A spirited, disciplined and surprisingly ruthless team performance gave Boots their second win of the season against joint third-placed Fanzines United on an excellent Elms Park pitch. As usual the opening was quite frantic as Fanzines tried to impose themselves in midfield while Boots put in some hefty challenges from the very beginning, and the tactic worked well as their frontline struggled to test Frumpy as passes went astray. Chibbert and Justin slowly saw more of the ball as the whole Boots team worked tirelessly to break down the opposition, with Adam and Crozier covering most of the pitch to help out the teammates, while everyone covered for each other. A late foul from Ash “Vaughany Jones” Shaz (wearing his colour-coordinated Cardiff gloves) resulted in a yellow card, but the physical Boots approach seemed to rattle the opposition who began bickering quite early on. After Fanzines had seen a goal disallowed for offside, Boots made them pay almost instantly with a fantastic team goal: Luke flicked on a long ball behind the defence to Patto down the right wing, who held off his marker and fired a low angled ball to the back post between the hesitant goalkeeper and confused defender. Swooping in from the left wing, Crozier placed an excellent finish under the keeper and inside the far post (with minimal deflection of the keeper’s backside!) Fanzines continued to plug away but the closest they came was yet another disallowed goal when their striker fell into a cross and flapped it in with his arms (captured by Rowan’s camera for confirmation!) At the other end Patto saw a low left-footed shot saved, Chibbert went on several mazy runs but couldn’t find a final ball, while Ash and Brett launched long free kicks into the area but no-one could latch on.
After clearly enjoying the battle of the first half, and realising that the playing surface allowed them to play a smooth passing game, Boots continued to battle and make efficient use of the ball whenever they had possession. Despite the downhill advantage, Fanzines rarely threatened as the Boots defence were strong and saw away any threat with Brett and Horlicks backing up Ash and Matt when required, while Frumpy was alert to pick up any attempted long balls. After a great combination between Chibbert and Crozier, Luke was released down the left wing, and he twisted and turned before sending in a cross towards the centre. Two Fanzines defenders ran into each other, and the loose ball fell perfectly for Justin on the edge of the area, and he calmly finished into the bottom left corner beyond the despairing keeper. All Boots had to do was hold on, but in the end they made it look easy as resolute defending and continual tracking and tackling from every player sapped Fanzines of ideas, and although tempers rose and the challenges flew in, Boots kept their resolve and waited for the inevitable fouls (Adam, Brett and Chibbert getting the worst hits). Simple passing was key to Boots’ success as the space was opened up and Fanzines had to work incredibly hard to get the ball back. Towards the end of the half Griffin and Daz replaced Crozier and Patto, and made determined contributions to aid the midfield and see out the victory.
The opposition picked Justin as a deserving Man of the Match for a dominant display in midfield, working effectively with Chibbert in the centre to win back the ball and frequently find team-mates with accurate passes, as well as picking up the second goal. Overall, however, it was very hard to single out anyone as it was a great team performance, with everyone doing their job and hopefully making the absent Pete proud! It just goes to show that with the right attitude and composed play we can test (and beat) any of the teams in our league.
