Ollerton Town’s first home game of the new season ended in disappointment as Winterton Rangers left The Lane with all three points following a narrow 2-1 victory.
The Town went with the same eleven that drew with Rossington Main at the weekend. Captain Sam Stretton returned on the bench and he was joined by new signings, Tom Cooke and Conor Higginson.
Ollerton started poorly and in the fifteenth minute, they found themselves behind. Robbie Start’s looped cross failed to find a body in the area but it evaded Joey McCormack in the Ollerton goal and found the back of the net.
Just after the half hour mark, Ollerton created their first real opportunity when Lewis Bingham was slipped through on goal but the skillful attacker failed to keep his shot down.
Bingham was involved again five minutes before half time when he was teed up by Sean Dickinson but the Winterton ‘keeper did well to tip the shot over the bar.
After a disappointing performance, Ollerton manager Dave Winter made two changes at the break, Tom Cooke and Sam Stretton coming on for Tom Moody and George Slack, the home side switching to a midfield diamond.
Despite this, three minutes after the restart, Winterton doubled their advantage. Ollerton won’t want to see it back as it was an awful, error-laden goal to concede, Adam Lee ultimately converting.
Ollerton eventually started to get a foothold in the game and began to put Winterton under some pressure. That paid off in the 66th minute as they pulled a goal back.
Lewis Bingham was fouled in the area and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Gav King uncharacteristically missed a spot kick at the weekend but he made no mistake this time, Ollerton’s top ‘scorer from last season getting off the mark for the new campaign.
The momentum was now with Ollerton leading to Winterton sitting back and trying to absorb the home side’s pressure.
King nearly scored his and Ollerton’s second after Matty Thompson pulled the ball back to him but his drive whistled just over the bar.
Winterton had chances to kill the game off, first seeing a third goal ruled out for offside before forcing McCormack into an amazing save to keep Ollerton in the contest.
Conor Higginson was introduced with just over twenty minutes to go for his debut and the Ollerton-born forward almost made himself a hero with two minutes of normal time to go. The former Worksop Town captain hit a left-footed volley from 25 yards which agonisingly struck the post as Winterton held out for all three points.