Eight teams were in action in #MatchweekNine and we saw Kidlington move to the top spot in the South Division. We review all of the action from another exciting week in the ESPFA.
NORTH DIVISION
The ‘Key Matchup’ of the week saw Witton Albion travel to Belper Town. Both sides went into this fixture seeking their first win of the season but were made to wait another week after the points were split in a 1-1 draw. Belper Town started the game the brightest and took the lead after just two minutes. Tom Pegg opened the scoring after a brilliant cross field pass from Tyrell Evans had him bearing down on goal. Witton Albion responded well after the goal and were seeing a lot of the ball. They made their possession count and levelled things up before the breakthrough Harry Caulkin. Belper Town’s goalkeeper, Bobby Taylor tipped a shot onto the post to deny Mike Eleftheriadis but Caulkin was the first to react and smashed home the equaliser from a tight angle. In the second half Witton continued to see lots of the ball and created a lot of chances but Taylor in the Belper Town goal had an excellent game and made a number if high flying saves to deny the away side and earned his side a point. After the game, Taylor thought his side didn’t get into the game after their early goal. He said: “We got off to an absolute flying start, after the first goal we never really made any traction but we’re happy with a point”. On the flip side, Quinn Glithero of Witton Albion believed his side were on top for most of the game but just couldn’t convert their chances. He said: “It was a good game. I feel like we dominated for the majority of the game we just didn’t really put our chances away; we obviously had the chances, but their keeper had a phenomenal performance and we just got really unlucky”.
In the other game from the North Division, Skelmersdale United were back on the turf for the first time since the 4th November and marked their return with a win. They faced Mickleover away and won 0-2 thanks to goals from Will Green and Nathan Carnell. The #ESPFALancashire side currently sit in third place and have drawn level on points with Brighouse Town above them in second.
SOUTH DIVISION
In the South Division, Kidlington moved to the top of the table after a beating Rushall Olympic (Black) away from home. The Greens 0-2 win snapped Rushall Olympic (Black)’s three match win streak and also takes them above Rushall Olympic (Amber) in the table. Also in the South Division, Frome Town and Carlton Town played out a six-goal thriller with the game ending in a 3-3 draw. Frome got off to a flying start in the first half and found themselves 3-0 and looked to have the game under control but a brilliant fight back from Carlton Town saw them level things up. Kai Smith scored a hattrick for Carlton Town to earn his side a point.
Team of the week
Well done to all the students who were nominated by their coaches for this week’s edition of #TeamOfTheWeek and also a special mention to #ESPFADerbyshire student Bobby Taylor who was chosen as the #PlayerOfTheWeek for #MatchweekNine after a brilliant performance between the sticks for Belper Town.
The Highlights Show
You can catch all of #MatchweekNine’s goals and match highlights in this week’s edition of The Highlights Show.
Comments