Goal-happy Robins clinch Cup prize

Ilkeston FC finally discovered the route to goal last night to claim the prize of a home draw with Gresley FC in the third qualifying round of the FA Cup on Saturday October 6.

The 5-1 demolition of Belper Town proved to be a far more comfortable than Kevin Wilson’s men could have expected after Saturday’s 2-2 draw at the New Manor Ground but even then, we had to come from behind to win.

Said the manager: “We’ve been waiting some time for a performance like that and I hope it was another big lesson learned by the players. We are a footballing team and when we get it down and pass it - as we did last night - other clubs at this level can’t live with us.

* Our Academy game at Chasetown scheduled for this afternoon was postponed, with a new date for the match to be announced in due course.

“The problem has been that too often in the early weeks of this season the players have not taken on board the information they’ve been given. They did it last night - and hopefully they will remember it as an important part of their education.”

The acute injury-problems again meant that Wilson had to send out a very inexperienced team but they were more than equal to the task.

He added: “It was really disappointing to concede another early goal, which is happening far too often. We cannot keep chasing games and expect to win them but to be fair, the response last night was terrific.”

The 18th minute equaliser came from an own goal before Aaron Hooton scored his first for the Robins with a superb header and further strikes before half time from star-man Matt Richards (pictured) and Daryll Thomas lifted the game beyond Belper’s reach.

Dion Chambers also opened his Ilkeston FC goals account in the second period as they emphasised their superiority and Wilson said: “There were lots of good individual performances but more important still, it was a really strong team display.

“The boys can only gain confidence from that and hopefully it will put them in a good frame of mind to tackle a tough challenge in the FA Trophy at Stourbridge on Saturday.

“We’ve got 11 days now to concentrate on cup football and enjoy the experience but the key thing is to come out of that period ready to really kick on with the League programme.”

* Our Academy game scheduled to be played at Chasetown this afternoon was postponed, with a new date to be announced in due course.