Ricoux goal secures gutsy win for Town men’s 3rd XI

LOUGHBOROUGH TOWN MEN’S 3RD XI 1 MELTON 1ST XI 0 MIDLANDS MEN’S DIVISION 5 EAST AFTER successive away defeats Town hosted Melton 1s looking for their first points of the season. The new look side were looking to build on all the positives from their previous games.

After winning the coin toss Town started with the ball, though were immediately put under pressure when a wayward pass from Captain Mark Dalby, after receiving the centre pass, gave Melton the ball. Some strong defending from Rory Cook, David Ottewell and Oli Jones kept the scoresheet clean.

As the home side struggled for any kind of sustained possession, Melton continued to keep the pressure on resulting in some fine saves from goal keeper Guy Heywood, who rightly earned his player of the match performance.

Against the run of play Town should have taken the lead, as a well worked breakaway put Nathan Holifield through one on one with the Melton keeper. Trying to slot the ball between the keepers legs his shot was saved well.

Another good attack from Melton resulted in a short corner though a diving save from Heywood kept the score at 0-0 going into halftime. Whilst not out of the game, Town were lucky not to be down a goal or two and solid team defending was keeping Melton at bay.

As they say it’s a game of two halves, and in the second Town were vastly improved.

They now matched Melton’s intensity and started to get good possession of the ball leading to scoring opportunities. Matt Younger having a fine game started to assert some influence, as Town started to play a lot more in Melton’s half.

The better chances on the whole fell to Melton though they couldn’t get the ball into the net. And as this tight game played out it was probably going to be one goal which would win it.

With five minutes to go Town scored that only goal of the game. A fine move down the left-hand side saw Tom Haworth-Edwards cross the ball towards the penalty spot, where it seemed to be lifted by a defenders stick, to a waiting Alex Ricoux who volleyed the ball high into the goal.

Melton continued to press hard though Town saw out the remaining minutes to take the three points and their first win of the season. An enjoyable close game of hockey from both sides and on reflection a draw would have been a fair result.

As the league now takes a weekend off, Town will next play away at Derby and will be looking to build on this solid performance to move away from the bottom of the table.