**FROLESWORTH UNITED 3-2 LUTTERWORTH TOWN**
FROLESWORTH United began their pre-season preparations with a dramatic late win against ground-sharing Lutterworth Town on Thursday night.
Lincoln Land Loggers team-mates Josh van Allen and Dominic Ivens combined from the latter’s corner kick in the final minute of stoppage time, to snatch a well-deserved victory.
Manager Ben Harris chose an interesting first XI as he had a paucity of options in midfield, with Joe Swanwick, Steven Bottom, Sam Putnam, Jake Pantony, Greg Garner, Luke Hammond and Miles Splevings all unavailable.
Instead, the industrious Eddie Glaister returned alongside club captain Craig Rowbottom in front of the back four, with Ivens, Marin Fennon and Joe Cook providing support for lone-striker Chris Bradshaw in a 4-2-3-1 formation.
But the game was to begin in farcical circumstances for Bradshaw, who has recently penned a new contract at the Warren, as Algerian referee Ali Ramezenkani ordered the front-man off to remove his tragus piercing, meaning the Clarets started the match with just 10 men.
And the incident had an immediately unsettling impact on the side, who conceded the opening goal after just four minutes, much to the manager’s frustration. Goalkeeper Matt Errington could only flap at a difficult high ball in to the box and he watched on helplessly as the ball sailed back over his head and into the empty net.
It wasn’t an ideal start for the Rabbits, but they soon started bouncing along again when Ivens fed an aerial ball through to Fennon, who was bombing on beyond the opposition’s backline, but he could only fire straight at the keeper.
The hosts were soon to be on level terms, though, via a method that has become increasingly dangerous for Harris’ side and will surely be a tactic employed during the new season.
Centre-half Mark James’ long-throw to Bradshaw, who effortlessly laid the ball back to the onrushing Cook and last season’s top scorer did the rest with a jinking run and finish on 12 minutes.
And Frolesworth’s big new signing continued to petrify Town’s back four when he latched on to Mark Baker’s delicate ball down the channel, before sliding the ball through the defender’s legs and teeing-up Ivens for a volley on the edge of the box, but the Philippine winger could only misfire wide.
Frolesworth by now had begun to move through the gears and Harris sent on van Allen and Sam Young in place of Rowbottom and Jack Boulton respectively, to give his side fresh impetus after the break.
And United soon found themselves ahead just before the hour mark, when the impressive Bradshaw was upended in the penalty box and substitute Young converted from the spot to notch his first goal for the Country Boys.
Young’s introduction had given Frolesworth some natural width on the left, but it was Ivens this time who sent an inch-perfect cross for the head of Bradshaw, but he was denied his first goal for the club after his superb header was somehow clawed onto the crossbar by the opposing goalkeeper.
Harris then replaced the injured Mark Baker with chairman Josh Baines in the 70th minute and right-back Matt Pell received the biggest cheer of the evening when he clumsily fell over the ball.
However, for all of the home side’s domination, it looked as though victory would elude them, when another defensive mix-up enabled Town to level with just over 10 minutes remaining.
But Frolesworth continued to plug away right to the last and they couldn’t have left it much later to snatch the win, with van Allen crashing home a header from Ivens’ corner.
Ultimately, it was a good exercise for Frolesworth who have no injury concerns from the game and welcome back several players from holiday, It just remains a shame that Ivens and van Allen return to the United States in a matter of weeks.
FROLESWORTH: ERRINGTON, FINNIGAN (45 FOR PELL), BOULTON (45 FOR YOUNG), JAMES, BAKER (70 FOR BAINES), ROWBOTTOM (45 FOR VAN ALLEN), GLAISTER, IVENS, FENNON, COOK, BRADSHAW.
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