Boss Craig Parry happy with professional display as Worksop Town win at Ilkeston Town in sweltering heat

Liam Hughes headed Worksop into a seventh-minute lead as he escaped his marker to freely head home from Terry Hawkridge’s corner.

On 23 minutes, Paul Green doubled the Tigers’ advantage with a well-taken finish that saw him pluck Josh Wilde’s crossfield pass out of the air, cut across the defender, and wrap his shot into the far corner.

Ilkeston did respond on 63 minutes through Connor Dixon’s long-range effort, but Worksop saw the game out to inflict defeat on the Robins’ new manager Ian Deakin’s homecoming.

Parry was delighted to pick up an important three points to maintain pace with the top five.

“I’m really pleased with the win,” he said. "It’s a tough place to come and that became even tougher with the heat.

“We had two players come off the pitch with dehydration and sunstroke and people were feeling sick – it was so, so hot.

“So to come away in these conditions and get a win is good and if you look at the performance from us, it was a good professional one from us.

“We played two types of games today. First half, we had a go and dictated play and then in the second half we knew they’d come out well, so we just needed to man-manage the game and I thought we did that superbly.

“A new manager was coming into the place so we thought that there would be an injection of energy and sometimes when you are 2-0 up, it is easier to have a go rather than hanging onto a lead.”

The Tigers travel to Lincoln United in the Emirates FA Cup Second Round Qualifying on Saturday afternoon – a fixture that hasn’t been one for the neutral, providing just three goals in three games there; just one of those for Worksop.

However, Parry is not deterred by past meetings.

“From going there last year, it’s a difficult place to go,” added Parry.

“It’s a cup game, so it’s a shoot-out but we want to do well in the FA Cup and go as far as we can.

“The games we have lost there, they sat many men behind the ball and tried to counter us.

“I am not sure how they will approach the game this time around but we have done our research as we always do and we have an idea of how they set up, but my philosophy stays the same.”