​Heanor see off Pinxton in Derbyshire Senior Cup

The Lions were on the front foot from the start and were denied a penalty in the fifth minute after a cross from Sacha Markelic appeared to strike a Pinxton hand in the penalty area but the referee saw nothing doing.

Kieran Debrouwer came close ten minutes later when he met a cross from Markelic following good work by Josh Craddock but his powerful left footed effort was just over the Pinxton crossbar.

Markelic came close moments later, meeting a flick from Debrouwer which again narrowly went over the bar.

The Lions made the deserved breakthrough in the 22nd minute. A corner from Joe Nice was met by the unmarked Markelic who smartly finished into the bottom left corner.

Pinxton began to grow in confidence and nearly levelled the game on 32 minutes as Nathan Benger got onto the end of a through ball and saw his effort come off the inside of the post before Jake Carlisle cleared the ball from danger.

Ten minutes later though, the hosts levelled affairs. A ball into the box from the left wing was met by the head of Aaron Northmore who found the back of the net.

Heanor came out in the second 45 determined to make their first half dominance count. Markelic forced the keeper into a great save from a 30 yard free kick before Carlisle and Debrouwer also came close.

The home side went down to ten men with just under 15 minutes to go thanks to a second yellow card, then Markelic had a shot cleared off the line before the breakthrough came from an unlikely source in the 86th minute.

Reece Horne received the ball out on the right in acres of space, took a touch and delivered a teasing cross-come-shot which fooled everyone and nestled into the bottom corner.

Pinxton had another man sent off late on and Heanor soon wrapped things up when Markelic spotted the keeper off his line who got a hand to the ball but was unable to keep the effort out.

It’s three wins on the bounce for The Lions who travel to Lincoln United this Saturday in the FA Vase.