Goddard closes in	Hindley on the wing	Ilkeston press

Ilkeston Town made the long trip to North Wales looking to get their promotion push back on course after failing to win their last two games. Manager Phil Stant returned to a 4-4-2 formation with Nigel Jemson (pictured left) returning from injury and Craig Swinscoe was recalled to defence. Darren Knowles returned as captain replacing the injured David Jervis.

Ilkeston started brightly and Mick Goddard forced a good save from Matt Parry in the opening minutes. Colwyn Bay however showed promise and after six minutes Mottram got clear after a rare mistake by Steve Chettle but he shot tamely wide. Just one minute later Chettle came to the Robin's rescue when he blocked a shot from Kevan. It appeared that the shot may have hit his arm but fortunately for Ilkeston the referee thought it had hit his shoulder.

Then in a bizarre sequence of events Ilkeston showed how nervous the quest for promotion was making them. Preparing to take a free kick Nigel Jemson reacted badly to a request from the bench and the ex Forest striker loudly verbally abused several of his own team mates.

The altercation seemed to effect Ilkeston and Colwyn bay started to dominate the game. On 26 minutes they had a shot deflected over the bar and five minutes later Alex Kevan missed the target with a good effort. Then ex Gresley rovers player Karl Brown shot over after getting in a good position.

As the game drifted towards half time a series of incidents ultimately decided outcome of the game. Firstly Karl Brown had a goal disallowed for offside and then Ryan Hindley broke away and was bought down in the box. Jemson wrestled the ball away from the other players and took the spot kick only to see it saved by Parry. Luckily for Ilkeston the ball fell back in to the path of Jemson who scored with the rebound.

Hopes that this stroke of luck would settle Ilkeston's promotion jitters were dashed in the second half as the Robins play became increasingly disjointed. Colwyn pressed for an equaliser but Ilkeston defended resolutely with Craig Swinscoe excelling in defence. The closest Colwyn came to equalising was when Coverley came up from the back and crashed a shot against the post.

WhiteBallProject Man of the Match - Craig Swinscoe  (pictured below) – A rock at the back.

Ilkeston Town once again were unconvincing against a team struggling at the bottom of the Unibond League Division One. Colwyn Bay were on the day the better team and the Robins can count themselves lucky to come away from North Wales with all three points.

The verbal outburst from Jemson will not help Ilkeston regain their confidence and is a sign of how the pressure is getting to the player. Ilkeston now have three home games and will be hoping to take nine points from these games to put pressure on their fellow challengers for the coveted automatic promotion places.

 

Holmes foiled	Parry parries but jemmo scores	Sub numbers man and scary face