Stapleford Town 0-2 Ilkeston Town FCB
Our FCB side had their first away game of the season against an in-form Stapleford on Saturday.
Ilkeston began the game very well and looked up for it from the get go. The pace in behind again was troubling the opposition, Ayleal Dill and CJ Dunkley testing the goalkeeper early on.
Stapleford couldn’t really trouble the Robins defenders who dealt well with long balls pumped forward.
After around 15 minutes, Dunkley was sent through by a well timed pass from Lamin Manneh, just got there before the onrushing keeper and slotted it into the empty net to put Ilkeston in front.
Stapleford reacted well for the next ten minutes, winning a couple of corners and dangerous free-kicks but again these were dealt with well by the Robins.
With only ten minutes left of the first-half, Ilkeston won themselves a corner. Kieran Cummings’ delivery was met by Jamie Williamson who finished from close range to get his second of the season.
The second-half was played very professionally by Ilkeston as they controlled the pace of the game and frustrated Stapleford in stages.
With around eight minutes to play, Mazhi Simmonds was sent off for a second yellow card, which meant Ilkeston had to be resolute for the remaining minutes.
They were, and defended superbly as a team to ensure they got the job done and made it three wins out of three.