Thornleigh A 2 Old Bolts B 4

Reeling from a 5-0 drubbing a fortnight earlier, it was a crisis on the horizon, but this week Big Ron Manager was back in town after flirting around the streets of Madrid, and not having been amongst his men in the previous two humiliating defeats.

Back under the guile and wisdom of the "Footballing Guru”, the team back to full strength were ready to seek revenge on a team who thrashed the Bolts 5-0 earlier in the season.

After a temporary 15 minutes onslaught by Thornleigh,  the Bolts started to put their foot on the ball and assert some authority on the game and when a  Barratt cross hit the crossbar and Beardsworth failed to put the ball away from the rebound, the blue torch paper had been lit.

5 Minutes later Beardsworth was through and put the ball away with the sublime ruthlessness of a hallmark Beardsworth goal. Minutes later Barratt finished off a fine move with a shot that courtesy of a fine deflection spun into the corner of the Thornleigh net and was no more than the bolts deserved  at half time.

The third goal of the game was going to be crucial but it fell to Thornleigh from a corner, could the Bolts throw the game away? After conceding so many goals in the previous 4 games the signs were ominous until the prolific Brooks (who seems to keep appearing on the score sheet this season) smacked a shot from the edge of the box that with the assistance of a deflection and the strong wind curled just inside the opponents post. At 3-1 the Bolts had  regained control of the game and  minutes later a dubious handball in the box  meant a penalty for the Bolts . Beardsowrth finished it off to make it 4-1. Game over?

Timmis junior came on for the beleaguered  Milne who with no game for 9 weeks had given his all to the cause, within minutes though  Thornleigh notched with a fine lob over the reliable Sandbrook.

With seconds remaining and Thornleigh pressing for a goal, Brooks broke free with Beardsworth and Cowell-trying to cash in on the pending victory! Entwistle was catching his breath on halfway whilst Cowell was streaking through to convert what should have been one of the simplest tap ins of the season, (Mopseys notwithstanding ) and no defenders anywhere to be seen...

Surely Brooks would play a sideways pass for Beardsworth to notch a deserved hatrick??? No Brooks - chose to lob the ball tamely into the keeper's hands. 

Bumbling incompetence was excused only because Brooks had played well. This was the Bolts back to the way they can play and it was a pleasure to see.  Jeff Taylor and Dave Morris solid at the back with Gary Cowell and guest star Rich Morris.

In midfield, Entwistle and Milne complimented Brooks and Ross Taylor and the Boy Barratt at last show the form that the gaffer has been demanding of him.

As for Beardsworth, fresh from his 15th vacation of the 2008, the boy done good. Can Mopsey Morris absent from this performance likewise return from Spain in the same kind of form next week??