Chasetown FC stay rooted in 11th place after Mickleover Sports cemented their place within the play-off places with a controversial victory.
In a lacklustre first half, the hosts took the lead with a questionable penalty kick. While few would question that the ball struck Tesfa Robinson’s hands, the proximity to Simeon Oshoboke’s shot and the fact that the defender’s hands were protecting his face at the point of impact would suggest that Chasetown were harshly done by.
If the decision was open to interpretation, there were no question marks over the execution of the spot kick with Zeph Thomas firing into the top right hand corner of Danny Watson’s net.
The goal aside, there was very little to report in the first half – with an atmosphere among the crowd that was definitely “end of season”.
Just three minutes into the second period, Chasetown were aggrieved not to have been awarded a spot kick themselves. Danny Smith got goal side of defender Kyle Bryant who appeared to put his arms round the striker and pull him to the floor as he was about to shoot.
Skipper for the day Nick Wellecomme then saw an effort go inches over the bar with Chris Martin well beaten.
Just after the hour mark and Mickleover were awarded their second penalty of the afternoon following a foul. Thomas this time went low to the bottom corner to double the Derbyshire side’s lead. Incredibly, in six appearances this season, Chase keeper Danny Watson has only conceded four times – all of them penalty kicks.
A heavy wintry shower produced a double rainbow and within seconds Chasetown had found their pot of gold at the end of it as they reduced the deficit when Simon Brown was put clear and fired beyond Martin from close range.
It was Brown who was involved in the game’s next talking point with ten minutes remaining. After skipping past one Mickleover defender who tried to bring him down but missed, full back Bryant lunged straight through the Chasetown man. Luckily for Brown, he was able to get straight back to his feet but the referee produced only a yellow card for Bryant.
Eight minutes from time, Watson was at full stretch to deny Mickleover a third goal and to preserve his record of not being beaten in open play in a Scholars shirt.
But, despite a better second half, Chasetown were unable to create another good chance to force the equaliser.
Mickleover Sports: Martin, Bryant, Webster (Ball, 72 mins), Walshe, Wiley, Grocott, Sibenge (Palmer, 58 mins), Holmes, Thomas, Oshoboke (Demidh, 65 mins), Kinsella. Sub not used: O’Brien.
Chasetown: Watson, Farmer, Evans (Gould, 84 mins), Halsall, Robinson, Johnson, Butler, Bennett (Stephens, 66 mins), Wellecomme, D Smith (Lees, 70 mins), Brown. Subs not used: MacDonald, Langston.
Click below to see more of Dave Birt’s pictures from the game:
