Ollerton Back to Winning Ways After Culling Badgers!

Ollerton Town enjoyed the winning feeling for the first time in ten games on Wednesday evening after defeating local rivals Retford United 2-0 to progress to the second round of the League Cup.
After winning their first four games, Dave Winter's side have been on a terrible run of late, failing to win their last nine in a run which included a 4-3 league defeat at Retford only a few weeks ago. 'The Badgers' are having trouble of their own and find themselves at the wrong end of the table but Wednesday's game was a chance for both sides to put their league woes aside and instead focus on the cup.
It took two late goals to ultimately separate the two sides on the night, Ben Bowring heading home a corner on 83 minutes before Gav King secured the victory in injury time, but in truth Ollerton were the better side throughout and fully deserved their victory.

Retford had the game's first meaningful chance and may have been disappointed not to have opened the scoring. A cross from the left found Ben Williams at the far post but he couldn't direct his header goal bound.
It was then the home side's turn to rued a wasted opportunity. Gav King beat Retford 'keeper James Gamble to a underweighted back pass but the Ollerton man's first time lobbed effort landed just wide of the upright.
Ollerton are having some trouble in the right back position of late and those problems continued when George Pearce was forced off with injury midway through the first half. Winger Kyle Clarkson was brought on as a make shift full back.
Lewis Bingham was next to try his luck for The Town but his shot from the edge of the area was deflected over.
With the last moment of the first half, Ollerton should have taken the lead. A ball in found Mark Carter free at the back stick but with the goal gaping he failed to keep his header down, letting Retford off the hook as the deadlock remained going into the interval.

Ollerton were awarded a free kick in a dangerous position early in the second half after Lewis Bingham was fouled. Clarkson stepped up but from 20 yards out, he lifted his free kick wide of the target.
As the half wore on, Ollerton were more and more dominant and it looked inevitable that they'd get the first goal. Ashley Shannon, on as a second half sub, was looking determined to score against his former side and when he beat the offside trap, he cut inside but dragged his shot just wide of the post.
In the end, it took until the 83rd minute before Ollerton got their goal. A Lewis Bingham corner was flicked on at the near post and with the ball seemingly hanging in the air, Ben Bowring was on hand to thump a diving header past Gamble and into the back of the net.
Retford were beginning to tire and with Ollerton looking like they had more left in the tank, they nearly doubled their advantage. King was picked out in space inside the area but his shot was blocked by a recovering Retford defender.
King finally got his goal in injury time to seal his side's progression to the second round. Bingham and Shannon played a lovely interchange just inside the area and when the ball was knocked back to King, he spun on the spot before curling a shot neatly into the bottom corner with Gamble stranded. That was his fifth goal of the season, moving him ahead of Bingham and Clarkson in the race to be Ollerton's top goalscorer.

That was the last meaningful action of the game as Ollerton reclaimed the local bragging rights as well as getting their much needed win. With Glasshoughton away to come at the weekend, The Town will be looking for another win to get the three points that will stop their recent slide down the NCEL Division One table.

Elsewhere, there was an impressive 5-1 win for Ollerton Town Ladies against their Mansfield Town counter-parts. Megan Howard scored a hat-trick whilst Holly Jennings scored direct from a corner before Nat Gibson rounded off the scoring for Neil Hamilton's side.