Liam Heppolette (37)
Jack Christian (56)
Anthony Johnson (75)
A New Season! Had we escaped relegation and won the cup that would almost certainly have papered over some glaring cracks. However, post relegation the manager has been on a summer spending spree to rival that going on at Manchester City. We are now in the curious position of having been relegated, but possessing a deeper, much more talented squad; notably 5 of the semi-final squad made it into the 16 players named against Old Blacks.
Now, to the game. The talk at the start was about settling in, lots of new faces and we knew it would take time to gel. From the start however the back five of Olly Neasham, Garry Cowell, Matthew Foster, Chris Hulton and Martyn Hopper looked imperious. Going forward we struggled to retain possession as players got used to one another’s games and movement. As such we conceded possession a few time and had to drive into a couple of tackles, the resulting Old Blacks free kicks slamming into our post and cross-bar! A big let off! But could we capitalise? A sweeping passing move followed that released John Collings on the edge of the area. The keeper fumbled his shot and ever-alert Liam Heppolette was on hand to snaffle the re-bound from 5 yards! 1-0 Bolts at half time.
Nonetheless, the half time team talk was about moving up through the gears; we had done well to get in at 1-0, but it was felt they were playing at full speed just to keep up with us; cruising along in 2nd or 3rd gear. Could we now go through the gears, up the pace and dominate the game? Could we bring the Midfield 4 of John Collings, Jon Twist, Marcus Gavin and Stu Errington more into the game and start to hold on possession and kill the game?
As the second half started, it quickly became apparent that the first had just been a settling in period. The lads flew out of the traps and pressed Blacks back into their half. Jack Christian and Liam Heppolette were suddenly seeing a lot more of the ball, and as such were starting to link up well both as a pair and with their mid-field providers. Both Wingers were pushed on; entrenching Old Blacks on the edge of their 18 yard box. The pressure eventually gave, Jack Christian miss-hitting a shot from 18 yards that bobbled in off the post; had their goal keeper been under 65 he would certainly have got to it.
Right time for some substitutions! As ball hadn’t been in Bolts half the subsequent changes were all of an attacking nature; Jason Pearson for Cowell, Jonny Sheen for Twisty and Anthony Johnson for Liam. The third goal came from a flowing move releasing Marcus Gavin down the left, beating a couple of static Old Blacks players and squaring to Anthony Johnson to slot home from 12 yards.
Eventually the Ref called an end to proceeding; greeted with relief by all those in an Old Blacks shirt! The second half had never been a contest and the lads had played superbly and working very hard. It remains for me to give a couple of mentions; Marcus ran, and ran and ran (and missed what on another day would have easily been a hat-trick!), Matthew Foster and Chris Hulton dominated at the heart of the defence, but M.O.M was awarded to Martyn Hopper at left back. He never stopped running, won every single tackle and should have scored when a marauding run found him one-on-one with the keeper only for him to slam the ball against the cross-bar.
It remains for me to say, well done to all the lads involved and roll on next week!