BLUES 2 - 0 MILTON RANGERS

LEAGUE CUP ROUND 2

7/1/01

After all the recent rain, it was good to be playing again, and the excellent Westwood surface was complimented the beautiful morning. Blues are normally very poor after a layoff, but today was the exception to the rule. They all played superbly, and although they tired towards the end, they thoroughly deserved to win through to the next round of the League Cup, at the expense of rivals Milton.

Blues started very lively and a Sam Hall pass very nearly found Gareth Allott, but alert keeping by man of the match, Ashlea Sherrat, prevented an early opener. At the other end, meanwhile, Milton had a few chances too. Firstly, Greg Stevenson fired just over with the goal at his mercy, and then a header fell tamely to Jim Brunt, followed soon after by a goal-bound shot which was deflected out for a corner. But this was the closest that the visitors got to the Leek goal, and the majority of the chances were at the other end.

Midway through the half Blues took the lead; Jamie Robinson's superb pass found Oliver Edwards and he finished brilliantly. Two minutes later, excellent work down the left resulted in a Sam Hall shot which cannoned off the upright with the keeper well beaten.

A few minutes later, an Oliver Edwards' header was superbly saved by Ashlea Sherrat, and his save hit the post again, before being cleared. Blues only had to survive one more scare in the first period, when Milton found themselves with men over at the back post, but Nick Aitken put his shot wide.

But just before the break, Blues went two up, when Gareth Allott chased a through ball, and he pressurised a defender into putting the ball into his own net.

H/T: - Blues 2-0 Milton

Much of the second half was a scrappy midfield battle, mainly in Blues' half, but they always looked dangerous on the break, and really should have scored more. On one such occasion, Chris Leigh and Jamie Robinson combined well resulting in the latter's shot going narrowly wide.

Blues were put under pressure for long spells, but for all their effort, Milton were restricted to just one shot on target which was easily held by Jim Brunt, in the Town goal.

At the other end, Ashlea Sherrat twice foiled Blues' attackers when he won both the one on one situations he found himself in. Gareth Allott and Jamie Robinson being the unlucky Blues' players. However, there was no further scoring, and despite tiring towards the end, Blues' defence of Tom Bourne, Adam Wood, Mitch Shenton, Matt Bayley and Paul Nutten held on for a fairly comfortable victory.

Despite some early scares, Blues never looked in any trouble, and they have now extended their superb unbeaten record to 42 games.

The match was sponsored by CROFT COURT GARAGE and WORTHINGTONS INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS.