Basford United victorious over Mickleover

Basford United’s captain Matt Thornhill post-game with cup sponsor William Munroe (left) and Club Vice President Stan Mitchell (IMAGE: Craig Lamont Photography)

First half strikes from Ryan Wilson and Kane Richards gave Steve Chettle’s men a comfortable lead at the break before substitute Niall Towle rounded things off with a strike midway through the second period against their fellow Northern Premier League opponents, in an annual competition formed between the Clubs following the season’s curtailment.

Back in front of fans at Greenwich Avenue for the first time in five months, United controlled the game from start-to-finish and may have scored several times before Wilson rounded off a fine move down the right with a composed hit past Callum Hawkins after only seven minutes.

The visitors posed very little but went closest after a quarter of an hour when former Eastwood striker Paddy Webb was thwarted at the death by Brad Gascoigne on the stretch in their only opportunity of a drab 45 minutes and conceded again when James Clifton’s neat through ball into the path of Richards allowed the striker to fire low across Hawkins into the far corner.

Towle and Rev James then combined to link-up well down the left, but Hawkins matched the latter’s effort with a fine low save early in the second half as the home side continued to dominate their youthful opponents.

Missing several first-team players due to commitments elsewhere, Mickleover failed to contain their untroubled hosts and succumbed to a third when Clifton’s stinging strike wasn’t held by Hawkins and Towle was on hand to control and calmly fire home to seal the win.

With pre-season officially due to begin in July, United face new ground developments ahead of the new campaign, due to start in August, and immediate focus now turns to hosting the charitable Samantha Birtles Trophy on Sunday, June 27, in support of Treetops Hospice.

BASFORD UNITED (from): Trialist, Dom Roma, Ryan Wilson, Declan Dunn, Stef Galinski, Brad Gascoigne, James Clifton, Callum Chettle, Marcus Marshall, Matt Thornhill, Kane Richards, Owen Betts, Alex Howes, Rev James, Niall Towle, Kieran Preston.

MICKLEOVER (from): Callum Hawkins, Ben Lewis, Tom Eccelshall, Lopes Massampo, Ethan Mann, Aman Verma, Josh Waldron, Sam Pitts, Patrick Webb, Surf Tefera, Will Monteiro, Jude Ayetine, Ashley Elliott, Devon Smith