Pat on the back for ground staff

Ilkeston manager Kevin Wilson has hailed the club’s ground staff for helping to stage the last Saturday’s 3-3 thriller with FC United of Manchester in the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League’s top flight, writes James Wright.

Desperate to see the game played after their New Year’s Day clash with Buxton was postponed due to the wet weather and with FCUM on their way down the M6, Wilson joined ground staff and other club officials who were out forking a sodden surface at the New Manor Ground in the run-up to a lunchtime pitch inspection by match officials.

An earlier 10am inspection by a local official had failed but their efforts paid off with nearly a 1,000 fans later enjoying the clash, described by Wilson as a ‘great advert’ for the league.

The Robins manager said: "I would like to thank everyone at the club who pulled out all the stops to make this match go ahead as planned. It was well worth the time and effort that everyone put in. FC United and ourselves set a great advert for the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League and it was probably the best game of football I’ve seen this season, truly absorbing."

Ilkeston’s efforts to drain the sodden pitch before the official pitch inspection at 12.30pm didn’t go unrecognised by the official matchday referee Ben Cooke either.

Praising the Robins in a letter to the Evo-Stik NPL, the official wrote: "May I take this opportunity to thank the Ilkeston FC ground staff for an inspirational effort to get the game on because at 10.30am it wasn’t playable. We also had to arrive early to inspect the pitch and, with a spare two-and-a-half-hours to kill in Ilkeston, the staff looked after us and we were made most welcome. This game was a credit to our league and was most entertaining."