Hard work with pitch pays dividends for Millers - The Redditch Standard

Hard work with pitch pays dividends for Millers

Redditch Editorial 11th Apr, 2018   0

OUTSTANDING work from groundsman Steven Dipple enabled Feckenham to beat the wet weather and stage Saturday’s Midland League Division Two encounter against Knowle which ended in a thrilling 4-3 victory for the hosts.

The win saw them leapfrog their visitors into seventh place and maintains a decent shout of a top three finish, although hopes of immediately building on the success were dashed when a waterlogged pitch put paid to Tuesday’s scheduled trip to lowly Redditch Borough.

Last night (Thursday) the Millers were due to visit league rivals Fairfield Villa in the Evesham Hospital Junior Cup quarter-finals. If the match went ahead and victory was secured, then Saturday would bring a semi-final at Alcester Town, whilst defeat would mean a league visit to Barnt Green Spartak.

Feckenham joint assistant manager Tom Davies said: “Saturday’s win against a Knowle side who have similar ambitions to ourselves was a good stepping stone to this frantic end to the season.




“The top few positions in the table see a few sides separated by just a couple of points so every set of three points are huge and, with most teams playing three times a week, we’re sure the table will take many twists and turns between now and the end.

“We fell foul of the weather again on Tuesday, but we’ve been back training, sharpening, tuning everything in preparation for what we hope will be a successful run until the end of the season.”


Karl Fellows curled home from a tight angle to put Knowle ahead midway through the first half on Saturday but the Millers soon responded and Danny Murphy struck the bar before excellent tenacity from Ben Ellicott set up Murphy to level on 26 minutes.

The hosts led 2-1 at half-time thanks to a fine goal from Ellicott following a neat one-two with Jack Brimmell but Thomas Craine headed home shortly after the interval to restore parity.

The goalmouth action continued to come thick and fast in the second half and midway through it Brimmell thought he had made it 3-2, only to see his effort controversially chalked off for handball, but moments later he had his reward when he fired low past the Robins keeper.

Josh Goddard made two fine saves to preserve the hosts’ advantage before Matt Green showed fine skill to pluck the ball out of the air and fire powerfully into the far corner to make it 4-2 with 11 minutes remaining.

However, the drama was not over and Knowle struck again when Craine converted from a difficult angle on 87 minutes but, despite a nervy finale, the home side held on.

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