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Ilkeston Line up:-
1. Robinson 2. Knowles 4. Swinscoe 5. Lever 3. Riley 7. Davies 8. Johnson 6. Laws 11. Adam 9. Jenkins 10. Jemson Subs 12. Thompson for Jemson 65 mins 14. Dawson for Lever 80 mins Sub not used 15. Stant P
It was one of these players Paul Riley that made an immediate impact after only twenty seconds. Shepshed's Nathan Tate got roung the back of the Ilkeston defence and his low hard cross was turned into his own net by the unfortunate Riley to give the home side an very early lead.
Shepshed continued to have the better of the first half exchanges but were unable to build on their early lead although McMorran came close. Ilkeston however did have a number of chances the best falling to Chris Adam who saw a close range go over the bar and Justin Jenkins (pictured above) who tried unsuccessfully to lob the Shepshed keeper Simon Baldwin.
Jenkins who once played for Shepshed finally got his reward when on 41 minutes he got on the end of a Allan Davies freekick and glanced his header past Baldwin and into the back of the net.
The second half became very scrappy with chances few and far between. The game was heading for extra time and it looked likely that Paul Riley was going to be substituted when the ex Notts County picked up a loose ball ran at the Shepshed defence and hammered a shot into the left hand corner of the Shepshed goal with only three minutes left on the clock to give the Robins a hard fought victory and make Riley a rare scorer for both teams.
WhiteBallProject Man of the Match - Paul Riley – Roy of the Rovers stuff at the end after unfortunately scoring for Shepshed in the first minute.
Like most professional teams Ilkeston Town experiment in League Cup competitions. Although in an ideal world it would be nice to think that clubs always field their strongest side but the reality is that players do often need a rest from the more important league programme and squad players need a run out to see what they are capable of against stronger opposition than the reserves face each week. What makes Ilkeston's cup line ups easier to justify is that they keep winning which also goes to show that Ilkeston do have a strong squad at present with players that can fill in at a moments notice if required.
On Saturday Ilkeston face a much stiffer task when they travel to league leaders North Ferriby United. After we played them in October the Humberside club went on a ten match unbeaten run and surged past the Robins to head the table. However last week they surprisingly lost to lowly Clitheroe so maybe the wheels may be starting to come off the bus somewhat.
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