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Heanor Town FC 1-1 Mickleover Sports FC

Heanor Town FC 1-1 Mickleover Sports FC

Tony Squires7 Aug 2014 - 07:00
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https://www.heanortownfc.co.uk

Serous injury mars an impressive performance

In a pulsating end to pre-season contest Heanor Town FC hosted local Evo Stick League side Mickleover Sports to The Town Ground for the first home friendly in over a decade. Mickleover were beaten playoff finalists last season under former Heanor managers Glenn Kirkwood and Craig Hopkins and included Kyle Bryant, Nico Degirolamo and Dwayne Wiley in their ranks.

Heanor, suffering a list of absentees, gave Aiden Brady his first taste of football in nearly a year, the flying winger has had to make a remarkable comeback from a serious injury to sign for Heanor.

In an open first half it seemed each team took turns to attempt to score, Karl Ashton missed the target for Mickleover on 6 minutes before Gary Ricketts skied a shot over the stand for Heanor two minutes later.

Karl Demidh brought a neat save from Ian Deakin on 15 minutes, just a minute later it was Kieran Debrouwer who looked certain to score albeit a brave block from Kevin Grocott denying the NCEL record goalscorer.

Aiden Brady was next to be guilty of missing a chance that seemed easier to score, the ball dropping at his feet 4 yards from goal but his snap shot lacking any power thus creating an easy save for Sports’ Chris Martin in goal.

Mickleover however broke the deadlock on 24 minutes, Ashton managing to turn Aidy Hawes and find space to smash the ball under the exposed Ian Deakin. The game was marred by an injury to Kieran Debrouwer just before the break, the forward had made a clear run at goal before being scythed down 25 yards out, Debrouwer had to be carried from the pitch before play restarted.

Chris Shaw stepped up and fired the free kick in to the top corner, curling the ball around the outside of the defensive wall to level the scores. The equaliser came so late in the first half that half time was signalled just after the restart.

Five minutes into the second period Heanor’s Ady Hawes and Mickleover’s Karl Demidh were forced to withdraw from the action after tangling for the second time, enforced substitutions are rare in pre-season but it does prevent players from receiving bookings when they are not always needed. Hawes was able to rejoin the action again on the hour, replacing Brady who had given all he could.

Heanor did create problems for the experienced defence of Mickleover with substitutes Louis Ratcliffe and Jordan Mogford coming on to make a difference to the scoreline, however, the lack of a target man proved vital after Ricketts was replaced late on.

News filtered through to the club afterwards that Kieran Debrouwer has suffered a suspected broken foot, with three days until the NCEL season starts this is a massive blow, all at Heanor Town FC send their best wishes.

Get well soon Keano.

Heanor: Deakin, Raven, Shaw, Hall, Hawes, Strzyzewski, Debrouwer, Marriott, Ricketts, Jones, Brady.

Subs: Moran, McNicholas, Ratcliffe, Mugford.

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