By Richard Lane

The Blues opening league match of the season ended in a certain amount of disappointment as they failed to reproduce their pre-season form, only managing a point from their trip to Rotherham as they found a goalkeeper in outstanding form, while also hitting the bar three times.
The early stages were even, with Taylor in the home goal making early blocks from Elliott Dye and Marlon Grundy, while at the other end Hussain’s shot flew wide. Town came close to scoring on 14 minutes after Grundy burst down the left, his cross being met by a well struck shot from Mark Faflik which was touched over the bar by Taylor. A foul conceded by Ed Munton resulted in Phoenix taking a 24th minute lead as Adam Houghton got to his feet to curl a beautifully judged free kick over the wall and just inside the left hand post. Tom Moore then hit a long ball from out on the left, but again Taylor was equal to it, once more deflecting the ball over the bar. Newark levelled on 39 minutes, again from a free kick after Lewis Chambers had been brought down, Dye producing another perfectly struck ball to wipe out the deficit. The same player almost struck again on the stroke of half time, but Taylor once more saved his team, beating the ball away.
Town played with more purpose at the beginning of the second half and were instantly rewarded when after good work from Chambers, Marlon Grundy tucked the ball into the net within a minute of the restart. A third looked on the cards immediately afterwards as Chambers swivelled in the area and lashed his shot against the face of the bar. The lead lasted just seven minutes as Houghton was again felled, this time inside the penalty area, his shot from the spot sending Nathan Burrows the wrong way. Minutes later Faflik was brought down in the opposing area but despite confident appeals the referee turned a blind eye. On 58 minutes Chambers was unfortunate as his goalbound shot took enough of a deflection from a defender to divert it onto the bar with Taylor beaten. The save of the day however came on 68 minutes as the agile keeper produced a breathtaking dive to push Jonny Wiles’ shot over the top. Tyler Martin’s introduction at right back gave the Blues another option and it was his cross that set up Wiles, but his firm header once more came back off the crossbar.
With Clay Cross, Harworth and Retford all recording opening day wins, this was not the start Luke Parsons’ team would have wanted or expected. The chance to redeem matters comes at home to Renishaw on Wednesday night.