At the fourth attempt this season, Boots Wednesday finally won their first point against NWM Olympico in a fiery and poorly officiated encounter that Boots could have won. The first half was a fairly quiet affair as the Boots defence worked well to minimise the NWM chances, with Brett clearing a lot of hopeful long-balls and Patto, Chibbert and Hawrylak all making vital challenges, while at the other end a lively performance from Danny, Ash, Crozier and Rowan, released by Sicky and Simon in the centre, produced several openings on the wings, but the crosses failed to find the advancing Boots players. After Danny had missed a near-post header and Phil had made a lovely slow-motion save to deny NWM their first chance on target, Boots finally took the lead when a fantastic run from Rowan down the right allowed him turn his marker inside out and chip a simple cross onto the forehead of Sicky, who nodded under the exposed keeper from a yard out.
There was far more incident in the second half as both teams began to battle more fiercely and the referee started to have an unnecessary impact on the game’s outcome. Boots started the second half badly as possession was frequently lost, and NWM somehow equalised when their striker pushed Chibbert in the back (who was about to clear a routine long ball) and then swept a tight-angled shot beyond a dumbfounded Phil! At this point the referee’s consistency began to drop sharply, but Boots continued to pick themselves up from the bad challenges, and won a penalty when Brett was tripped in the area as he tried to latch on to a Crozier free-kick. In the absence of Pete ‘Never Missed a Penalty’ Allaway, Sicky stepped up to take the spot kick, but the keeper guessed the correct direction and Sicky’s hesitation saw his shot scuff off the post, with the rebound eventually cleared. NWM made the most of this luck and took the lead for the first time when an inch-perfect long ball allowed their advancing winger to lob Phil as Patto lost the high ball in the sun. To their credit, however, Boots continued to press forward, with Howard and Griff bringing on fresh legs from the bench, and the effort was finally rewarded when Brett sent a long free-kick into the box that Sicky (just about) headed over the line for his eighth goal of the season, although NWM were convinced that it had been saved. With the NWM players ringing in the referee’s ears, ill-discipline began to dominate play, but Boots stuck to their guns and Howard saw a close-range header narrowly miss and had a one-on-one blocked in the area, while Hawrylak was denied a counter-attacking break with a harsh handball decision, before Man of the Match Sicky was brought down on the edge of the area by the last defender after a strong run from midfield (although the resulting free-kick came to nothing). There was just time for Phil to make an excellent one-handed save as NWM pressed for a winner, before the referee ended the game to a chorus of swearing!
