Chasetown FC Reserves fought back from a goal down to secure the victory at Coalville Town Reserves.
It was not a case of the Chasetown being complacent but they found themselves under instant pressure as Coalville, fielding an experienced line up, came out all guns blazing, demonstrating a determination to knock the league leaders off their perch.
They were soon into the swing of things and threatened to open the scoring when Jordan Stewart put Tom Langton in the clear but captain Mark Wiggins was alert to pounce and stop.
Wiggins then acrobatically punched a Dan Chatfield blast over the bar on 11 minutes. The Scholars were not as fortunate from the resulting corner. Unmarked Brent Upton jumped highest at the front post to head the Ravens into the lead.
The goal sparked Chasetown into life and they started to push forward to get a hold on the game.
Drew Aiton came sprinting forward to pick up Jonathan Gould’s cute pass on the by-line. He breezed past two Coalville defenders, cut into the box, only for defender Matt Dadswell to divert his goal bound effort for a corner. The hosts cleared the corner and Jordan Archer, promoted from the youth team, blasted the loose ball narrowly wide from the edge of the area.
Things were eventually all square on 29 minutes when a Drew Aiton cross was side footed into his own net by Dadswell.
During the rest of the first half both sides created chances to take the lead as the game flowed from end to end.
Craig Deakin saw his shot cleared off the line and then Chad Degville-Cross went close to putting Chasetown in front.
For Coalville, Langton shot wide and as half time approached Wiggins did well to save from Stewart, while Langton stabbed the ball wide when he should have scored.
Chasetown’s superiority shone through from the outset of the second period. Coalville’s spirit had faded and they paid the price when they allowed Courtney Sowe to feed Deakin in midfield. Deakin’s pass put Archer in the clear and his perfectly placed shot squeezed in-between keeper Paul Hollis and the post.
Degville-Cross came close again following clever play from Matthew Wood and Gould also fired over.
A two goal cushion was required to make it safe for the visitors as Coalville picked themselves up.
First Alex Cooper hit a shot that squirted towards goal but Wiggins snatched it out of the air. Stewart had an even better chance but Jamie Aiton rescued Chasetown with a well timed sliding tackle.
With five minutes of play remaining Wiggins concluded a fantastic performance when he dived stunningly low to save from Andy Dunn and with that Coalville’s siege was spent.
However, the visitors continued in full throttle. With three minutes of play remaining Stuart Birt found Deakin. He and Brown interchanged with speed and intelligence before Brown coolly slotted beneath the body of Hollis, wrapping up a hard earned three points for the Scholars.
Chasetown: Wiggins (capt), Degville-Cross, Gould, J Aiton, Hulin, Sowe, Deakin (Darby), Wood, D Aiton, Archer (S Birt), Brown. Subs not used: Penny, Hill.
