A Ruben Wiggins-Thomas brace helped Kidsgrove Athletic to a 4-1 victory over ten man Ilkeston Town at the AutoNet Insurance stadium.

Wiggins-Thomas opened the scoring inside 15 minutes before a Jamie Walker penalty levelled up the scores. Then before the interval Ilkeston debutant, Christian Oxlade Chamberlain received a red card which Kidsgrove capitalised on, as a minute after the break Wiggins-Thomas ensured that his side regained their lead before further goals by Rhys Thompson and second-half substitute Lee Williamson sealed a comfortable victory for the home side.

The encounter did begin very brightly with the Robins dominating the early possession but both sides did pose a threat when breaking forward with both William Davies for Ilkeston and on loan Crewe Alexandra midfielder Josh Lundstram for the Grove having efforts just sail over the crossbar.

However, it was the hosts that did break the deadlock when Lundstram slipped in Wiggins- Thomas who slid the ball under Ross Durrant after the visitors gave away the ball cheaply inside their area.

The visitors sought for an immediate response with Kole Lambert forcing Kieron Harrison into a good save when he shot from the edge of the box on 29 minutes.

Although it didn’t take long for them to equalise as just two minutes later Jamie Walker earned a penalty when he was brought down inside the box. He had no problems sending Harrison the wrong way from the resulting spot-kick.

However, the complexity of the game changed on 38 minutes when Thompson was played through on goal. He was brought down just outside the area by Oxlade Chamberlain and the referee decided to award the on loan Notts County defender a red card for denying a clear goal scoring opportunity.

It was this key moment that did end up to prove to be the telling difference between the two sides as a minute after the interval the Grove regained their advantage when Wiggins- Thomas slotted the ball into the bottom right hand corner when he worked some room for himself on the left-hand side of the box.

The hosts added a third on 57th minutes and made it very difficult for Ilkeston to get back into the game when a well worked move ended up with Thompson connecting with an Alex Morris cross from the left which flew into the top left-hand corner of the goal.

If it wasn’t for a spectacular Durrant save, Kidsgrove could have had a fourth on 67 minutes when Williamson, who came on moments before,
had a curling effort from outside the box. However, the goalkeeper managed to somehow tip it wide of the post.

With 14 minutes remaining Wiggins- Thomas had a fantastic opportunity to grab his hat trick when he was once again slipped in by Lundstram but his low effort from a tight angle was well blocked by the legs of Durrant.

The Grove did get their much deserved fourth goal deep into stoppage time when captain Anthony Malbon cleverly flicked the ball through to Williamson who from the left-hand side of the box smashed the ball into the top right-hand corner which sealed a fantastic victory for the home side against an opponent that were sitting just outside of the playoff positions at the start of the day.

Kidsgrove Athletic: Harrison, Hart, Morris, Hall, Duffy, Butler, Thompson (Williamson, 63), Blake, Wiggins-Thomas (Adu- Gyamfi, 86), Malbon and Lundstrum.
Unused subs: Jennings and Kurasik.

Ilkeston Town: Durrant, Oxdale-Chamberlain, Campbell-Gordan (Lee, 68), Racchi, Robinson, Fenton, Davis (McDonald, 68), Hollis, Lambert (Marshall, 46), Fyre and Walker.
Unused subs: Freeman and Stainsby.

Attendance: 225