Maltby Main Football Club
Main were looking to build on their 4-1 home win against Brodsworth when they entertained league leaders Mickleover Sports but, after a disastrous first half, were never able to recover and suffered their heaviest home defeat of the season so far.
Main were the first to show when Richard Tracey fired over the bar in the second minute following Rob Branagan’s square ball.
The visitors squandered a great chance when Liam Walshe fired over the bar from the six-yard line and Lawrence Kennerson was denied at the back post in the tenth minute, Main ‘keeper Jamie Bailey catching the striker’s header following Adam Shepherd’s corner.
The visitors took the lead in the nineteenth minute when Karl Ashton raced onto Simon Hickey’s poor back pass and side footed past Jamie Bailey.
Bailey then pulled off a great save to deny Dan Martin, whose free kick looked to be going in the far corner but Ashton doubled Sports’ lead on the half hour mark when he fired in from the edge of the area, striking the ball home through a crowd of players.
Sports went three-nil up in the thirty sixth minute when Ashton sealed his hat trick from the penalty spot when James Ellis was adjudged to have handled the ball inside the area.
Three minutes later Ashton scored his fourth of the game when he headed in unmarked from close range, following Martin’s free kick from the wing.
Tracey flashed a shot wide of the post in fiftieth minute with Main looking to have raised their game for the second half.
Kennerson saved well from Paul Staniforth’s header following Chris Dickman’s free kick.
Staniforth then forced Kennerson into a save from twenty yards out and John Beggs curled a free kick just over the bar in the seventy eighth minute.
Bailey saved well in the eighty second minute to deny Tony Law from the edge of the area but, despite Main’s attempts at a comeback, Martin rounded off the rout in the eighty seventh minute when he scored from the penalty spot following Beggs’s foul on Walshe.
Sports were still trying to build on their lead in he dieing minutes with Jack Coulson’s shot being blocked behind  and Ashton heading wide from the resulting corner.

Main: Jamie Bailey, James Ellis, Paul Staniforth, Danny Reilly, Gary Hibbert, Adam Shepherd, Matt Wragg, Simon Hickey, Richard Tracey (Chris Dickman 57), Rob Branagan (John Beggs 53), Scott Somerville (Nick Hancock 67).
Saturday 24 January 2009
Northern Counties East League Premier Division
Maltby Main (0) 0 Mickleover Sports (4) 5
Reporter:
Philip Hulley