Elston United put on one of their best performances of the season to overcome Notts Olympic and claim the Nottinghamshire Senior League Division 2 championship. Following last season’s promotion from Division 2, The Clams have deservedly gone one better, winning 18 and losing only three games of the campaign.

Elston started the game strongly and could have gone ahead in the first minute when Harry Johnson’s shot went just over the bar. Johnson didn’t need long to make amends, however. In the twelfth minute, Sam Lloyd won the ball in midfield before finding James Scott, whose pass in behind the Notts Olympic defence was met by Johnson who chipped the ball over the advancing keeper.

By this stage, Elston’s high-energy press meant that Notts Olympic were finding it difficult to get out of their own half and Elston were able to create a string of opportunities. After 20 minutes Scott could only find the keeper after beating two players in the box, and further chances fell to Johnson, James Clarke and Louis Cross before the half-time whistle.

In the second half, Scott headed over the bar from a Louis Cross corner, but Notts Olympic started to get more of a foothold in the game. In the 70th minute, Brad Musgrove saved brilliantly at the far post following a flowing Notts Olympic attack. The addition of Elston substitutes added fresh energy to the home team and in the 83rd minute Scott sent the keeper the wrong way from the spot, after the Notts Olympic defender was unluckily adjudged to have handled the ball in the box.

Further late chances fell to Curtis French, Kieran Adams, Rui Thacker and Louis Cross, but no-one was complaining that they weren’t converted. On the final whistle the entire squad celebrated their league title victory on the pitch, and the champagne, which had been on ice for two weeks, was finally uncorked by Martin Scott, the delighted Elston manager.

Elston United: Brad Musgrove, Barney Repper, James Smith, Toby Craven, Tom Hazelwood, Louis Cross (Archie Dillon 90), Sam Lloyd (Joe Wroughton 80), Harry Johnson (Kieran Adams 67), James Scott, Will Veys (Curtis French 67), James Clarke (Rui Thacker 67).