A summary of Newark sport - Sunday 28th December.

It all started so well for Newark Town at Blackstones. Two goals in the opening ten minutes should have put “The Blues” in the driving seat but twenty minutes later parity had been restored. As it turned out that was only the beginning of the afternoon’s entertainment, Town restored the lead, conceded a debatable penalty, and had their centre-forward sin-binned. Fourteen minutes of injury time brought a red card to the home manager, promptly followed by the winning goal for his team. 

Despite their seventh defeat of the season, Town are still very well-placed sitting ten points above the dreaded play-off line.  

Credit: Video courtesy of Craig Robertson.

Boston Town remain in pole position despite dropping two points at Skegness. Second place Sherwood Colliery also had to settle for a draw while “The Gingerbreads” won the bragging rights in the first ever competitive Grantham derby, watched by a crowd of 1220 spectators at Harrowby. 

The final team making up the play-offs are Eastwood CFC and if you thought the Newark match was crazy, the match at Coronation Park against Kimberley was almost unbelievable. 

With Newark’s top whistler Gav Rice in the middle, Eastwood scored six goals without reply inside the opening thirty-six minutes, their opponents scored the next five, and both sides hit the woodwork before the home finished the scoring. A busy day for Mr Rice.

Collingham was our only other local team in action with the Notts Senior League sending then across Nottingham to face Wollaton, a three-one defeat and a battle with the Forest vs Man City traffic making it a miserable awayday. The villager's consolation goal coming from Harrison Gomm. 

Finally, as we predicted, the largest crowd of the day was at “The Rail” as 1359 turned up for the Retford derby. United’s two goal victory means they trail their neighbours by nine points with a match in hand, and they must meet again at Easter.