Having been given a second chance at this fixture following a head injury and postponement in the original game, Boots threw away the opportunity to pick up bonus points against NWM Olympico having dominated for the opening 60 minutes. In a one-sided first half, Boots were commanding in the air (Ian, Fletch, SuBo and Simon in particular) and the pace and movement of Rowan, Danny and Dave Eite left the Olympico defence in disarray, as chance-after-chance was created. The breakthrough came when Phil’s long kick was allowed to bounce by their defence, and a hurried clearance bobbled to unmarked Man of the Match Rowan who was free to run around the keeper and tap into an empty net. Boots continued to hassle and Rowan missed a golden opportunity while Chibbert, Simon, Ian and Danny all came close with long-range shots or headers, but they couldn’t trouble the keeper. Finally another Boots break down the left released Danny, who calmly crossed to SuBo at the back post, and he serenely controlled the ball on his chest and sidefooted the ball into the top bin for an excellent team goal. At the other end the Boots defence coped well, and NWM only threatened on the break as they quickly cleared Boots corners or free-kicks. Fletch (acrobatically) and Patto (calm header) had to make clearances off the line as Phil did his job to close down the advancing wingers, while Brett and Chibbert had their hands full with physical wingers. With the final kick of the half Olympico equalised as another quick break saw them outnumber the Boots defence, and a dangerous low ball from their left was fizzed in between keeper and defence, who could only watch as a forward slid in to finish off the move.
Despite the setback of conceding, Boots were still well on top as the second half started, and should have finished off enough moves to put the game beyond doubt. With the NWM defence in generous mood, Fletch missed a left-footed volley from 5 yards as a corner landed right in front of him, while Simon sliced a hurried shot wide of the gaping goal after Rowan squared to him. Ian and Rowan also worked several other opportunities but couldn’t finish, and as each chance passed, the pressure mounted as NWM began to believe that it could be their day after all, winning more and more possession as Boots began to lose their shape and stop communicating. Finally the inevitable happened with 20 minutes remaining, as a quick break by NWM down the left (from a Boots throw on the right) ended with the defence being outnumbered again, and Olympico calmly finished off their first chance of the half to equalise. As the pressure mounted and Boots struggled to keep the ball, Patto had to clear a corner off the line and Phil made a great reflex save from close range before NWM took the lead, a cross from their right evading every player and agonisingly bouncing in off the far post. Simon made changes throughout the half with Griff, Daz and Bally all coming on, but Boots were still wasteful in possession and NWM grabbed a fourth when Patto’s pass to SuBo on the half-way line was intercepted, and a fantastic quick cross was headed in by their big forward as the ball just evaded Brett’s head. There was just time for Boots to miss another one-on-one as Bally’s toe-poke went wide, before the final whistle went to end a disappointing game.
At the end of the day we played some great football for two thirds of the game but simply did not take our chances – if we’d buried half of the best opportunities then we should’ve come away as easy winners, but (as is so often the case) we gave the opposition hope with a slender lead, and to their credit they made the most of the openings that their pace created. Worryingly Boots became very quiet towards the end of the game as heads went down, and we stopped hassling and closing down (which served us so well in the first half) which invited NWM to attack, so work still needs to be done on talking, encouraging each other and maintaining our shape and energy.
