UNIBOND FIRST SOUTH
Shepshed Dynamo 1
Retford United 3

Goals from Mick Godber, Ben Chambers and Lee Whittington gave Retford a vital win at Rushall Olympic on Saturday, when Chris Bettney, signed from Bradford Park Avenue, made his debut.

And there was another surprise debutant on Tuesday night at Shepshed Dynamo, when Harvey signed on loan from Macclesfield Town.

On a bittlerly cold night in Leicestershire, Shepshed had the first early chance, Sam Saunders seeing a shot cleared by Tom Cowan for a corner.

United were soon on the attack, Bettney breaking forward to cross for Godber, who in turn found Harvey.

The striker tried to turn for a shot, but the referee, the first female to referee a senior United game, blew for a free-kick with Harvey's foot too high.

Shepshed's Ricky Hanson shot wide, then a mix-up in defence between Stuart Ludlam and Dan White let Saunders in again, only for him to shoot at Ross Turner.

The hosts then hit the crossbar when Shane Benjamin's effort took a deflection.

The opener came for Shepshed after 33 minutes, Benjamin crashing the ball home from close range after a free-kick on the edge of the United area.

Paul Grimes forced a good save from Gary Hateley when his shot was acrobatically turned away for a corner.

But four minutes before the break Harvey's cross was inch-perfect for Godber to head home past Hateley.

United finished the first half strongly, a long run on the right from Bettney saw his shot roll safely to the keeper, and then Godber played in Grimes who poked the ball into the path of Ollie Chappell, but his shot was deflected.

The second half saw Ryan Ford replace Chappell early on, and Ford was straight into the action as he met Ludlam's ball, shooting at the keeper.

Harvey found the net, but was just offside, and he went close shortly after, turning well to fire in a shot that was tipped away for a corner kick.

Shepshed did not give up and Benjamin's rocket of a shot was somehow cleared by the United defence, but the game was made harder for them on the hour, Godber grabbing his second from six yards.

Shepshed tried to find an equaliser, but were being frozen out by the Badgers defence.

A free-kick was spectacularly fired over by Hanson, and Benjamin's shot was straight at Turner.

Godber came close to a hat-trick when he struck Grimes' low ball, but the defence did enough to get a touch and stifle the effort.

The game was over on 78 minutes, Ford securing the points when he lashed home Godber's pass to give United a vital win against one of their rivals at the top of the league.

The victory was enough to put United into second position, only one point behind Carlton Town, with three games in hand.

l Badgers travel to Stamford on Saturday (3pm), and are away yet again on Tuesday night at FC Halifax Town (7.45pm) in the President's Cup.