Week ending 20th April by Mason Norton

The end of the season is rapidly approaching, and has already arrived for a number of sides in the Everards Leicestershire Senior League. Hence, there were only five fixtures on the coupon this Saturday, and only one prize left to decide, with all automatic promotion, titles and relegation places settled. 


The prize in question was the runners-up spot in the Everards Brewery Premier Division. At numerous points during the season, Ramble Round observed that this particular contest would go down to the wire, between Aylestone Park Reserves and Desford & Caterpillar. Whilst we got the first right, the second turned out to be completely wrong. Park ran out of fixtures, Desford stumbled in their run-in, and Hathern and Ellistown both finished strongly to come up on the rails, Hathern a bit like Dancing Brave in the Arc, never seen coming by the cameraman, whilst Ellistown looked out of it in early March. So it was Ellistown who faced Hathern in a winner-takes-all clash at Terrace Road, which passed a morning pitch inspection, a dry overnight helping to dry out the pitch. The report is from Andy Grout & Mason Norton:


"In a game that would determine who would finish runners-up to Allexton & New Parks, it was Ellistown who came up short as Hathern won a cracker 4-3.


The hosts knew that this would be a difficult game against a more physical side in Hathern and so it proved as both sides played shadow boxing for the first eighteen minutes, each trying out the defence of the other team, Hathern the wider of the two, Ellistown the more direct going forward. It was Hathern who took the lead on 19 minutes after a free-kick from out wide on the left was floated high over everyone, Ellistown couldn't deal with it, Liam Bailey of Hathern got on the end of it, his effort smashing against the underside of the crossbar, bouncing on the line and then up in the air and out straight to Dan Hutton who headed it in. Five minutes later, and a flowing Hathern move down the field overwhelmed the Ellistown defence, and it was Niall Henry who drilled home from close range to make it 2-0 to put Ellistown on the floor.


The hosts though started the fightback, tightened up at the back, and after Hathern lost possession whilst trying play out from the back, Ellistown crossed into the box and a diving header from Reece Green on 38 minutes made it 2-1. Hathern could have restored their two-goal advantage on the edge of half-time, when Liam Walton looked in on goal, but he put it wide with only the keeper to beat, but the hosts looked equally dangerous up front as their front two of Daniel Yadav and Tom Vyce began to cause real problems. Somehow, it remained 2-1 at the interval, and this was a game that could go either way. 


After the break, it went Ellistown's. As it needed to for them- the draw would give Hathern the runners-up prize, so they needed to win. They came out of the traps and took the game to Hathern who were left rocking. They equalised initially early on after a rebound came to Vyce who made no mistake, but he was stood offside when the initial shot came in, and the flag went up straight away. There was no mistake though on 55 minutes when Hathern paid the price for not clearing away at the set-piece, a subsequent corner came in, and found Ronnie Morley on the edge of the box who rose highest, his header flying high over everyone else and then bouncing in off the inside of the post to spin in. 


Hathern looked there for the taking, and for about five or ten minutes, Ellistown looked the only winner. But the hosts tired and the visitors rang the changes and began to look threatening again out wide on the flanks. 20 minutes from time, Hathern re-took the lead when Chris Davis's pass picked out sub Tom Kingsland, who laid the ball across the front of the edge of the box to Walton, who looked like he was going to pass out wide to the unmarked Ant Berridge, but instead, he found a gap in front of him, cut into the box and fired past the keeper into the bottom corner. 


Now the pendulum swung back, and the momentum flowed with Hathern, Ellistown dropping off the pace, before on 77 minutes, Lewis Edwards squared the ball to Walton, who without warning, unleashed a 25-yard right-footed bobby dazzler of a piledriver which stung the right hand of the Ellistown keeper like a schoolmaster's cane to a teenage smoker in the film 'Kes' before smashing into the back of the net. Ellistown, punch-drunk, knees a-wobbling, on the ropes and sinking towards the canvas, Hathern cock-a-hoop and dreaming of a weekend in the sun.


Yet once again, Ellistown pulled themselves together, began to get back into it, and there then followed some penalty-box pinball, a goalmouth scramble on 89 minutes that was eventually turned in by Vyce to make it 4-3, followed by a bit of handbags as Vyce and Hathern keeper Dan Owen got entangled in the net arguing over the ball. Momentum was now back with Ellistown, and Hathern were forced to defend deep in the four minutes of injury time played. But this time, Ellistown couldn't find the equaliser, ran out of time, and Hathern hung on to win 4-3 and claim the runners-up spot, nine points behind champions Allexton & New Parks, having gone unbeaten in the League since Christmas, whilst Ellistown will finish their campaign next week in fifth, with Desford & Caterpillar rounding off the podium in third, and Aylestone Park Reserves finishing fourth.


Finally, just to say that this was a cracking match which was a credit to the League, the officials letting the game flow and doing a good job, contributing to a fine game."