Following the disappointment of the extra time cup defeat to Forest the week before Hobnob had a few points to prove going into their home game with Loxwood Park Rangers. There was only the one change to the starting line up as Jim Phillips came in for his first start of the season in the centre of midfield. Clifford Davies was the unlucky player to drop to the bench as Dave Miles move out wide in the slight reshuffle.
You will have to excuse the lack of detail in this report as I’m writing it more than a week after the event and it’s not all that clear! Hobnob were coming up against a very well organized team who knew their game well and were very competitive in the middle of the pitch. Unfortunately for Bolton that competitiveness saw him coming off the worse from a lunge that caught his knee. The big guy was clearly hurt and as he hobbled off the pitch it was obvious that this was a serious injury and it would later be revealed that he had damaged his knee ligaments, an injury that must put the rest of his season in doubt. Hobnob were weaker for the loss of Bolton and as hard as Phillips, Hare and Miles battled, Loxwood began to dominate the centre of the pitch. Fortunately for Hobnob it is down the flanks that they are at their most effective and Walker on the right was finding more and more space to exploit. That space was made even bigger when Loxwood were reduced to 10 men midway through the first half. After conceding a fairly innocuous free kick Phillips kicked the ball back the defender, a move that so aggravated one of the Loxwood players that he took a wild kick at the Hobnob midfielder right in front of the referee, leaving him with little decision but to send him off. With Loxwood trying to see the half out Hobnob went on the offensive. Pulfer will still be wondering how he conspired to miss after he did brilliantly to capitalise on some indecision at the back to round the keeper and somehow hit his shot over the empty net. There wasn’t much chance to dwell on the miss however after good work from Tiltman on the left, Phillips fed in Luke Walker who took the instruction to “put it in” a little too literally as he fired it inside the far post beyond the keeper.
The second half was to prove to be a much closer affair and opportunities were limited for both sides. Davies was able to fire a couple of lovely crosses into the six yard box but with only Pulfer to aim for, they weren’t as threatening as they could have been. At the other end Loxwood were forced into playing one up front which Terry and Cheng were more than capable of dealing with. The longer that the game went on without Hobnob doubling their lead the more Loxwood’s confidence grew and for the last ten minutes they began to throw caution to the wind in search of the equalizer and their endeavours were rewarded. Cross was unable to deal with a barrelling run and the resulting shot was fired straight into the arms of Chapman. Unfortunately Hobnob’s captain was unable to hold on to the ball and as it spilled out of his grasp it was gleefully smashed into the back of the net.
In the context of the game as a whole, neither side could really argue that they deserved the three points but Hobnob will be especially disappointed, not just in the manner of the equaliser, but that they weren’t able to manufacture better opportunities in front of goal.
