On a crisp Autumn morning Boots Wednesday scored a magnificent seven on the way to recording their second win of the season against Inn the Bank. It was a display all about taking our chances when they came and dominating the midfield. The team lined up with Phil in goal and a defence of Crozier, Toobs, Fletch and Hawylak. In front of them was a strong midfield of Rowan, Sicky Sicky Sam Sam, Subo and Kieran and then a front pairing of Danny and Dave. We also had the traditional ‘strong bench’ of Bally and Ash.
The game seemed to have barely begun when Boots were 1-0 up. All day the twin towers of Fletch and Subo caused havoc from freekicks and corners and after a long ball in the box had caused confusion, Fletch superbly pulled the ball down to see his shot well saved, but Subo managed to bundle the ball into the goal. Inn the Bank then struck back with an offside-looking goal after a shot from the edge of the area seemed to squirm through to the player standing all alone in the box, yet Boots heads didn’t drop and Rowan scored 2 more before the break. The first was again from a long ball/ free kick and when the ball came down Subo played it wide to Rowan who finished brilliantly into the ‘top bin’. The second came from a superbly weighted pass from Crozier which set Rowan free. Whilst everyone else stopped as they expected an offside call, Rowan responded to a scream from behind of “keep going you idiot” and ran on into the box and finished it again very well.
After Half Time Boots were expecting an onslaught from the Bank and were fired up to get the killer fourth goal, which soon came from Danny after some good running from Rowan. Staszkiewicz should have put it away but decided to ‘do’ spaghetti legs, then fall over and shoot, but the keeper just put it into Danny’s path who smashed it home. Inn the Bank were in complete disarray at this time and Dave capitalised on a gaping hole in their defence to run through and then curl in over the keeper from about 20 yards. Dave did a celebration for the girls on the sidelines (Ash’s mum and a 9 year old girl I think) of taking his shirt off, and was subsequently booked by the fussy Ref! Two more goals were added before the end; one from a Sam free kick that was curled around the wall and into the bottom corner after a minor defection, and then Bally added the seventh. Sam’s was a good goal but funnier was Brett’s strop before Sam struck for not being allowed to take it, but then he quickly shut up after it nestled in the net (and if you’d seen Brett’s final two free kicks then you would know that this was a wise choice!) Bally showed his poacher’s instinct to head in a goal after a corner where once again Fletch and Subo had caused problems. The game petered out near the end, although Inn the Bank got a second with the last kick of the game after their player skinned an unnamed left back and then crossed it in for the striker to pounce after Fletch had missed it.
Special mention must go to Rowan who tried his best to score his hat trick but proceeded to fall over, shoot poorly or blaze over in front of an open goal throughout the second half! It was a strong strong performance from all involved and a great a team effort. The midfield played extremely well and dominated (with SuBo picking up Man of the Match), while the defence and Phil kept the strikers in check (Phil made two very good saves near the end) and the strikers finished their “din dins”.
