Ilkeston Line up:-

 

Lewis crosses	Hurrell challenges	Freestone competes

 

Ilkeston Town looked to build on last weeks impressive demolition of Mangotsfield United by welcoming back flu victim Danny Holyoak and giving Paul Hurrell and Liam Walshe (pictured left) a chance to impress from the start with Paul Eshelby and Aaron O'Connor dropping to the bench.

Ilkeston started brightly against a team who many feel should be challenging for promotion and the Robins nearly took the lead when Chris Freestone headed against the bar from a corner after just four minutes. Gloucester defended stoutly against some neat passing from Michael Lyons and John Burns. 

The game was turned on its head on 21 minutes when Ilkeston conceded two soft goals in a minute. First Neil Mustoe's cross drifted over the motionless Ross Turner and into the top corner and then within a minute Gloucester were two up when farcical misunderstanding between Turner and his defence allowed Dave Wilkinson to score a simple goal from close range.

The goals knocked the stuffing out of the Robins and the visitors now looked a very confident outfit. Ilkeston however had a chance to get back into  the game when Paul Hurrell put Michael Lyons only for ex Derby County trainee to stumble just as he readied himself to shoot.

After the interval manager Phil Stant replaced Michael Lyons and Paul Hurrell with Paul Eshelby and Aaron O'Connor to try and wrestle the initiative back from Gloucester. However it was the visitors who looked more likely to score. On 48 minutes Ross Turner dropped a cross and the ball was put out for a Corner before Gloucester could capitalise. Seven minutes later Neil Griffith's header was cleared off the line by Liam Walshe. On 65 minutes Tom Webb got clear after sloppy defending by Kristian Stephens but placed his shot wide. Gloucester then had two players booked within a minute for needless fouls and Ilkeston seemed to gain some new impetus. The Robins came close after a goalmouth melee where a shot was cleared off the line from Marc Laws and then Chris Freestone had a long speculative shot well saved by the visiting keeper.

However any thoughts of a comeback were all but quashed when Jimmy Cox broke through and scored with ease to give Gloucester a deserved 3-0 advantage. Within minutes Gloucester had two more golden opportunities to score s Ilkeston's tortured defence started to wilt. In the last five minutes Marc Laws, Graham Lewis and Aaron O'Connor all came close for Ilkeston as they staged a revival but Gloucester oroved too strong right to the very end.

WhiteBallProject Man of the Match - Liam Walshe - Just pipped John Burns for the star prize with an all action display.

Ilkeston was full of optimism for the visit of Gloucester City after last weeks win at Mangotsfield but unfortunately Gloucester City were a very different proposition and were in reality a much better side. In fact they were better than Ilkeston in almost every department.

To be fair to the Robins we matched them for 21 minutes and then we gave them two goals. Ross Turner must take the blame for one or maybe both goals although the defence in front of him were having a torrid time. Mark Lever and Danny Holyoak both looked out of sorts. David Jervis could not get a tackle in and Kristian Stephens looked out of position and out of his depth at times. Liam Walshe and John Burns played well in midfield with Burns looking what he is, a class performer. He is confident on the ball but in the end he had to spend too much time with the ball at his feet whilst he waited for an Ilkeston man to get into space. Up front Chris Freestone worked hard but there was little to threaten a well marshalled Gloucester defence.

The defeat showed that there is still a lot of work to be done at Ilkeston before they become a top of the table side but looking on the bright side they won't meet teams as good as Gloucester City every week.

Freestone is fouled	Walshe threatens	The bench gets agitated