A brace from A.S.C's leading goal scorer Antony Meir gave the home side a well deserved 2.0 victory over an organized Mansfield Town team who had previously condemned Ilkeston to successive defeats.
A delightful ball in by Chairman and defender Lee Edwards, was flicked on by Rich Annable at the near post for striker Meir to control the ball on his chest and rifle an unstoppable shot past the Mansfield goalkeeper on 14 minutes. More Ilkeston pressure was rewarded on 25 minutes with a dubious looking penalty claim won by Meir who looked to go down a little easy,but dispatched the resulting spot kick with a thunderbolt strike.
Mansfield stuck to there task,but with the home side restricting the visitors to few long range shots frustration started to settle in and one or two rash challenges were quickly nipped in the bud by the referee. Second half saw a vast improvement in Mansfield's game as they looked for a way back in to the match,and the home side had to dig deep,Captain Jason Bowler leading the back four with expert help from Mark Whithead and Richard Hawkins,with James Halford making a string of impressive stops earning him the man of the match award. Ilkeston rode there luck a little with Mansfield twice being denied by the woodwork and some poor finishing ultimately costing the visitors.
Manager Alex Middleton made several changes in the second half to try and steady the midfield,bringing on Paul Francis for the team new boy Lee Burgin whilst replacing the ever improving Phil Crowe with the pace of Shane Armstrong. A final substitution in the dying minutes of the game saw Rich Annable taken off to be replaced by up and coming starlet Jack Edwards.
All in all a thoroughly deserved victory for A.S.C Ilkeston who now look to move on to there next match in high spirits.
Mansfield Supporters 4-1 ASC Ilkeston
The better team lost was the statement made by the Mansfield boss after ASC lost 4-1 to the team from Mansfield. Two individual errors gifted the home side a 2 goal lead. Ant Mier pulled ASC back from the penaulty spot at the second attempt to make for a thrilling first half.
The Mansfield keeper made two more terrific saves, in particular, a close range effort from Rich Annable, who returned to the side to keep ASC out.
Ant Mier had the ball in the net again in the second half after good link up play with Shane Armstrong but the flag was rightly put up for a marginal offside.
At the other end, Mansfield managed to hit 2 more goals to complete a flattering scoreline for the Mansfield lads.
Man of the Match from the Mansfield players was given to Shane Armstrong.
ASC Ilkeston 1-3 Internet Foxes
Internet Foxes stole the points as ASC blew a 1-0 half time lead to gift the Foxes an IFA win. The game was even with both teams creating chances. James Halford made a string of saves, helping him to the Man of the Match. At the other end, Ant Mier scored from close range after a Jay Bowler free kick was saved.
ASC should have scored more. Ant should have added to his impressive run of goals and Lee Francis missed the best chance of the game, missing a one on one.
ASC were caught out in the second half as the Foxes scored 3 times from long balls over the top. Alex the Gaffer was please with his sides performance but blamed the loss of his sides shape going into the second half. Despite the result, the team wer ein high spirits as they more than matched the Foxes for much of the game.
After the game is was revealed that Stuart Pearson will be out of action for upto 12 weeks with an injury he received in the first half.
Burton 3-2 ASC Ilkeston
ASC Ilkeston lost in contraversial circumstances as Burton ran out winners in the latest IFA league game.
Jay Bowler looked to have snatched a point in the last minutes of the game as Burton defended a 3-2 lead thanks to a fast paced first half display.
Ant Meir was in fine form as he chalked up his 4th and 5th goals of the season.
