Relentless Selston sweep aside Blidworth

On a cool and blustery evening, Manager Lee Stevenson made two changes to his starting XI, with Bowering and Layton coming in for Moore and Hardman, while Elliott Bland returned to the bench.

Selston started on the front foot, stretching the visitors early with Hines and Reynolds instrumental in driving attacks and forcing a series of corners. The breakthrough came on 7 minutes when a dangerous delivery from Jack Cockram caused problems in the box, with Tom Batterham reacting quickest to take a touch and finish via the post.

The hosts doubled their lead on 17 minutes following excellent build-up play from Bowering and Reynolds, with Batterham’s effort taking a significant deflection to wrong-foot the goalkeeper and make it 2–0.

Selston were in complete control and continued to press forward, with Cockram at the heart of everything. On 40 minutes, his driven effort was well saved, but Batterham was once again in the right place to fire home through a crowded box and complete his hat-trick.

Half-Time: Selston FC 3 – 0 Blidworth Welfare FC

Selston began the second half as they ended the first, controlling possession and using the slope to their advantage to pin the visitors back. With a busy run of fixtures ahead, Stevenson took the opportunity to rotate his squad. Hardman and Bland were introduced on 57 minutes for Hines and Reynolds, before Moore replaced hat-trick hero Batterham on 68.

In a notable moment, Stevenson brought himself on in the 78th minute for Cockram, making his first appearance of the season as Selston looked to see the game out professionally.

The changes did little to disrupt Selston’s rhythm, and on 86 minutes the hosts added a fourth. A superb defence-splitting pass from Stevenson released Alex Hardman, who continued his fine scoring form by racing through and finishing confidently to make it 4–0.

At the other end, Branon Meehan preserved his excellent clean sheet record, comfortably dealing with one of Blidworth’s few efforts — a strike from distance — to record Selston’s sixth clean sheet in seven matches.

Selston saw out the closing stages with ease, securing a dominant victory that keeps them firmly in the hunt for the title.

Manager Lee Stevenson said: “I thought we were excellent tonight. We started quickly, took control of the game early and never really let them get a foothold.

It was important to manage the squad with the number of games we’ve got coming up, and I was really pleased with how the changes came in and maintained the level.

Tom was outstanding with his finishing, and Alex coming on and continuing his form is a real positive for us.

Defensively we’re in a really strong place at the moment — six clean sheets in seven speaks for itself.

We’re in a good position, but we know there’s still a lot of work to do.”