Encouraging progress from Blues

Another friendly, another 3G pitch, but a vastly superior performance to Tuesday’s at Clifton. Town travelled to Joseph Whittaker school at Rainworth to take on a youthful Staveley Miners Welfare side. Town fielded Nathan Burrows in goal, but he was beaten as early as the fourth minute by a superb volley from Staveley’s number 7, which deserved a much wider audience. The quality of football on offer was high, both sides putting some flowing moves together. The Blues levelled seven minutes before the interval, Julian Joachim putting Alex Hales through to beat the keeper. Both sides made several substitutions, one of these ,Dom Swingler, producing a fierce drive from 25 yards to give Town the lead. Joachim came close to a third five minutes later, shooting just wide after a defence shredding ball from Michael Minty. The final goal came a minute from the end, new signings Callum Thorpe and Kieran Wall setting up Swingler who made no mistake from five yards out. This was a highly promising performance with the season just a week away.