The first half had very few chances for both teams. After five minutes, Arron Johns opened the scoring when he received Kyle Diskin’s cross field pass. He was able to cut onto his right foot and hit a fantastic shot that dipped into the top right corner.

The Grove could only hold the lead for 19 minutes when a great pass from Basford captain, Lewis Carr allowed Kieran Wells in on goal and he was able to hit his shot across Chris Martin.

Kidsgrove came out in the second half and immediately forced Basford onto the back foot. This direct start saw captain Anthony Malbon played in after a brilliant pass from Diskin. However, Malbon’s shot was brilliantly saved by Saul Deeney in the Basford goal.
Malbon and Diskin continued to combine and cause the Basford defence problems.

They linked up again as Diskin played in Malbon who managed to beat one defender, but Deeney came out to parry his goal-bound shot.

Ten minutes before the end, Basford were starting to create dangerous chances as Wells went close again and Fabian Smith’s shot from distance was saved well by Martin.

Nearing the end of the match and Grove thought they found their winner after a drilled cross from Diskin squirmed under Deeney, despite the Kidsgrove appeals the linesman judged that it did not cross the line.

Two minutes into added time and Grove got their winner. Sensational play by Malbon saw him beat three defenders before laying it off to an unmarked Clayton who fired into the roof of the net.

Kidsgrove’s next match in the Evo-Stik First Division South is an away trip to Stamford on Saturday 11th March, kick-off at 3.00pm.