Comfortable Greens See Off Lowly Bulls

Akeel Francis was the Greens hero on the day, grabbing himself a well-taken brace as the Greens comfortably saw off their lowly Nottinghamshire opponents to move up into 7th position in United Counties League Premier Division North and within eight points of those elusive play-off positions.

Player/Managers Tom Ward and Nathan Arnold made just two changes from the Greens 1-1 draw at Newark and Sherwood United last weekend as Sebastian Robbemond and Eli Christie both dropped to the substitutes bench. In their place came duel-registered Finlay Armond and the returning Charlie Ward who made his comeback from a recent two-match suspension for an accumulation of yellow cards. Visitors AFC Mansfield meanwhile were defeated 2-0 at Boston Town last weekend and they made three changes from the side with Luke Cullen and Jordan Smith dropping to the bench while Thomas Lees-Collier dropped out of the side altogether. In their places came Max Jemson, Keelan Grist and club-captain, Joe Meakin.

It was the visitors who enjoyed the best of the opening exchanges at The MKM Ground, and they had the Greens worried inside four minutes when Keelan Grist rounded an onrushing Liam Flitton only to find Tristan Drummond between him and a path to the open goal. The Greens responded to that chance with Finlay Armond feeding Tom Waumsley who could only hook over Harvey Woodward’s goal before the Bulls keeper was called into action to gather in Lewis Daff’s effort from distance.

The Bulls quickly had Flitton in action at the other end, forcing a smart stop a minute later at his near post to deny Kaylum Mitchell before the attacking man turned provider, this time for Joe Meakin who could only sweep his fine cross wide. The Bulls continued to push, and Rhys Walwyn-Alsop was the next man denied by Liam Flitton, the Greens custodian getting down quickly to collect his drive from the left.
The Bulls were left to rue that proficiency in front of goal when, 10-minutes later, the Greens found the opener. It was clever work from Tom Waumsley initially to knock on Ryan Flitton’s throw into the path of Ryan Lennon before he subsequently crossed for Akeel Francis to blast home at close range to make it two goals in two. That goal gave the Greens a little more impetus, but against a swirling win, they found the generation of clear-cut chances tough, Finlay Armond flashing an effort across goal the closest the Greens game to doubling their advantage before the break.

The Greens began the second half with intent and sensed an opportunity to kill off the contest early on. Charlie Ward was first unlucky not to connect with Tristan Drummond’s corner before Akeel Francis made the most of a kind bounce to advance on goal and crash a lofted effort against the crossbar.

The Greens soon killed the game off as a contest though and it was Akeel Francis again who bagged himself a brace for the day, springing the Bulls offside trap to round Harvey Woodward and slot the ball home into an empty net to put the Greens out of sight. It was Francis again three minutes later who was looking to secure his hat-trick, his driven effort from distance seized upon by Woodward before Liam Flitton scooped up Jordan Smith’s tame effort.

A flurry of substitutions interrupted the flow of the game somewhat and the game had crept into stoppage time before Greens debutant Kyle Simpson stung the palms of Woodward. At the other end, the Bulls had a flurry of their own before the whistle, Flitton beating aside Dearle’s effort amongst a string of corners the only real concern for the Greens during stoppage time.

It is set to be a swift return to home action for the Greens as they now turn their attentions to a huge Lincolnshire derby with Boston Town on Wednesday evening. Kick-off at The MKM Ground for this re-arranged United Counties League Premier Division North fixture is at 7.45PM.

Words: Oliver Atkin