Rai Simons and his Ilkeston FC teammates booked their place in the last 8 of the Derbyshire Senior Cup as they cruised past Holbrook Sports 8-1 at The New Manor Ground.
Ilkeston went into the game with Holbrook making 5 changes, they started the better of the two sides on a cold night, having the majority of possession and went close to opening the scoring in the first few minutes. Simons was played through on goal, lifted his shot over the on rushing keeper, however it was narrowly wide of the post.
Then Holbrook had a great opportunity to take a shock lead against Ilkeston who are three divisions higher than their opponents. Isaac Minott burst his way through the Ilkeston back three, only to slide his shot past on-rushing Jordan Smith and past the far post.
It took Ilkeston until the 39th minute to break the deadlock in this fixture. Hardworking Michael Williams picked the ball up in the left cut inside the defender and fired his shot beyond the keeper into the near corner. Ilkeston then doubled their lead only 3 minutes later when captain Joe Maguire saw his long range shot deflected, the ball fell directly to the feet of Evan Garnett who slotted the ball home first time.
Ilkeston went into the break 2-0 up and were looking very comfortable, however within two minutes of the restart Holbrook had pulled a goal back. Isaac Minott powered his way past Joe Maguire in the area and fired his shot high into the roof of the net. It only took the Robins three minutes to restore their two goal lead when Danny Gordon picked the ball up around 30 yards out, skipped past two players and found the far left corner, leaving the keeper no chance.
It was one-way traffic from this point as Williams got his second and Ilkeston FC’s fourth. He played a lovely one-two with Garnett, which allowed Williams to slide home into an open goal from close range. With ten minutes to go Simons made it five, after great play from lively Curtis Burrows down the left, he laid the ball on a plate for Simons, who couldn’t miss and tapped it home.
Then a minute later it was six. Simons did extremely well down the right, drove into the area and played the ball to Simmons who finished the ball from around 2 yards out. It was turning into a rout when in the 84th minute Garnett picked the ball up 25 yards out, went past a tiring defender and released an unstoppable shot that flew in off the underside of the bar to make it seven. The Robins finished the scoring in the 88th minute as Simons got his second of the match as he broke into the area and left the keeper no chance, sliding the ball home under him.
Robins’ manager said, “We were surprised that it took us until the 39th minute to open the scoring. With no disrespect to Holbrook who kept battling through the whole game, we knew that we would be fitter and stronger so it was only a matter of time till we opened the scoring.”
“Having made five changes to the starting line-up it gave other players such as Jack Oldham, Danny Gordon and Curtis Burrows the opportunity to play and perform. It also gave us the chance to try Joe Maguire in central midfield for 45 minutes alongside Danny Gordon.”
“However we were disappointed that we conceded a goal in the manner that we did, with one long ball that wasn’t dealt with properly. But each of the eight goals that we scored were all very good in their own way.”
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