10 man Shirebrook hit with injury-time suckerpunch
The 10 men of Shirebrook were unable to hang on to a point as Melton Town scored deep into injury time
Shirebrook were looking to get back to winning ways after a heavy defeat last Saturday and being dumped out of the league cup in mid-week a Melton Town were the visitors to the WH Davis Stadium and as the game got underway Shirebrook made a bright start with Ben Southwell almost giving Shirebrook an early lead.
Shirebrook’s bright start was rewarded in the 18th minute when John Lowe picked up the ball in midfield and smashed a shot towards goal from 30 yards out and the ball flew into the top corner to give Shirebrook the lead.
After being second best in the opening 20 minutes Melton now began applying pressure on the Shirebrook back line with Keenan King and Kieran Hayes both going close for Melton.
In the 32nd minute Melton did level the score when a cross from the right found Keenan King at the back post and he smashed past Rio Alberry to bring the score level and that’s how the score line would stay until the half time interval.
As the second half got underway Melton started the half the better of the sides with Rio Alberry being called into action twice in the opening 10 minutes of the half.
Melton were handed a golden opportunity to take the lead in the 68th minute when they were awarded a penalty Keenan King stepped up to take the spot kick but Rio Alberry got down to his right to keep out the spot kick and managed to keep out the rebound.
And it looked like Shirebrook had took full advantage of that lifeline when minutes later Trent Jules had the ball in the net however the offside flag was up Shirebrook sub Fabio Vieira also had a chance to restore the lead for Shirebrook but he saw his effort saved by the Melton keeper.
But as the game headed into the final 10 minutes Melton were beginning to get back on top and an injury to Shirebrook left back Liam Riley that saw him leave the pitch on a stretcher caused a long stoppage in play meaning there was plenty of injury time and just as the clock hit 90 Shirebrook were reduced to 10 men when Kieran Blades received a straight red after he brought down a Melton player when he was in on goal.
The 10 men of Shirebrook couldn’t hang on to a point as Melton took full advantage of the stoppage time to take the lead in the 7th minute of added time as Kieran Hayes found space in the box and smashed past Alberry into the goal and give Melton all 3 points.
Shirebrook manager Rudy Funk said: “It’s a tough one to take today I thought we did more than enough to get a point but we showed our inexperience in the latter stages of the game and it cost us.
“The goal that we scored was a fantastic bit of play in the build up play and it was a brilliant hit from John to give us the lead I also want to wish Liam a speedy recovery he is one of the leaders in our group and will be a big miss to our group on and off the pitch but as disappointing as today was we’ll get back on the training pitch and get ready for next weekend.”