REPORT: Newark & Sherwood United 0-2 Quorn

Quorn kicked off preseason with a routine 2-0 win away to step five Newark & Sherwood United. Billy Kee and Oscar Marshall scored the goals as the Reds were rarely troubled in their preseason debut.

The match was played at Winthorpe & Coddington Tigers’ Phoenix Park ground, which featured a very hard pitch which had suffered during the recent dry spell, with barely any patches of green amongst the scorched grass. With the surface causing many bobbles, both sides struggled to get the ball down and play, but Quorn adapted quickest and took an early lead.

Zak Goodson picked up where he left off last season, a constant menace on the right hand side as he consistently got the better of his man, only to be foiled by the pitch. But it was Goodson’s delicious ball to the back post that picked out Kee, who cut across his marker, and headed in the opener.

Ryan Flitton was the busier of the two keepers, making a couple of excellent diving saves in the first half, but Newark did create a couple of chances. Former Red Tyrell Shannon-Lewis got in behind the defence and looked to have been brought down, but the Referee waved away his appeals for a penalty. Tom Allsopp was only called on once in 70 minutes of action, but he had to be alert to keep out what looked like an immediate equaliser, diving to his right to push a stinging drive round the post.

Ryan Beswick, who didn’t play any part in the match, made nine changes at the break, making sure that he kept his players fresh in the sweltering conditions, as Quorn have two more matches to come this week. Flitton was called upon several more times in the second half, making a good save from Simeon Cobourne as the Reds piled on the pressure. The second goal came with a little over 10 minutes to play, as Marshall pounced on a defensive mix-up to steal the ball from a Newark throw-in and round Flitton to stroke the ball into an open goal.

Next up for Quorn are home ties with Tamworth (Tuesday 8th of July, 19:45 KO) and Hinckley AFC (Thursday 10th of July, 19:45 KO).