Britannia F.C.....6 Bolsover Old Boys Res....2.
Benny steered Britannia, to thier 2nd successive promotion, at the hands of old foes Bolsover Old Boys Res at Somersall Park this week end. Even though he was quoted to say "it was PROBABLY the worst he had seen his team play since taking over".
Kicking uphill, they never got a firm grip on the game right from the start, and were forced into sometimes, schoolboy like errors. It took a good 5 mins before they carved out ANY sort of chance, when a good move involving Bennett, Goodwin and Megyesi saw the ball drop to Walton, but his shot went wide. They were made to pay for the bad start for the second time in as many matches, as early as the eighth minute, the defence got into all sorts of tangles, and a bad clearance by Furniss saw the ball come back past him while he was way out of goal.
The trick was almost repeated a couple of moments later when a free kick almost caught the keeper knapping out of goal again, but this time the ball drifted just wide. Despite the poor start, the Brits were making chances, but not converting them. A free kick by Mitchell drifted just wide, Walton and Wright went close with another couple of efforts, and a smart turn and shot, again by Mitchell was agonisingly tipped over the bar for a corner, it just looked at that point like it was going to be "one of those days" in front of goal.
The breakthrough came however on 21 minutes after a superb free kick by Walton, was touched onto the post and out for a corner by the BOBS keeper, Bennett took the corner and GOODWIN rose and bulletted the header in from 6 yards for 1-1. BOBS were not detered by this and were still dangerous on the break.
Britannia grabbed the lead just after the half hour, somewhat against the run of play, a great team move saw Mitchell fed the ball out on the right, he held the ball, beat his man, and cross for WRIGHT to hook the ball "in off the crossbar". This didnt break the Bolsover resolve as the still put pressure on the home team, and even though they were in then lead, Britannia were "NOT HAPPY" with the performance. HALF TIME Britannia F.C...2 Bolsover Old Boys Res...1.
After a dressing down at half time by Benny, Britannia started the 2nd half much better and had the ball in the net just 2 mins in. Megyesi took the ball down the wing after being picked out by a fine pass, he crossed the ball into the box, and despite the best efforts of the BOBS defence they could not clear it, and WRIGHT just pipped Mitchell to the ball to fire home. The returning Bonson replaced Whitehead after 55 mins, and shortly after a miscued clearence by Taylor from a BOBS throw in saw Furniss have to make a fine save.
Old Boys got back into the game just short of the hour, after another defensive error led to a second goal. From the restart a ball into the BOBS box saw the visitors in all sorts of trouble, but despite several chances they managed to keep the ball out. Britannia restored thier 2 goal cushion on 66 mins, a free kick by Bennett set MEGYESI free who ran on to score despite the protests of the defence that the free kick was taken from the wrong place.
Wright thought he had scored his SEVENTH hat-trick of his carreer on 73 mins when a fine run down the wing saw Danny Brown cut the ball in from the by-line for the striker to turn in to the net, but although the Linesman didnt flag, the Referee gave the offside. A long mazy run by Goodwin on 76 mins saw the visiting keeper make a good save.
MITCHELL made it 5-2 on 85 mins after a good ball out by Bonson found Shane Bennett who in turn sent the in-form striker clear, and he ran across the keeper before slotting the ball in. With the game now won, Benny had to think of the up coming ghames and made 2 substitutions within a minute, Cupitt and Hardy replacing Higginbottom and Taylor. There was still time however for Bennett to add his FOURTH assist of the game, when he again crossed the ball for MITCHELL to lash in past the keeper for his SEVENTH goal OF THE WEEK taking him to 31 for the season (1 short of the record of 32 for Wright last season) FINAL SCORE Britannia F.C...6 Bolsover Old Boys...2 M.O.T.M Shane Bennett.
