Ilkeston Line up:-

1. Turner

2. Knowles 4. Swinscoe  5. Lever 3. Jervis

7. Hindley 6. Lucas 8. Johnson  9. Smith  11. Eshelby

Subs

15. Laws for Smith 45 mins

14. Adam for Hindley 75 mins

12. Jenkins for Jemson  88 mins  

Yellow cards 

Hindley 6 mins 

Swinscoe 61 mins

Jemson 65 mins

Lucas 70 mins

Ilkeston Town travelled to Chorley without Liam Walshe who had a groin strain so Steve Johnson stepped into the breach. The Robins were defending their unbeaten record whilst Chorley were still looking for their first win of the season and were on a run of five defeats. Chorley however got a good win in the FA Cup last week over Guiseley so they had high hopes they might see an upturn in their fortunes.

Chorley had the first attempt on goal when Paul Carvill's free kick was well saved by Ross Turner but it was Ilkeston who opened the scoring when Craig Swinscoe scored with an header from a David Jervis cross in the 12th minute.

Chorley should have got back into the game but Richard Fogarty missed an excellent chance to equalise. Minutes later it was Ilkeston's turn to come close when Ryan Hindley capitalised on a defensive mistake but John Gillies made an excellent save in the Chorley goal.

After the break Ilkeston were content to sit back and defend their slender lead. Chorley put pressure on the Ilkeston rearguard but were unable to turn their attacking momentum into goals. Both Vermigilio and Gray should have scored when Thompson sent in a teasing cross and minutes later Queely shot over when put through by Vermiglio. As the game entered its final quarter referee Mr Brown saw fit to caution three Ilkeston players and several Chorley players. The home sides skipper Jones was booked twice within the space of a few minutes and was as a result sent off. This made Ilkeston's job of hanging on their lead that much easier and in the last ten minutes both Mark Lever and Nigel Jemson came close to increasing the Robins advantage.

 WhiteBallProject Man of the Match - Craig Swinscoe (pictured below) - An heroic performance from a player who is now equal top scorer. Outstanding at the back, scored the winner and had a goal disallowed.

Ilkeston Town produced almost a carbon copy of their performance against Willenhall on Tuesday night. Scored a goal somewhat against the run of play and then defended manfully to win all three points and even had a number of chances to increase their lead when the opposition overstretched them selves at the end of the game. It's not pretty but it is proving very effective and critics need to decide whether they want a team at the top of the table or free flowing football from a mid table side.

Manager Phil Stant is right in saying that you cannot judge the strength of the teams in this division by looking at the table until the end of October. If the Robins can pick up points when not looking at their best then when their form returns they should look good by the end of October. It is however strange that the last two games which have produced indifferent displays have also yielded six points and two clean sheets. The latter was something we saw very little off in the early stages of the season.

Spalding United Ilkeston's opponents on Tuesday night had a good 4-0 away on Saturday so should provide a strong test for the Robins.