Old Bolts 'A' 3 Horwich Victoria Reserves 1
In contrast to last week, our preparation was looking good from the off. The bench actually existed this week and was warmed with quality with the returning Lynch, Grimes and the versatile Neasham, all providing insurance against the fragile Hughes groin. The team were also encouraged by the appearance of Roberts who would not have looked out of place on the catwalks of Milan with his new Goalkeeping garments. We did not know whether to shoot at him in the warm-up or just take photos.
From the off Old Bolts looked up for it. Strong in the challenge and vocal throughout, encouragement and appreciation of each other is a real facet of this team. The fitness levels are picking up each week and this is starting to help the team progress. Old Bolts got the crucial breakthrough early in the first half. A raking through ball from Rose out on the right, dropped in to the penalty area. Ellis, fearful of being cleared out by their overweight goalkeeper, reprised his salmon impersonation and managed to get his head to the ball first. The ball looped in to the back of the net. 1-0. Great start.
Defensively, Old Bolts continue to look solid. The hard work starts in the midfield with Arnold and Witter tracking their men and putting in some great challenges. This ethos is continued out on the flanks with Wright and Beardall putting in the hard work too. The back four again look like a strong unit. The experience and communication of Ishaque combined with the tackling and distribution of Davids and Timmis is becoming the backbone of the team. For all their dominance, however, we switched off for one minute and allowed the opposition to equalise from a soft freekick.
We are made of stronger stuff these days though and hit back straight away. Again, another quality through ball came from the right flank. Wright looked up and picked out Ellis in acres of space. Despite requiring 5 minutes to control the ball, he then duly dispatched it, helped in no small part by the goalkeeper falling back under his own weight.
In the 2nd half, the opposition started to get themselves in to the game more and the challenges started to get a bit tasty. Hughes, restricted by his cycling shorts that were last aired in the 1980s, continued to put their defence under pressure whenever possible winning key headers. Chances came to alleviate the pressure on Old Bolts, but sadly they were not converted. Inevitably, the game became tight and Old Bolts were reliant on a couple of great saves from the dapper Roberts and also escaped when the crossbar was rattled.
Old Bolts continued to look dangerous on the break though and Ellis charged down a clearance, rounded the keeper and sealed the win in the last 5 minutes. The entire Old Bolts performance was encapsulated with a thunderous but fair tackle from Witter in the last couple of minutes. And just like their midfielder, it signalled the end of Horwich"s involvement in the game.
Despite the improvement within the team, some things will never change. This was underlined in the changing room after the game when Chipper Timmis piped up, "Has anyone seen my trackie bottoms?”. Brilliant.
Man of the Match - Jules Ellis – made up for last week’s horror show!