs: Kieren Lane, Callum Orange, Michael Banister

officials: Max atherton, Al Parker, Paul Dixon

Att: 305

The hosts remained unbeaten in the league whilst the visitors ended up still looking for an elusive first league win but Hucknall will take a lot of positives from this game going into a clash of the bottom 2 this weekend.

Hucknall once again gave themselves a mountain to climb going two goals down after 28 minutes but found the resilience to get back on level terms only to see their first half efforts thwarted by a dubious penalty decision which gave Heanor a 3 2 half time lead and despite chances for both teams second half that's how it remained.

Heanor saw a cross on 7 minutes cleared over the bar from close range by Jamie Crawford.

Hucknall responded and Ashurst's shot from Lindo's pass forced a good save from the home keeper. The linesman's flag went up when Lindo was through on goal. 

Heanor took the lead on 18 minutes. Markelic took advantage of a mistake in the Hucknall defence and played the ball back to Taylor who slotted the ball home.

Smith-Eccles then made a save from Taylor as Heanor looked to double their lead. 

On 27 minutes they did just that, the dangerous Taylor was played through by Moore's pass and he took a touch before shooting past the visiting keeper.

However any thoughts that the home side would romp to victory were put to bed when Crawford played in Czerwak who blasted the ball high into the net to immediately halve the deficit.

Even better was to come for the Yellows when on 32 minutes Joey Ashurst produced another early doors goal of the season contender when curling the ball superbly into the top corner from the edge of the box to draw the teams level.

The home side responded well and Smith-Eccles had to make a saves from a Markelic free kick on 35 mins and a powerful Debrouwer shot just after.

Heanor were rewarded for their efforts when Billy Brooks was adjudged to have handled Debrouwer's shot in the box. It's the sort of decision the top teams get whilst those at the bottom don't. Debrouwer made no mistake from the spot to restore the home sides lead.

There was still time before half time for Taylor to be denied his hat trick after another good save by Smith-Eccles. Markelic then had the ball in the Yellow's net but the offside flag was raised and the teams went in for half time after a craking half of football.

Markelic had the first chance of the second half but saw his shot bounce off the crossbar when through on goal.

Raife Poplar saw a cross nearly curl in for the visitors as they looked to get back into the game. 

Captain Aaron Short then produced a great tackle to keep the home side at bay. 

Markelic then went close on the hour mark but his shot went wide. Ashurst then did well to block a shot and Smith-Eccles had to be sharp picking up the ball from Debrouwer's feet.

Markelic seemed determined to score and another free kick flashed past the post. 

Callum Orange had replaced Trevell Lindo before this for the visitors.

Whether Heanor ran out of steam at this point is debatable but the last ten minutes belonged to the visitors as they pressed for an equaliser. 

Hucknall had their own claims for a handball in the box turned away by the official despite claims from players and away fans.

Towle's cross then evaded Wilson at the far post. Kieron Lane replaced Wilson afterwards.

Callum Orange then saw a shot saved by the home keeper and then ran onto Lane's pass only to be brought down by Nice (who wasn't being Nice)who was rewarded with a yellow card.

Towle took the free kick but hit the Heanor wall and then with the last throw of the dice Orange's shot was put behind for a corner.

The whistle blew and another frustrating defeat was the result for the Yellows who once again failed to get anything against bogey side Heanor.