Rams open pre-season with victory

The Rams opened their 2007 pre-season with a 5-1 victory against Unibond Premier League side Ilkeston Town on Saturday.

The damage was done in the first half with the Rams racing to a 4-0 lead, courtesy of a Jon Macken double, a Gary Teale solo effort and an own goal from Robins left-back Lee Featherstone, which effectively killed the game off.

The first goal came in the ninth minute, Jay McEveley cross finished off by Macken from close-range.

It was 2-0 on the half-hour Teale`s run beat two defenders, and he cut inside to finish clinically past Town keeper Dan Trueman.

The Rams were in again three minutes later, and Teale was involved again, his low cross fired home by Macken from close-range. The fourth was an own goal from Town defender Lee Featherstone, after Jason Beardsley had seen his shot cannon back of the crossbar the unfortunate Featherstone headed into his own goal.

The second half was a much tighter affair with both teams making a number of changes, and the home sides pulled a goal back with a Dougie Wade penalty, before Bob Malcolm rounded off proceedings with a close-range tap in late in the game.

The Rams had two games on the day, so the Rams coaching staff split their squad mixing the first team with academy products, with a Derby County XI also playing out a 1-1 draw at Blue Square Conference team Stafford Rangers with Paris Simmons on target

Ilkeston Town: Trueman, Douglas, Featherstone (Hopkins 46), Holmes (c) (Wilson 46), Woolley, Brewer, Hindley (Wade 46), Gardner (Walker 46), Muller (Carruthers 46), Ross (Palmer 46), Hunter (Pameira 46).

Rams; Camp (Kean 63), Edworthy, McEveley (Meredith 46), Leacock (Addison 63), Johnson (c), Beardsley, Camara (Amory), Malcolm, Pearson (Booth 63), Teale (Mills 63), Macken (Ujcik 63).

Att: 1185