The Greens were resolute throughout the contest at a wet and stormy MKM Ground and were thoroughly deserving of their victory – given to them by Joe Smith’s neat first half finish – keeping their fancied visitors at arm’s length for much of the evening. The Reds came close on a couple of occasions to finding a leveller most notably when Will Norcross crashed the inside of Liam Flitton’s post with 20 minutes remaining – but they were ultimately unable to find a breakthrough and slipped to their first league defeat of the campaign as a result.

The Greens – under the stewardship of Graham Watkins for the final time – made four changes from Saturday’s 3-0 defeat to Kirby Muxloe in the FA Vase. Ben Robson made a welcome return from suspension for the Greens while there were also places in the starting eleven Tyrell Shannon-Lewis, Lewis Smalley, and Joe Smith. That saw Billy Gillies, Tom Waumsley and Sam Greenwood drop to the bench while Kyle Watkins missed out through injury. Visitors Melton Town meanwhile were 2-1 victors in the FA Vase over the weekend, seeing off United Counties League Division One side Clipstone FC. They made three changes themselves as Will Norcross, Kalis Gore and Keenan King all dropping to the bench with Kairo Edwards-John, Rhys Brailsford and Mikkel Hirst all coming into the side.

In driving rain, the game took its time to find a spark, nine minutes in-fact before Liam Flitton was required to tip away Kairo Edwards-John’s effort from the edge of the area. That same combination was in action again ten minutes later when Flitton was down again at his near post to deny the Melton forward before Edwards-John swept a lovely effort just wide of the mark.

By this stage, the Greens had been working their way into the contest and they were in front in the 20th minute when fine hold-up play from Tyrell Shannon-Lewis saw him square for Joe Smith to slot home beyond Bill Harrison in the visiting goal. That lead was not unmerited on the base of early play and Ryan Flitton was unlucky when he powered a well-placed freekick just over the crossbar. The lively Shannon-Lewis could have bagged too shortly after, were it not for the fine block of Lewis Carr on the edge of the area. Despite that period of ascendency, the visitors were always in the contest and Liam Flitton showed fine alertness to foil Sam Beaver’s effort after Harry Wakefield had cut-back for the visitors captain.

The Greens continued to hold their own in the early minutes of the second half and reduced Melton to little, despite the visitors enjoying the bulk of possession. Liam Flitton was finally in action on 66 minutes when he pulled out an incredible double save, first to deny Harry Wakefield’s freekick before standing tall to block from Keenan King’s rebound.

King was to squander another guilt-edged chance eleven minutes later when he blazed over on the rebound after Will Norcross had crashed an effort against the inside of Liam Flitton’s post. Frustration was beginning to mount amongst the visiting contingent and that boiled over shortly after Joe Smith had headed Mitchell Clogg’s cross wide following handy work from substitute Andy Whalen. Sam Beaver was the man adjudged to have started the stoppage time scuffle that saw him receive his marching orders and Finlay Armond planted in the book and despite a healthy chunk of added time as a result – the visitors could not find a way through a resolute Greens rearguard.

Words: Oliver Atkin