Blackrod Town 2 Old Bolts A Team 4

29/1/12

The Old Bolts A Team title charge continued in impressive, if not glamorous fashion with a mud-soaked victory away at current league leaders Blackrod Town. The early pattern of the game saw the visitors exchanging passes with a slickness that defied the less than unfavourable surface, as defence, midfield and attack linked up interchangeably, particularly down the left flank. Numerous openings were fashioned as a result but with nothing troubling the scoreboard, there was only ever going to be one outcome. The home side broke and after a scramble in the area were left with the simplest of finishes to go a goal ahead, very much against the run of play.

Heads did not go down however and the A team's pressure finally paid off when Abbott latched onto an Elliott through ball to coolly slot home an equaliser on half an hour"s play. Continued guile lead to a crossing opportunity for buccaneering left-back Curtin. He duly delivered a curling centre to the back post, to which Gaynor was more than equal. His guided cross-goal header left the Old Bolts leading, and buoyant, at half-time. Milne was at his loquacious best to rally the troops during the interval, before what turned out to be a hard-fought second half.

As the quality of the surface worsened so did the football on display. The temper of the opposition began to fray and Southern was soon able to capitalise after a parried (and shocking) miss from Abbott to finish well and stretch the lead to 3-1. Blackrod lifted themselves from the mire, and profited from another corner-inspired scramble with a finish issued from a suspiciously high foot. A fightback seemed momentarily feasible, but the battling qualities of Hobbiss and the defence snuffed out any spark of opposition inspiratrion. With the score at 3-2 the play became more frenetic as both teams strived to extend and extinguish the lead respectively, but it was Old Bolts who struck the pivotal next goal. Fleet of foot Gaynor beat his man and produced a superb cross which found Abbott well placed to volley home from inside the box. The A team enjoyed this cushion and could have extended the lead, and the back four continued to soak up any opposition pressure, with Brabbin once again impressive throughout. Another dominant team display and the momentum of this growlingly assured side continues to build.