In-form Parishioners put Clay Cross to the sword

The two sides met on a filthy day, when the wind and the rain removed any chance of high quality football, the home side doing well to get the game on given the recent weather.

Selston had two forced changes with both Sean Gregory and Ben Moore suspended. Carl Moore was employed in midfield and Dominic Airey was restored to a starting berth.

A tight game overall saw Selston’s grit and graft receiving a gloss with two goals in the last 15 minutes to extend their winning run in the league to eight games.

In the blustery conditions the first action of note came on six minutes when Airey swung in a corner deep to the back post and Wayne Cooke headed at goal from eight yards out. Gregg Fitzpatrick, for the visitors, was on duty at the back post, but he seemed to misjudge the ball and chose not to intervene, only for the ball to sneak in to the net for 1-0 Selston.

The Millers got themselves back into the game in fine style 27 minutes later. Selston conceded a soft free kick 22 yards out from goal. Fitzpatrick stepped up to attempt to make amends for his earlier mistake and he did so with aplomb, curling the ball brilliantly round the wall and into bottom right hand corner, leaving Selston goalkeeper Jake Ball with no chance.

The second-half suffered from the same difficulties as the first, with the weather doing its best to stop the players in their tracks. Although both sides huffed and puffed, there were little chances from either side until Selston won a corner on 75 minutes.

Airey again took it, this time to the near post and Shaun Farnsworth flicked the header into the roof of the net.

The visitors began pushing hard for an equaliser and moved to a three man defence. This opened up space for Selston on the counter, which they did on occasion after soaking up pressure from the visitors.

Airey missed a good opening in stoppage time but from the resultant miscued goal kick, the ball fell to Airey’s feet and he reacted to hit a deflected shot from 25 yards which looped over the keeper’s head for 3-1.

Selston maintain third position in the table and are just three points behind Eastwood in second, who relinquished the top spot to Belper United by losing 4-2 to the Derbyshire side at Coronation Park on Saturday.

The Parishioners still have games in hand on all those around them.