DERWENT first team suffered a disappointing defeat away to league leaders Burton on a cold and frosty Saturday afternoon in the East Midlands Premier League.
Cold and frosty about summed up some of Derwent’s play, but it was not all bad.
Early on Derwent were in the game with some nice play down the left, Rich Worsey and Mat Bacon doing well to create some space and good tackling.
Burton took the le
ad following a penalty corner that left keeper Jamie Carlin with no chance and at 1-0 Derwent nearly equalised when Tom Ellison missed from close range when it looked easier to score.
But then Burton went in front even further when three successive short corners resulted in three more goals, leaving Derwent 4-0 down. One more put the hosts 5-0 up at half time.
Derwent continued to work hard, but with player-coach James Stedman missing through a bout of food poisoning they failed to create much up front.
The odd run from Ash Wheldon and Tom Ellison game to nothing and despite Derwent having a number of short corners the Burton keeper kept them out.
Carlin kept out some further attacks from Burton with some fine saves, but it was in vain with Derwent resigned to defeat when Burton scored two more from open play, and when Tom Ellison did get one back for Derwent late on it was too little too late.
Derwent are at home this Saturday against fellow strugglers Loughborugh Sharks in a ‘must-win’ battle at the bottom.
Derwent seconds missed the opportunity to move away from the relegation zone with a heavy defeat against fellow strugglers, Kettering.
With the entire team under the age of 22, Derwent lacked the experience of their opponents and they were made to pay for this inexperience when they were continually punished on the counter attack.
Despite having good periods of play they allowed their forwards to become isolated, which enabled Kettering to exert more pressure on the Derwent defence as the game progressed.
Captain Steven Shortland had a great effort well saved in the first half, but unfortunately Kettering struck three times in the first half, despite the heroics of Gary Shardlow, and Alex Erskine.
The second half followed a similar pattern with Derwent guilty of giving the ball away too easily, and this ensured Kettering ran out comfortable 5-0 winners.
With only two remaining games before the winter break, Derwent need to find some points otherwise it's going to be a very long season.
Derwent thirds drew 1-1 away at Kettering.
The full article contains 444 words and appears in Matlock Mercury newspaper.
