Lymm 3 Old Bolts B 6
Only a victory would suffice as the Bolts looked to build on last week's fine display of football.
With the Bolts placed second in the league, and Lymm a respectable mid-table, this was never going to be "a stroll in the park”. The Bolts could simply not afford to be complacent, and the new alien “warm-up” regime, led by Adam Norse, set the tone for the afternoon.
The Bolts started well, with Bob 'Fox in the Box" Southern opening the scoring within 10 minutes, following a dazzling run and an exquisite cross from Richard Kilburn.
Following the opening goal the Bolts appeared to sit back, and 5 minutes later the boys found themselves drawing 1-1, thanks to a calamitous piece of defending by one of the most experienced (old) players on the pitch. P-man called a header from a set piece and proceeded to leave it deliberately as a gift to the young Lymm forward who headed home from 4 yards past a helpless Mathew Fray in goal. P-man’s integrity has been called into question; some commentators, who simply can’t understand this error of judgement, are calling for an investigation into match-fixing from the ex QEGS school-boy.
The boys new they had a job to do and immediately picked themselves up and created a string of half-chances, but the Bolts had clearly left their shooting boots back at Turton last Saturday.
Unfortunately, newly appointed captain Ben Horan didn’t lead by example, earning himself a controversial booking midway through the first half. Foul and abusive language simply won’t be tolerated in this modern game! Upon reflection, the booking was a disastrous error of judgement by the referee. Not one to let his head go down, Ben continued to cover every blade of grass and run the midfield with the help of an ever reliable John Abbot for the remainder of the game.
Amazingly, the Bolts found themselves 2-1 down 30 minutes in, after some route-1 football and clinical finishing from Lymm. To say this was against the run of play is an understatement; the opposing team had simply taken their only 2 opportunities.
Just before half-time, the boys were able to pull level after some fine work out on the right from Bob Southern. A fine chip across the box from Bob allowed Dan ‘the boy’ Barrett to nod home a simple but much needed equaliser from 3 yards out. There was, however, some controversy surrounding the goal as to whether it crossed the line or not. Bob Southern certainly thought not, however this was an issue out of the Bolts hands. There have been calls for goal line technology in the LAL!
Norsey led the half-time team talk, inspiring the Bolts with some in-depth analysis of where the boys were going wrong. John ‘confidence’ Abbott put it more succinctly, we just need to carry on as we are and we’ll be fine!
Disappointingly the Bolts made a lacklustre start to the second half, and 10 minutes in, it was time for the gaffer to make some inspired substitutions. R. Milne decided the wings required some fresh legs and he brought on Ross ‘Impact’ Taylor and Mark ‘one chance’ Lomax. Within minutes the change was apparent, with Ross getting on the end of a fine pass from Ben Horan, and putting a ball across the danger area, only for the ball to bobble and Leo Curtis to put it over the bar from 10 yards out.
Two minutes later the ‘Fox in the Box’ scored his second of the game after a perfect dummy from John Abbott allowing for Bob to run into the box and slot home his 26th of the season!
The Bolts, fresh with the new substitutions, built on this lead with a fine interception from Mark ‘one chance’ Lomax around the half way line. After covering 30 or so yards he only had the keeper to beat, and nicely slotted the ball past the goalie with his left foot, putting to bed any questions that may have been over Mark’s finishing ability.
R. Milne made his final substitution of the afternoon, introducing the experienced and reliable old Bolt, Jeff Taylor for a 15 minute run out.
The Bolts continued to defend well with Norsey, P-man, Wes and Si running a tight(ish) ship at the back, a disappointing third goal was scored by Lymm but this was not going to tarnish the afternoon. Bob Southern proceeded to score another 2 goals, putting his tally to a ridiculous 28 for the season, surely an Old Bolts record already?!
The Bolts have a lot of re-arranged games coming up, requiring a lot of commitment from the boys and the league is all the play for. Disappointing news is that Matt Fray will be away from March 13th for 9 weeks, a pivotal player in the bolts team, his boots are surely hard to fill both on and off the pitch! Can the Gaffer sign a quality keeper at such a late and important stage of the season??
Ross ‘Impact’ Taylor