That end of season malaise is creeping in - what a strange one it's been. Still, it's now twenty Hucknall Town home games gone and just the one to go - Halesowen Town on the 20th April.
HTFC programme sold out!!! Thanks go to Tony Knowles for this freebee!
Belper are on a run of 20 games unbeaten and Hucknall couldn't win a raffle, so we knew what to expect from this encounter..although we did think we'd see more than five goals from the Derbyshire outfit.
No Leggitt or Garner for the Yellows, and only Ash Cheetham on the bench - we wondered if the team will be able to field a full 11 when they have to travel to Mickleover, Stamford, Sutton Coldfield and Kidsgrove.
It took only 4 minutes for the Nailers to score their first - JON FROGGATT was left totally unmarked in front of goal, and an attempted defensive clearance flew straight to the prolific striker who had the simplest of finishes.
Froggatt his his first
Hucknall then held their own for half an hour, until SHAUN TUTON beat Josh Stolworthy in a race to the ball and hammered the ball with some venom past Michael Yates.
With two minutes of the first half remaining, the visitors added a third - poor defensive work allowing RICHARD ADAMS to power home a header from Simon Harrison's corner. H-T 0-3
We were joined at the break by Heanor Town fan and blog follower Chris Dent - hoping to catch up the the "tall-lad" at the Town Ground later on in the month.
Belper put the home defence under immediate pressure from the restart, and only a good block from Yates and a clearance off the line from Stolworthy kept out Tuton.
Yates saves - Stolworthy on hand to clear
Tom Tyler clears another effort
... and another
FROGGATT was soon on the score sheet again though - this time from the penalty spot after excellent Referee Joe Clark had blown for a blatant trip in the box in the 52nd minute.
The Yellow's best chance of the game fell to Danny O'Donnell on 54, but he headed hopelessly high and wide after Mitch Slawson's ball in from the left picked him out at the far stick.
Oh dear...
FROGGATT completed a well deserved hat-trick after 72 minutes play, but he has to thank Ryan Cheetham for gifting him the ball on the corner of the box. The hit-man needed no second invitation - he simply raced towards the goal and fired the ball past Yates.
Belper added Darryl Thomas and Mark Ward with 10 to go, but they posed less threat than the front pair they replaced, and Hucknall managed to see out the rest of the game without conceding again. F-T 0-5
Admission : season ticket
Programme : Tony Knowles
Attendance :120 ( approx 100 from Belper!)
