Afternoon to forget as 10-man Worksop Town are well beaten by Ilkeston Town

Manager Craig Parry was disappointed with the result, saying: “I think in the first half we did well, we combated and got in at half-time in difficult conditions with the wind.

“But in the second half we just exploded, and there were too many players not at the races, too many mistakes, too many errors – put it all together and you get the second-half performance that we got.

“There’s no excuses on our part, it was a horrendous 45 minutes and the players have to take a good look at themselves really because like it wasn’t good enough in the second half.”

The first half unfolded as a cautious and uneventful contest, with both teams struggling to adapt to the challenging conditions.

Neither side was able to generate significant opportunities or show much composure in possession.

Ilkeston’s best chance of the half came when Thomas Cursons volleyed wide after a swirling clearance, caught by the wind, dropped back into the Worksop box.

The Tigers’ most promising moment arrived when Luke Hall broke down the left wing. His precise cross found Aleks Starcenko arriving on the edge of the area, but the midfielder's curling shot was deflected over the bar.

The second half began with a bang for the hosts, as Daniel smashed a low free-kick past Tommy Taylor just four minutes after the restart.

Six minutes later, Daniel doubled Ilkeston's lead. Captain Thomas Marshall headed down a deep corner at the back post, setting up Daniel to hammer the ball home with his left foot from close range.

The Tigers’ woes worsened moments later when captain Hamza Bencherif received a red card for shoving Jordan Stevens in the back as the forward surged toward goal on the left flank.

Worksop’s disastrous spell continued as Dixon outpaced Joe Leesley to a loose ball in midfield, driving forward before curling a superb strike into the top corner with his left foot.

Ilkeston kept pressing, forcing Taylor into a series of sharp saves, but Worksop’s struggles with possession and creativity left them unable to mount a comeback or test goalkeeper Matt Yates.

The Tigers will now shift focus to their next fixture, a home clash against Leek Town at the Windsor Foodservice Stadium on Saturday.