Ilkeston Line up:-

Ilkeston Town travelled to top of the table Redditch United looking to avenge the 6-0 home defeat they suffered on the opening day of the season with a squad ravaged by flu and injuries. Manger Phil Stant was without Paul Eshelby, Aaron O'Connor, Chris Thompson, Paul Hurrell, Steve Coates and Joe Atkinson. In came Tony Brown who replaced Mark Lever who was relegated to the bench and manager Stant included himself up front. On the bench the Robins had Adam Baum and Wayne Smith making their first squad appearances.

Despite their problems Ilkeston got a flying start when in the first minute Liam Walshe played an inch perfect thirty yard through ball for Michael Lyons (pictured left) who buried his shot into the roof of the net to give Ilkeston a surprise lead. For the next minutes the Robins looked by far the better team but gradually Redditch regained their composure and got back into the game. For the rest of the half the home side had most of the possession and pinned Ilkeston back into their own half but rarely troubled the solid looking Ross Turner. Ilkeston's defence was expertly marshalled by Tony Brown and looked to be holding out when Martin Myers who scored an hat trick in the 6-0 win in August got an equaliser for Redditch. David Jervis looked to have been impeded on the far post but it was not spotted by the ref and after the resulting scramble Myers was on hand to prod the ball home.

After the interval the expected Redditch onslaught did not materialise as the league leaders seemed to run out of ideas and in fact it was Ilkeston who got stronger as the game wore on. In the last ten minutes the Robins again looked the stronger side without looking dangerous enough to snatch a late victory.

WhiteBallProject Man of the Match - Tony Brown - An excellent performance by a player who like a pheonix has risen from the ashes since Phil Stant has taken over as manager

Which ever way you look at it this was an excellent performance by an Ilkeston side who were really on a hiding to nothing especially after last weeks disappointing home  defeat against Bromsgrove Rovers. Star of the show was Tony Brown (pictured left) who was relegated to the bench after the win against Mangotsfield United. He jokingly quipped whilst warming up on the bench last week against Bromsgrove "Look what happens when I'm not in the team!". On the evidence of today's performance he has very good point and manager Phil Stant now has three candidates for two central defensive positions captain Daniel Holyoak who also had an excellent game today, Tony Brown and the vastly experienced Mark Lever.

The midfield looked strong again with John Burns orchestrating and Michael Lyons showing some excellent touching and scoring another terrific goal.

If there are any weak areas it has to be up front where we cannot expect 41 year old Phil Stant to be the long term answer. Chris Freestone in and out of games but a prolific goalscorer needs a partner who will compliment his style of play whilst also feeding off the intelligent touches of Micheal Lyons and John Burns. Oh for another Christian Moore. Debutant Adam Baum has joined after being released by Sheffield United in the summer. Adam is a defender who was born in Nottingham and is 21 years of age.