Sleaford Town leave promotion-chasing Bourne Town with a narrow 1-0 defeat, following an unfortunate own goal from a corner.
Greens manager Matt Evans made two changes to the side that drew 1-1 with Heanor Town last week, with Lewis Smalley and Nathan Brettoner making way for Joe Wilkinson and Jonathan Timmins. Smalley missed out the game after sustaining a knock against Heanor, but the injury is not seen as serious.
As for the visitors, there were four changes from the side that beat Sutton United 2-4 in the FA Vase on Saturday. Dan Flack, Kyle Russell, Will Bird and Jack Wilson replaced Martin Tudosa, Brad Gothard, Tom Siddons, and Shaun Archer.
The Greens started the brighter of the two sides in the opening 15 minutes and were more dominant on the ball. After a deep cross was cleared, it reached Ben Robson who hit a half volley towards goal, but it was narrowly over the bar.
Zak Munton of Bourne had the next real chance of the match, but his shot was hit far too high, not for Harrison Leech to worry about. The league’s top scorer Zak Allen followed up with an effort of his own shortly after, but his effort was deflected wide for a corner.
Despite Sleaford managing the rest of the first half well, Bourne took the lead just before the half time whistle. The ball deflected off a green body and made it way over Leech and into the back of the net, with the defence unable to stop it.
The second half started well again for the Greens, but Bourne started to show their strength as they pushed on. Sam Greenwood put in a brilliant interception to stop Munton from taking it around Leech and tapping it into an empty net.
The Wakes’ pressure didn’t stop from there, either. After an attempt from Sleaford to play it out the back, an attacker intercepted and hit it, but it was well saved by the Greens keeper.
Ben Robson had a header tipped onto the bar by Dan Swan, after some brilliant work by Lewis Greenfield. The resulting corner led to a spill by Wakes’ goalkeeper, but nobody in green was there to anticipate and tap it in, leading to a well-timed clearance.
The pressure continued for the remaining 10 minutes of the game, with Sleaford trying to get something from the game. Robbie Ellis was given a sin-bin by the referee, following dissent when trying to get Ben Robson sent off.
Despite playing against 10, Sleaford couldn’t find an equaliser as they left Bourne with no points, but a lot of pride and key building points to take from it.
Words - Finley Smithson