Bilborough Town 5 - 2 Radford

Bilborough Town 5 - 2 Radford Cross (18) Player (24) Croft (30, 37) Doyle (88) Law (44) Scott-Parkin (63) Town comfortably overcame a mixed Radford side at the Harvey Hadden Stadium on Wednesday evening, in a game that saw the home side play some of their best football of their pre-season campaign. On a perfect surface at the Bowl, both teams played some very attractive football from the off, but it was the home side that took an early lead. After the returning Nicholson and Croft played a smart move down the right flank, Croft then squared it to Cross with a smart back-heel, and Cross made no mistake of slotting it past the away side's keeper to make it 1-0. Despite being Bilborough being comfortable, Radford grabbed an equaliser shortly after when a man was left unmarked on the edge of the box and was allowed to bring the ball down and poke it home past Ivanov. This seemed to re-spark Town back into life and Croft missed a glorious chance to put them back ahead when Cross squared a ball five yards from goal, but Croft could only watch one as the ball bounced off him and into the keeper's hands. He managed to redeem himself two minutes later though when a Law through ball fell to him on the edge of the box and he made no mistake in smashing it into the bottom corner to restore Town's lead. The home side were really into their stride at this point with Croft, Nicholson and Hayes all having efforts on goal. Croft grabbed his 2nd after another Law through ball found him in a similar position to his first goal and the same outcome followed to give Town a two-goal lead. The partnership of Croft and Law came to fruition when Croft returned the favour to Law and played him through to leave him one-on-one. Never in doubt, Law slotted it underneath the 'keeper and put the game to bed at the death of the first half. HT 4-1 A couple of changes made, including the introduction of 16 year-olds, Patterson and Scott-Parkin, both teams were making adjustments early in the 2nd half. With Kane pushed further up on the pitch alongside Scott-Parkin, Town had a dominant presence in the air up top and it almost paid dividends when Stewart was put through by Kane but could only see his effort on goal well saved by the 'keeper. Chances were less frequent in this half but it was Cross who was having the most success down the right flank with impressive link-up play with Nicholson and McKeag. The fifth and final goal for Town came on the hour mark when Law whipped the ball into the box and Scott-Parkin was on hand to superbly smash in on the half-volley to grab his 3rd goal of the pre-season campaign. As the Town defence was switched with Richardson moving to right back to replace the injured Nicholson, Radford put on the pressure in the final quarter of the game and Ivanov had to be on hand to stop a strike from the edge of the box. The away side did get their reward for their pressure shortly before the final whistle when a shot that was palmed away by Ivanov was smashed home on the rebound. A deserved goal from the impressive away side in a much more even 2nd half. FT 5-2