In the midst of their worst run of form of the season with only two league
wins in six, the Old Boltonians were feeling the strain of a failed title
charge and condensed cup run. Lymm were the visitors to the 'oldest
football pitch in the world' having already been relegated from the LAL's
elite this season. A beautiful sunny day was the backdrop for this game
that promised to be closer than the league positions suggested.

The Old Boltonians started the game like a hydrogen-oxygen combination at
stoichiometric concentration in the presence of an ignition source. Boom.
It should have been 1-0 within a matter of minutes - Rob Taylor missing a
guilt edged chance with only the keeper to beat. The Old Boltonians
continued to pressurise the Lymm defence in search for the first goal that
would settle any nerves. A number of chances were made and a number of
chances were missed. The Old Boltonians defence and keeper Anthony Duffy
had little to do except to clean up any rare Lymm attacks and try not to
get too frustrated as a failure to hit the goal looked as though it may be
their downfall again. They needn't have worried, as 15 minutes into the
game, the Old Boltonians took the lead. Although, I must apologise, as I
can't remember the scorer nor anything about the goal - I bet it was a
cracker though. 1-0.

Complacency. A word that has been used all too often in the match reports
for the 1st XI during this season. And today it reared it's ugly head
again. No sooner had the Old Boltonians taken a deserved lead then a sloppy
piece of play allowed Lymm, who had barely been inside the Old Boltonians
half in the game, to get an equaliser. The tricky Lymm forward was allowed
to turn on the right corner of the penalty area and was afforded far too
much room to pick a cross into the box. The Lymm centre midfielder walked
unmarked into the box and flicked a glancing header into the Old Boltonians
net. Worryingly poor play. 1-1.

Despite, the pattern of the game remaining unchanged for the remainder of
the half and the Old Boltonians hitting the woodwork on two occasions,
through Darren Dalton and Rick McCllelan, the game remained at 1-1 at half
time.

The second half was no different to the first. The Old Boltonians had far
greater ball possession and were retaining the ball well. They just didn't
look like they were going to force another goal that they deserved. James
Kinsler (aka Eggy), however, was a believer. He sauntered forward from the
back to add his considerable presence to the umpteenth Old Boltonians
corner of the game. The ball was delivered to the back post, where Eggy had
lost his man and he powered a header into the corner of the goal. 2-1.

The game was effectively put to bed at that moment. Apart from hitting a
post late on, Lymm threatened rarely. Old Boltonians made three
substitutions in quick succession, with new blood Dom Grimes, forward Paul
Wheatcroft and Ju Stevens (who is rumoured to have played in the very first
game on these pitches!) were welcomed to the pitch. The substitutions had
immediate impact, as Paul Wheatcroft added to his tally for the season with
a powerful strike into the corner of the net, after Josh 'born again
virgin' Melling had an attempt controversially cleared off the line. Final
score 3-1.