AFC Kimberley 3 - 5 Bilborough Town

AFC Kimberley 3 - 5 Bilborough Town Henshaw (30) Own goal (37) Newbold (44) J Kane (57) Brown (90+2) Croft (pen. 66) Cross (74) Stewart (81)

Town took a much-needed three points from Kimberley on Friday night, where they ran out eventual winners in an eight-goal thriller. In an even opening half, chances were few and far between for the first half an hour, with the only real opportunity falling to McKeag when he dispossessed Kimberley’s centre half but dragged his shot well wide of the goal. Kimberley got a break when Henshaw struck a shot from the edge of the box that got deflected twice and went through Ivanov’s legs to give the home side the lead on the half-hour mark. It wasn’t long before Town bounced back, albeit through fortuitous ways. A shot from Croft was palmed away by the ‘keeper and fell into the path of the Kimberley centre half. Seemingly under no pressure, he decided to head the ball back towards his own goal instead of controlling and turning. Unfortunately for the home side, the ‘keeper wasn’t expecting it and the ball fell into the bottom corner to give Town their equaliser. The topsy-turve twist to the game continued when, five minutes later, Kimberley took advantage of a wrong decision by the linesman for a throw-in and caught Bilborough off-guard. The ball was played across Town’s box and Newbold was in the right place at the right time to smash home from close range. HT 2-1 The 2nd half was a continuation of the end of the first half with both teams playing attacking football. After a sustained amount of pressure, Town got their reward when another defensive error gifted them a goal. A somewhat soft J. Kane shot looked to be comfortably saved by the Kimberley ‘keeper until he let the ball squirm through his grasp and over the line to give Town their deserved equaliser. Sensing a hint of hesitation in the Kimberley backline after the ‘keeper’s error, Town brought Williamson onto the wing for more of an attacking threat.

Bilborough took the lead for the first time ten minutes later when a darting run into the box from Clements left the Kimberley centre half no choice but to hack him down. Top scorer Croft stepped up to duly despatch the penalty. Croft then turned semi-provider when another soft shot that should have been collected by the ‘keeper was palmed into the path of man-of-the-match, Cross, who made no mistake in tucking the rebound. The goal of the game came ten minutes from the end when Stewart received the ball on the corner of the box and proceeded to whip the ball into the top corner to give the ‘keeper no chance and to put the game firmly out of Kimberley’s reach. A spell of late pressure from the home side meant Ivanov had to make a last-ditch save and a goal-line clearance from Hayes kept the scoreline down in the same attack, but Brown managed to poke a final effort in through a crowd of players at the death of the game to give Kimberley their 3rd. FT 5-3