Match report by Crozier (edited by Patto):
On April the 1st Boots were unable to make Nottingham United look like fools, and whilst a spirited fightback when down to 10 men (after Ash’s injury) gave Boots hope, it was not to be (again)! Boots lined up with Phil in goal, Crozier, SuBo, Patto and Brett in defence, Rich, Ross, Ian, Rowan and Griff in midfield, and Bally as the lone striker. As well as a strong bench of Sicky, Ash, Horlicks, banter was provided from the sidelines by our grey chav-tracksuit-wearing Geordie friend!
On yet another 3G pitch Boots knew the ball would move quickly and skid through, and Phil was out smartly on a number of occasions to clear the danger. Boots tried to play some good football going forward, with Bally and Rowan putting in a good shift, supported by Griff and Rich, but clear-cut challenges were still rare, with Bally coming closest when he glanced a header onto the bar from Rowan’s volleyed cross. Boots went 1-0 down when the centre of the team seemed to part like the Red Sea as the United build-up play seemed to mesmerise and confuse, and their striker was able to wriggle free and toe poke (Patto-esque) past Phil into the top right corner from the edge of the area. The remainder of the half was pretty even as the defence remained strong and the midfield tackled and hassled well, although Nottingham United did take a 2 goal lead into the break when their midfielder was given too much space after collecting Phil’s clearance, and his strike from 25 yards rebounded off the cross bar and fell kindly to their striker who was following up to head it in.
Two substitutions were made at half time, Griff being replaced by Ash and Bally for Horlicks to allow Subo to move into midfield, but potentially these changes unsettled Boots as the lead was extended in the second minute of the half. A ball over the top saw their quick striker wriggle past Patto, before finishing well with a lob over Phil. Frustratingly, for the remainder of the second half Boots were in the ascendancy, built from a battling and tough tackling stance the midfield and defence (Brett, Patto, Horlicks, SuBo, Ian and Sam) took, while Rowan and Ash improved their movement up front, which allowed Boots to start passing and playing. Ash had a volleyed chance that was gobbled up by the keeper and Ross had two good attempts, firing over from distance with one and then trying to chip the keeper from the edge of the area when he was put through by Patto’s punted clearance, but again his attempt ended up over the bar. Boots then were given an even greater mountain to climb as within minutes of using the final substitution (Sam for Ian) Ash went over on his ankle and had to come off, leaving Boots with 10 men for the remainder. However, this did nothing but motivate Boots further, especially once SuBo had tucked away a penalty. It came about after a driving run from Crozier on the left ended with his cross causing panic in the box; eventually it fell to Sam whose shot was well saved, but as Ross tried to put the rebound in at the back post, he was bundled over from behind.
It was almost 3-2 soon after, as a break down the right from SuBo saw him square to Rowan, but he got his legs tangled when the goal was begging. Other strong efforts came from Sam, who saw a fine strike skim the outside of the post, Rowan, who was set free one-on-one (by Patto) but a fine save from the keeper tipped his shot onto the bar, and SuBo, who glanced Ross’s corner onto the bar! After a strong run, Patto took a strong ‘Andy Carroll-esque’ dive on the edge of the area (later attributed to dead legs) which Boots sportingly kicked back to the opposition, while Ross was denied a second penalty when he was bundled over in the box, but the referee waved it away. Unfortunately for Boots, time eventually ran out, although Phil had just enough time to do a ‘one for the cameras’ save, tipping over a strong freekick with a fantastic one-handed effort to keep the score at 3-1.
In all honestly this game actually had a lot of positives to take out of it; in the second half Boots were by far the better team (even with 10 men), and if we’d had our shooting boots on it could have been a much closer affair. We battled well, with Patto, Horlicks, Brett and SuBo all being warned about persistent fouling, which is good (in a strange way) as it shows we were committed and battling, something we have not always done in recent weeks. We just have a horrible tendency of making it difficult for ourselves by giving our opponents 1, 2 or (in this case) 3 goal headstarts before we really take it to them. If the game had been 10 minutes longer then a draw (or win) could really have been possible as our fitness was vastly superior to the opposition’s, which makes it even more disappointing that we wasted the first half.
SuBo picked up Man of the Match for another dominant display in the air and a calm penalty (he always goes bottom-left), although Crozier also had a good game, covering a lot of ground on the left wing and helping out in attack once Ash was injured.
Captain Tugby took the kit.
