Boots extended their unbeaten run to a whopping 5 games with a 2-2 draw against Butler Benfica. An injury to Brett in the warm-up saw Spencer take up a central defensive position next to Fletch with Hawry-lick and Crozier on the sides, while Sweetman and Rowan went to wings with Paul, Simon and Patto in the centre.
Boots began the game brightly, with Rowan, Sweetman and Crozier troubling the Butler wings as Patto and lone attacker Bally closed down their shaky defenders. Bally and Rowan both went close with low drives before Patto opened the scoring, gambling on a long Crozier free-kick that sailed over Paul and his marker on the edge of the area, and allowed a free-header that Patto looped over the stranded keeper. A hamstring injury to Bally meant he was replaced by Chibbert, with Patto advancing to attack, and Boots continued to create chances but couldn’t build on their lead, with Rowan producing a glancing header from a Patto corner and a mazy run that ended in a good save, while Crozier’s corners caused further panic in the Butler defence as they struggled to mark. Butler somehow equalised when a hopeful high cross from their right completely evaded Phil (who was largely redundant for the first half thanks to his defence) and crept inside the far post at an almost vertical descent. To their credit, Boots kept their heads up and continued to push, with Paul seeing a header go close and further shots from Rowan and Patto held comfortably by the keeper. Eventually the lead was regained when Rowan stepped inside from his new berth on the left wing, and hoisted a lovely shot from outside the area over the keeper into the far corner.
With the hard ground and tired legs beginning to take their toll on the Boots team, Butler began to create more chances in the second half, and it required some strong aerial punches and quick clearances from Man of the Match Phil to hinder their efforts. Unfortunately Butler did manage to equalise when Phil was beaten to a hopeful ball down their left wing by their striker, and he poked a gentle shot towards goal that the back-pedalling Fletch couldn’t quite catch up with! Boots still managed some neat passages of passing play, and Chibbert (now in the centre) managed to feed in Rowan towards goal, and he was taken down inside the area by their last defender. Unfortunately Rowan’s penalty rattled the corner of the post as it sailed slightly too high, but showed that the game was far from over. Chibbert had a penalty appeal of his own turned down moments later as he cut in from the right, while Rowan (low shot), Patto (header) and Spence (a tough first-time shot towards an almost open goal) also had chances towards the end. During the second half Daz replaced Simon so that Crozier could advance up the wing, and Aidan adopted the lone striker role for the final 10 minutes when Spencer’s legs had taken enough, but Boots couldn’t find the winner as they had to try and keep the Delap-esque throws of the Butler full-back at bay for the closing minutes!
