Sleaford put five past Lions​

​Heanor had won three on the bounce coming into to the weekend’s contest but were no match for a Greens side looking to right the wrongs of a narrow 2-1 defeat at home to Anstey Nomads the previous weekend.

The win was all the more impressive given player/manager Tom Ward remained without a host of important faces ahead of the contest in Derbyshire with Joe Smith, Rodrigo Goncalves and Ryan Rushen all absent once again.

There was good news for Ward though as Mitch Griffiths returned from his suspension for a red card received against Leicester Nirvana and represented the single change made by Ward following that 2-1 defeat to Anstey, taking the place of the injured Goncalves.

The visitors were quickly out of the blocks and lead within three minutes of kick-off when Jacob Fenton cut inside his man and powered past Heanor keeper Adam Revuelta.

The impressive Akeel Francis doubled the Greens’ advantage from the spot with just under ten minutes of the first half remaining, before Fenton all but put the hosts out of the contest in the 39th minute, nipping in between defender and keeper to slot into an empty net.

The Greens kept up the frantic pace during the second half and made it four in the 68th minute when Francis was on hand to secure his brace, smashing home after Charlie Ward’s knock down, before the scoring was completed by Griffiths with just over ten minutes remaining, blasting beyond Revuelta from the right.

Assistant manager Louis Bland was delighted with the win, saying afterwards: “Today we were excellent. I thought the back four were brilliant, I thought [Lewis] Daff, Carl [Adiku] and Matt [McBride] showed loads of energy. With Mitch [Griffiths], Akeel [Francis] and [Jacob] Fenton I think the quality was immense at times.”

Sleaford now prepare to host Belper United on Saturday.