Badgers victorious at Ilkeston in friendly

Badgers won 4-0, against a mixture of first team players and academy youngsters from Ilkeston FC, including former Retford man Darryl Thomas.

The friendly was arranged after the Badgers’ original matches against Gainsborough and then Carlton Town were both called off at short notice.

It took only 47 seconds for Retford to take the lead, a cross from Chris Baugh wasn’t dealt with by the Ilkeston defence and Carl Haslam poked the ball over the line from close range to give Brett Marshall’s side the perfect start.

United were looking very strong throughout the game, and the scoreline could have been a lot worse for the Robins, but for their keeper who kept the United attack at bay, firstly saving Warren Hatfield’s shot, then blocking Steve Carty’s effort and also doing well to prevent Carl Halsam.

Ilkeston had a half chance through a header that sailed over the bar, then Jason Fisher produced the save of the match with a superb one handed save to give Ilkeston a corner.

Jamie Brown had a good game, making telling runs into the Ilkeston box, but it was Adam Scott who netted the next two goals, the first after good link up with Haslam,

The ball was hit on target, taking a deflection to wrong foot the keeper, then less than 10 minutes later, Haslam was pulled in the box and Scott stepped up to score the resulting penalty.

With the pitch getting harder by the minute, the second half was shortened, but it still gave time for another goal, Ollie Chappell getting into the box before firing the fourth of the evening on the turn to round off an excellent result and worthwhile training session for both sides.