Clipstone fight back to seal the points against Parkgate

Action from Clipstone v Parkgate on Saturday. All photos by Andy Sumner.

Clipstone took all three points from this fixture thanks to goals from James Ashmore, Chris Salt and new captain Ellis Wall. However, they were also indebted to goalkeeper and man of the match Steve Hernandez who produced three fantastic saves to keep his side in the game whilst the score was 0-0.

Hernandez produced a fine double save on five minutes to deny Parkgate’s Nathan Jessop from close range.

Hernandez was then called into action again when he did well to deny Jonathan Fusco after a defensive error, but another error on 36 minutes gifted Parkgate an opening goal when hesitation in the defence allowed Fusco to nip in and put the ball in the unguarded net.

The home side responded immediately and won a free kick on the edge of the box which Ashmore curled round the wall and past the despairing dive of Josh Lill.

The goal was an injection of confidence for the home side and Liam Royles and Sam Forster combined down the right only for the latter to shoot straight at Lill. Forster then played in George Milner who rounded the ‘keeper but saw his shot cleared off the line.

After a quiet opening to the second period, Clipstone manager Billy Fox made a double substitution bringing on Steve McDonnell and Danny Swales and the Cobras immediately created an opportunity when Salt got on the end of an Ashmore free-kick only to see his header cleared.

Clipstone then won a corner and the ball was cleared as far as Swales on the half way line who played a great ball back into the box and Salt beat Lill to the aerial ball and headed home.

Salt had yet another chance on 74 minutes when he was first to the loose ball in the area but he pulled his shot wide.

The home side made certain of all three points on 77 minutes when Milner crossed from the right towards McDonnell who dummied his marker, allowing the ball to fall for Wall to score.

There was till time for McDonnell to beat his marker down the right hand side and but none of his colleagues could get on the end of his low cross across the six yard box.