Pre-Season Frustration For Ollerton

Ollerton fell to a 3-2 defeat to Kimberley MW on Wednesday night. After two losses to Worksop and Clipstone in their first two friendlies, Ollerton were looking to secure their first victory over pre-season against the East Midlands Counties side. However, the performance was not really to the standard Ollerton have set themselves over recent months.

Manager Dave Winter was without several key players and will be frustrated at the fact he's had to make several changes in each of the games so far. Ollerton did welcome new signing Brandon Shaw to the heart of defence but were unable to secure the win, despite taking an early lead through Lewis Bingham.

Bingham's opener came around the eight minute mark.A cutting ball through the Kimberley defence put Bingham through on goal and he did brilliantly to open himself up and bend a shot into the far corner, past Bodders.

Kimberley's defence were struggling to deal with Bingham early on and the Ollerton striker went through once again but his pass across the area was intercepted just before it could reach Danny Wiltshire who was waiting to tap in.

Before the half was out, Kimberley drew level. Ollerton failed to clear their lines and Kimberley punished them, turning in the area and finishing low into the corner.

Ollerton had done reasonably well in the first half which had been a closely fought encounter but the Kimberley appeared to up their game in the second half and soon went 3-1 ahead. A ball over the top found Westcarr and he did well to bring the ball down and flick a shot over the keeper all in one movement, to put Kimberley 2-1 ahead.

He then doubled his side's advantage a few minutes later, racing through on goal before finishing low into the corner.

Westcarr was then presented with a chance to seal his hat-trick after Kimberley were awarded a penalty kick but his low effort to the keeper's right was saved well.

Ollerton made a handful of changes in the second half and kept pressing for a way back into the game. With around ten minutes to go, they scored a second through substitute James Munson, who turned the ball home from close range.

That was the end of the goal scoring in what was a good test for both sides. Nobody ever remembers results in pre-season but it's now been three defeats in a row for Ollerton, admittedly against proven Step 5 and 6 opposition. The Town have held their own for much of the action but have failed to get the results and they will be hoping to pick up one or two wins before the real action starts in a few weeks.

OTFC Team: Hankey; Atkinson, Evans, Doolan, Shaw, Schofield, Hewitt, Dockwray, Wiltshire, Bingham, Bowring
Subs: Mitchell, Munson, Brentnall, Trialist