After the heroics in midweek against Mossley. Ilkeston Town manager Phil Stant only chose to make only one change to his promotion chasing side. Craig Gaunt (pictured left) came in for the injured Richard Lucas with Craig Swinscoe switching to left back.

Ilkeston started brightly and after only four minutes Chris Adam had shot which whistled just over the bar. Four minutes later however Ilkeston were rocked by ex Robin Aaron O’Connor who jinked past Gaunt inside the box and unleashed a powerful shot which Ross Turner did well to parry. The ball back to O’Connor who powered home the rebound to give Gresley the lead.

Two minutes later the Robins almost equalised when Adam muscled his way though to get on the end of a through ball but the winger could only manage to lob the ball just over the bar. Ilkeston now started to pin Gresley back into their own half as they searched for an equaliser. Mick Goddard shot just over the bar after 13 minutes and then the Robins forced a series of corners and free kicks but were unable to trouble Dale Belford in the home sides goal.

Gresley were still proving to be dangerous on the break and ex Robin Mick Lyons and Chris Gray both came close before the break.

After the interval Ilkeston nearly went 2-0 down when Turner misjudged the bounce and had to tip the ball over the bar. Despite this close shave the Robins were starting to look more positive with Mark Clifford who had moved into the centre of midfield engineering most of Ilkeston’s promising moves. After 58 minutes Ilkeston got their reward when Ryan Hindley’s corner found Clifford whose clever chip back into the box evaded Justin Jenkins but was flicked on by Craig Swinscoe by passing the helpless Belford and into the net.

Three minutes later Clifford came close to giving Ilkeston the lead but his shot cleared the bar. As the half wore on Ilkeston tired and Gresley came back into the game and finished the stronger side. On 72 minutes Paul Edwards had a shot well saved by Turner and then the Ilkeston keeper was called upon to make a brave save at the feet of Emeka Ejiofor. With minutes remaining the Robins were again grateful to Turner when saved well from star performer Aaron O’Connor to secure a vital point for the Robins,

WhiteBallProject Man of the Match - Mark Clifford  (pictured below) – A tremendous performance particularly early in the second half.