Conscious of the fact that they had failed to win any of their last four League games, Heanor Town brought in a number of new signings, including Jordan Simpson from Belper Town and the return of Gerry Moran from Rocester in a much-changed line-up.

Any thoughts that the team would need time to gel were dispersed quickly. The first goalmouth action came on nine minutes when Jamie Clarke’s shot from distance did not trouble Conor O’Keefe in the visitors goal. And two minutes later the Lions were ahead when JORDAN SIMPSON marked his debut with a close range finish after a free kick had been back headed into the box.

That lead was doubled on the half hour mark when Greg Marriott’s thunderous shot from the right beat O’Keefe but came back off the inside of an upright. Whereupon JOE NAYLOR got ahead of his marker to slip the ball home.

Joe McCormack in the Heanor goal had to deal with some retaliatory shots as the Students came back into the game. Flankman Jerimiah Dasalou proving to be a thorn in the Lions side, first of all setting up Josh Hill for a rattling drive splendidly pushed over the bar by Joe McCormack. Dasalou himself then shot over the bar following a corner before supplying the cross which saw Cameron Gordon head over the bar. McCormack was then called into action to smartly save a Gordon header from a cross by Hill. But Heanor ended the half with a grand run from Kieran Debrouwer which saw his cross go begging as the visitors defence cleared the ball for a fruitless corner. It deserved better.

Heanor had much the better of most of the second half and it seemed the Students had a damage limitation job on their hands. The outstanding Marriott provided a run and cross which was just too high for the returning Gerry Moran at the back post, and a Jamie Clarke shot for the top corner was deflected behind. Heanor got the ball down and played some delightful football and this saw a Clarke header flash narrowly wide from another Marriott cross. JAMIE CLARKE was not going to miss out though and got the goal he deserved through persistence in the 72nd minute when O’Keefe let a Cory Bowler free kick slip through his hands allowing Clarke to nod the ball into an empty net. It was to be his last touch as Nathan Benger took over to sting O’Keefe’s hands with a low shot only to see both referee and assistant dither and wrongly a goal kick given. The Heanor management would have been delighted to have kept a clean sheet and that should have been achieved when Gordon’s shot on the turn hit an upright and the ball stayed out. However, with six minutes remaining the illusive and clever Dasalou carved out a cross with some lovely football down the left for JOSH HILL to convert in front of goal. Even so, Heanor should have made the score reflect their superiority even further in first half stoppage time when Students custodian O’Keefe brought down Nathan Benger on a clear run to goal and got a red card for his pains. The incident happened outside the penalty area and Bowler’s free kick proved to be easy for substitute goalkeeper Matt Stocks. And even in the dying embers of a most entertaining game, Benger’s shot left Stocks well beaten but flashed narrowly wide of an upright.

HEANOR TOWN: McCormack, Marriott, Bowler, Moran, Simpson, Lynch, Hall (Booth 82), Naylor, Clarke (Benger 72), Debrouwer (Fletcher 72), Cooper. Substitutes not used – Bettney, Whittingham

OFFICIAL ATTENDANCE: 175

REFEREE: Kevin Carroll

STAR LION: Greg Marriott