Sunday 5th October 2014
Nottinghamshire County FA U18 V Derbyshire County FA U18
Forest Town Arena, Forest Town

Derbyshire, playing their opening game of the season against neighbours Nottinghamshire, were looking to take all 3 points after missing out in their last meeting 4-3.

The first 45 minutes was a tight affair with both defences looking solid and goal scoring opportunities few and far between. Both teams were restricted to long range efforts which kept the keepers on their toes.

The only goal of the half came on the 28th minute when a cross from Nottingham’s right wing was headed home by Oliver Roome.

HT 1 - 0

The second 45 minutes started quietly with both teams treading cautiously, however in the 68th minute Nottingham doubled their lead when Derbyshire keeper, Mark Rathbone, advanced to collect Nottingham’s long through ball only to be beaten by a nasty bounce, giving Nottingham’s number 12, Conner Gilbey, an empty goal to strike home, 2 v 0.

Derbyshire fought as hard as they could and within 6 minutes pulled a goal back after a neat run down the left by Michael Jukka who then, from an acute angle, drove home into the bottom corner of Nottinghamshire’s net.

With the final 15 minutes being evenly contested, the points and local pride belonged to Nottinghamshire's U18.

FT 2 - 1

Although this was not the result Derbyshire desired it was a fantastic performance by the newly formed U18 side. They showed great determination to grab their goal. Richard Allen, Team Manager commented "I'm really pleased with the 2nd half performance in which we dominated possession for large periods and gained more entries into the final third. The lads were genuinely gutted with the result after a positive response in the 2nd half. Hopefully with each training session and game, we will build and grow our identity and style of play. One thing I do know is that this group has great belief and are extremely determined to get a result in their next match".

Next fixture
Derbyshire County FA U18 vs Manchester FA U18
At Matlock on Saturday 1st November in the FA County Youth Cup