HESKETH RESERVES  2         OLD BOLTONIANS A  2

                                      Myers
                                      Mitchell (pen )


My God, it was cold. Very cold.

I have to admit, there is the odd occasion when one's enthusiasm for the lower reaches of amateur football does wane a little, and Saturday morning was one of them. With nothing much else to look forward to but a lie in in a nice warm bed and perhaps to indulge in some left over Xmas chocolates whilst waiting for Rosie to confirm that the match was off as the snow descended in sub-zero Siberian temperatures , a warm glow came over me. When he did text to say the game was on and all we had to look forward to was the long trip to Southport and a chill wind blowing off the Irish Sea and whistling up our shorts, I could hear a collective 'Bugger' from 13 houses in and around Bolton. 
Still, returning home 4 hours later, with a good result and performance and a decent away point under our belts, you remember what it's all about! Just about the right result and our unbeaten run extends to 3 matches.

This was an important match as this game starts a sequence of games against the teams around us in the lower half of the table and some decent results here would pull us clear and into the top half. Rosie had the lads well prepped and an early arrival at their place (before them) left us with plenty of time to think about the match ahead (and a little cold). However when we did kick off, it took us 20 minutes to get going and it looked as if mentally, we were all still in bed. By then we were one goal down. An unlucky defensive mix up between Baz and Dan left the Hesketh forward with only Hoppo to beat which he did easily by rounding him and slotting into an empty net. 1-0 Hesketh . It was time to rally the troops and go in search of the equalizer. Slowly, Bolts warmed up, and the passing became true and fast. Myers and Jack started to pull the strings and a buccaneering run through the heart of the Hesketh midfield and defence by Myers past 3 players left him with one defender and goalkeeper to beat. A desperate hack by the defender nearly brought Myers down and a definite penalty, but credit to Myers who kept on his feet and calmly slotted home to equalise. A very good goal. 1-1.

However Myers involvement in the game didn't last much longer as a crunching 50-50 tackle against their meathead midfielder left the Myers right knee in a bad way and he hobbled off with JC moving to centre midfield and Jordan slotting into right back. This immediately led to good things as twice Vinny did good work down the right and set up two very good chances, the closest came when JC fired in a rasper which was heading like a bullet into the bottom left corner, until a flailing Hesketh boot somehow deflected it onto the bar and over. Unlucky, and as it turned out a bit of a turning point as Hesketh promptly went up the other end and scored. Vinny lost possession on the right and a quick Hesketh move left the Bolts defence undermanned. A clever pass left one of their lads with time and space to chip the ball over Dave who had no chance. Words were needed at half-time. 2-1 Hesketh H-T.

The point was made that we were panicking and that we should get our foot on the ball and pass the ball around. This has happened a couple of times this year and when we sort it out, we play well. Fortunately, the whole team took it on board and we more or less dominated the 2nd half. The back 4 looked much more solid, with Baz and Campbell not giving the 2 forwards much change and Dan doing his defensive duties well whilst marauding forward when he could. Jordan was firing some quality long balls forward whilst being more than a match for their winger. All this with the knowledge of the reliable Hoppo behind us who was stopping anything that did get through.
All we needed to do was score. Damon was doing well on the left side of midfield and Vinny was working hard on the right. The centre midfield two of JC and Jack upped the workrate and it was only a matter of time for the breakthrough. Raz had a couple of good chances which should have been converted but it was left to The Maestro to get us out of this one. Having come on for the again hard working Rose, he looked dangerous straight away and he got lucky. A fair tackle just outside the box was deemed a penalty by the poor-ish ref, but we were happy to
take it. It was cooly despatched by the Maestro himself. 2-2.

We had 2 or 3 chances to win it at the end, most notably through Vinny and Mitchell, but a draw was probably a fair result. What was pleasing was the way we came back twice and ended up dominting the play. Also we held another team below us in the league positions. No player stood out for MofM, a good all round team performance. The long trip home was made in good spirits and a pint awaited in the much warmer 3 Pigeons. We all look forward to next week, which is also one week closer to summer !

Baz Ish