Ollerton Take Positives From Pre-Season Opener

Ollerton Town will take positives from their opening pre-season friendly of the 2016/2017 season, despite a 2-0 loss to Worksop Town on Wednesday evening.
Ollerton have put together a tough pre-season schedule as they look to adapt to their new life in the Northern Counties East League Division One and there were promising signs in this game against Premier Division side, Worksop.
As is the case for every team up and down the country, at every level of the game, Ollerton's management team have been busy recruiting new players ahead of the upcoming season and several of these players got a run out on Wednesday. Gavin Saxby, Josh Bowkett, Josh Dodds, Mark Carter, Josh Madin and Steven Sowter all got game time, with the first four all putting pen to paper after the game.

Ollerton started the game brightly and had the first two chances, Steven Sowter and Sam Dockwray both fired over from near the edge of the box.
Gavin Saxby is an experienced 'keeper who has played for years at a high level and he was called into action several times on his Ollerton debut. He first had to deal with a dipping shot from range by Loftus before rushing out to the feet of Adam Somes who had found his way through on goal.
Somes will have good memories of playing down at The Lane, as he scored a hat-trick last season against Ollerton for Clipstone in the Notts Senior Cup. He got himself on the score sheet once again on Wednesday as he opened the scoring. After the referee awarded a dubious free-kick right on the edge of the area, Somes stepped up to fire an effort into the back of the net.
Former York City youngster, Josh Bowkett, caught the eye of the Ollerton management team when he played against the Town for Brodsworth last year. He was looking to make an impression in the Ollerton black and red last night and nearly grabbed himself a goal, but his effort failed to test Worksop's 'keeper.
As the first half went on, Worksop grew into the game more and more with their extra bit of quality starting to show and twice late on in the half Josh Madin, who impressed in the centre of defence, was called on to clear the ball as Worksop kept probing for a second.

Both sides made a host of changes during the second half as they looked to give much needed match fitness to their players. After a close opening to the half, it was Worksop who scored again through one of their substitutes. Mark Fereday's shot was parried out by Saxby but it was Fereday who reacted quickest to get their first and tap in the rebound.
Ollerton brought on Danny Wiltshire for Kyle Ludlow and Wiltshire had their next chance, but failed to keep his bouncing shot on target.
The second half didn't have as many chances as the first but Worksop probably had the better of the efforts, with a late dipping volley crashing against the woodwork.

Overall it was a good run out for both teams as the game was very competitive and played in the right way. Despite the defeat, Ollerton will be happy with their performance as they never let their higher-league opposition control the game and they themselves played some good football. The only downside to the game was that both teams had players leave the field because of injury, with Mark Carter suffering a serious-looking injury on his first start for the club. Ollerton now go back to training before next week's double header against Slipstone (H, 12/7/2016) and Belper United (H, 15/7/2016).

Ollerton Team: Saxby, Cooke, Bowring, Stretton (Dodd), Madin (Evans), Schofield (Mitchell), Bowkett (Hewitt), Dockwray (Atkinson), Ludlow (Wilshere), Bingham (Carter (Bowkett)), Sowter (Brentnall)
Worksop Team: A.Trialist, Gorman, Johnson, B.Trialist, Adams, Henshaw, C.Trialist, D.Trialist, Somes, Scott, E.Trialist
Worksop Subs: Harrison, F.Trialist, G.Trialist, Pugh, Wesley, Fereday, Loftus, Booth, Waddles