Shirebrook Town turn table upside down for second home win

Shirebrook celebrate going 2-0 up.Shirebrook celebrate going 2-0 up.
Shirebrook celebrate going 2-0 up. | JPIMedia
Determined Shirebrook Town turned the form book – and East Midlands Counties League table – upside down on Saturday, despite playing the closing stages with 10 men.

Town, second from bottom, defeated seventh-placed Radford to claim only their second home league win of the season.

A goal in each half was enough to defeat Nottingham-based Radford as the recent influx of new players again paid dividends for Shirebrook.

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The arrival of the new players under the management duo of Steve Bates and Simon Dixon has seen an improvement and it continued, despite a gale-force wind that made controlled football difficult.

There were big hearts on show from a Shirebrook side who looked ready for the encounter from the kick-off.

A couple of early efforts from Josh Turner for the 'Brook' showed promise, but gradually the visiting high flyers started to get a foothold in the game as both sides battled the windy conditions.

However, it was Shirebrook who broke the deadlock on the half-hour mark when Luke Manlove raced away on the left hand side and fired a glorious finish past Warren Squires in the visitors’ goal.

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Battling into the strong and gusty wind in the second half, Shirebrook threatened again through Turner before Luke Manlove lifted an effort over the advancing Squires, only for the ball to fall agonisingly wide of the target.

Nevertheless. the home side doubled their lead on 64 minutes when substitute Montelle Kamara, with his first touch, struck the base of the post and Owen Ryan was on hand to strike home the loose ball to give the home fans further reason to celebrate.

The sending off of captain Will Dodds for a harsh second yellow could not derail the Shirebrook performance, even though the visitors’ Conor Moore struck the bar with a swirling cross - and it needed determined defensive efforts to clear the follow-up shots on goal to keep Shirebrook’s lead intact.

Shortly afterwards the three points were secure as Shirebrook celebrated a fourth win of the season in front of a crowd of over 100.

It was a fine reward for another determined effort as Shirebrook look to turn the corner.

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