Hucknall Town's Watnall Road farewell ends in bitter defeat to Aylestone Park

Hucknall Town's farewell to Watnall Road didn't have the fairy tale ending that the home fans had hoped for as they were beaten 2-0 in controversial circumstances by league leaders Aylestone Park.

Playing in their final league game at the venue which has been their home for 79 years, The Yellows were somewhat unfortunate to find themselves reduced to ten men for the last ten minutes and were duly punished by very late goals from Aaron Preston and Aaron Nuttall.

With an impressive 806 fans in attendance, taking advantage of the free admission on a historic day, Hucknall made a good start to what was a scrappy opening between two of the best sides in the league attempting to work each other out.

Just over ten minutes in, Craig Westcarr thought he'd put Hucknall in front heading home an excellent left wing cross. However, the referee was quick to dampen the enthusiasm of the home fans signalling for a foul in what looked a harsh decision. It wouldn't be the final questionable decision made by the officials during the game.

The disallowed goal killed Hucknall's early momentum and most of the rest of the first half became a disjointed, fairly uneventful affair that struggled to flow.

As the game drifted into added time at the end of the first half, the game burst into life for all the wrong reasons. A tussle on the halfway line saw Hucknall's Aaron Lamb bundled to the floor and in the tangle, deliberately kicked in the face by an Aylestone player.

A melee between both sets of players ensued and when things had finally calmed down the referee issued a couple of yellow cards and didn't even award Hucknall a free kick much to the exasperation of the crowd and the Hucknall bench who felt it should have been a straight red card.

The second half was a much better spectacle and one that Hucknall shaded up until the sending off.

Kieran Knight uncharacteristically dragged a shot wide early in the half after good build up play from the hosts, before Billy Brooks, unmarked at a corner, fired a shot over the bar when he had time to produce a more composed finish.

Then came the huge turning point, as the clock ticked into the last ten minutes, Cayne Maxwell was shown a second yellow card for a cynical challenge on the halfway line which stopped an Aylestone break.

The visitors made their numerical advantage count as Preston headed home with six minutes remaining.

Hucknall continued to press for a goal but left themselves vulnerable to the counter attack as Nuttall rolled the ball into an open net after goalkeeper Jake Pearson had collided with an Aylestone attacker and the referee deemed it to have been a fair challenge.

The full time whistle sounded shortly afterwards bringing to an end a frustrating but incredibly memorable afternoon for the Hucknall faithful as the curtain was drawn on their time at Watnall Road.