RADCLIFFE BOYS RESERVES (1ST TEAM?) 1 OLD BOLTONIANS A 1
V. Hulton
When we arrived for this game, things didn't look good. The squad was depleted by three late Saturday morning drop outs and the Radcliffe team that warmed up opposite us looked suspiciously like the team that had played our 2nd team in Div 2 earlier in the season and even our first team in a pre-season friendly in August. There were dark mutterings of 'let's do our best to keep the score down' and other such defeatist talk, but this was quickly squashed by Field- Marshall Rose and General Ishaque and a positive attitude was instilled in the lads before the whistle went and the lads went over the top. However, things weren't helped by the late arrival for the last two minutes of our warm-up by Danny Decay who alledged this was down to a flat tyre, but in reality was because he had come straight from his works xmas do the night before. He promptly fell over while trying to run in a straight line.
Things looked even worse after only 5 minutes of the matched when Radcliffe took the lead. A long ball out of their defence was aimed at their very handy striker. He easily outjumped Baz Ish (who was weighed down by a belly full of lager from afore mentioned works do) and flicked the ball on to two onrushing Radcliffe players, either of whom could have scored such was the marking. One of them did, leaving Hoppo with no chance. The next 15 mins would be vital depending on how Bolts would respond. and they responded well. The central midfield of Mullins and Myers slowly took command and some quality crosses were being played in for Rosie and Damo up front from Vinny out on the left and JC out on the right. Rosie was having a great game as the central target man, and this is how the equaliser was created. Mullins beat a Radcliffe player on the right of midfield and cut inside to look to pass down the central channel. Rosie and Damo took a couple of defenders with them and this left Vinny with acres of space over on the left. Mullins made the right call and passed to Vinny and all he had to do was finish by beating the sizeable Radcliffe keeper. Vinny set himself to place it past the keeper on his right foot, but then cut back onto his left to wrong foot the keeper. The Bolts lads were willing Vinny to slot home then, but Vinny knew better . He toyed with keeper (and the rest of us) and then cut back onto his right foot and nonchalanntly chipped over the keeper and the ball ended up nestling in the back of the Radcliffe net. Quality my son! HT 1-1
The second half began as it ended with constant Radcliffe pressure and the chance of a Bolts goal on the break. The back four of Campbell, Ishaque, Andy and Dan were excellent and their work rate and last ditch tackling was an inspiration. Andy was solid at right back and Campbell was given the job of marking their tricky forwarkd who spent the entire second half deep down in Campbells pocket. Dan looked fresh as a daisy by now and he (literally) took several hits for the feam. Myers was a great help tracking back but in all my years of playing with the lad, I have rarely seen a better performance from Dave Hopkins who stopped everything that was thrown at him on the occasions when the Bolts defence was breached. Radcliffe had a player sent off towards the end of the game, but still the only way we looked like scoring was on the break , which Damo nearly did on a couple of occasions. But by now Bolts were going to settle for the draw and a well deserved point . An excellent team performance. FT1-1
A big thank you goes to Oli who came on a sub at the end , and two Men of the Match today. One to Rosie for his hard working efforts in the first half and the second to Hoppo for his excellent saves in the second half. Roll on next week!
Baz Ish