As the week progressed, so did the excitement – but today was what the whole summer had been about. We had got together a set of lads – many of whom had never played together – and somehow forged them into quite a force throughout pre-season. Having won four and drawn one, we were going into this league opener unbeaten – but all that would count for nothing if we ended today pointless. Horwich RMI Reserves were to be the visitors to the County Ground for this one and as both teams started to arrive, the scene was almost set. The pitch looked glorious – cut and lined and looking like it should for the campaign opener – and with quite a few supporters there, the mood in the camp was good. But we had been struck with some ill-timed news during the week with Ste Palin and Adam Webber now ruled out with long-term injuries – and with Liam away, Shaun ‘otherwise occupied’ and two lads stepping up to the first-team for their trip to Heywood St James, it wasn’t the best planning that the boss would want going into this. With Cal away doing his Chorley bits, Brian was there to support Wayne and as the lads got themselves changed, the boss was busy pegging the nets and doing everything else! The music was booming out of the home dressong room and as they came out to warm up, they seemed confident. Why wouldn’t they? They’d been played more than half-decent since July!

Going through their now what is becoming customary warm-up, the lads were bantering and jovial – but as they stretched, Wayne reminded them that everything we had done so far would count for nothing if we let this one go today. And when they came back into the changing room, he re-iterated that message once again. We had to play our game – slide the ball between the centre-halves and the full-back for the striker to get onto and make sure we kept possession of the football. The starting 11 was announced and it saw Pomf take his place between the sticks with a back-four in front of him consisting of Rav and Jake at full-backs with skipper Matty Leigh joined by Robbie Holt at centre-half. Jude was rewarded for his fine form with a start and he joined Alex sat in front of them and the question today was going to be – who would replace Ste? That job was given to young Josh and with Nathan on the other side and Tom in the middle, we still had enough quality about us in there. Ricky was up front on his own and with a bench of Gatesie, Bradders, Bailey, Callum and Nico, we were good to go. Once again the boss reminded them to just keep doing what we had been doing – because it was working – and as they trotted out to start the 2022-2023 season, both teams were welcomed with a rapturous applause…

The opening exchanges saw both teams working each other out and as the ball spent most of it’s time in the air, there was no real patterns to the play. For some reason we were resorting to playing the ball long but that’s not what has served us so well throughout pre-season so with Wayne and Brian urging their troops to get it on ther floor, the first real chance of the game came the way of the blues. Jude had won a good tackle in the middle of the park and as he fed it into Alex, he spotted Ricky making the run – and sprayed it in the gaps that the boss had been so adamant we used. Our striker took hold of it, held off his man well and dribbled it towards the left-hand side of their box before unleashing a venomous shot that looked destined for the top corner – until the Horwich keeper somehow managed to dive full-length and get his fingertip to it to divert it over for a corner. A stunning save in all honesty but signs that when we did what we do best, we would get opportunities. But back came the visitors and as they played it well down their right, the ball came into the middle and their striker arrowed his shot towards goal – only for Pomf to make another great save by diving to his right and grabbing the ball out of the air. If anybody was playing well so far, it was definitely both No.1’s…

There were some strange decisions being made by the man with the whistle then – with both teams seeming to call it and the referee blowing for who shouted loudest – but as the half wore on, in truth it was a little ‘bitty’ with plenty of challenges going in and the game at risk of bubbling over. Once again Wayne was heard trying to get the County players to concentrate on their football and forgetting all the rest – but that ‘game management’ experience will come as the younger lads get used to the step up. And although we had by no means started to play our stuff yet, we were still not behind so if we could organise ourselves this game was here for the taking. We had to make a couple of changes on the half-hour as Jake had taken a knock to his ankle and Josh’s hamstring was tight – so we brought Bradders into the right-hand side of midfield and Gatesie came on to join Robbie in the middle of defence with Matty going to right-back and with the blues starting to see more of the ball in attacking areas, we were all waiting for that first goal to come. Rav was working wonders at left-back and whenever the ball came within 10 yards of where he was, he was winning everything. Their keeper made another good save low down to his left from another Ricky effort and apart from some more fouls and free-kicks being awarded, that was that for the first half. The match official blew his whistle and with the visitors staying out, Wayne and Brian wanted their players in that changing-room quick-sharp. There was work to be done here but work that we were more than capable of doing…

Half-time: BOLTON COUNTY RESERVES 0-0 Horwich RMI Reserves

As the lads sat down, Matty showed one of the reasons why he has been made skipper – because he told his players not to speak and to listen to the boss. And as Wayne set about his task, the message was simple – we hadn’t even started yet and we were still in the game. When we sat down before the match, the lads were asked to slide the ball through the gaps in their defence – and the only two times we had done that, we had seen shots at goal. We were resorting to hitting it long and when Ricky was winning the header, there was nobody behind him to pick up the knock-on. Think about things. If we play it on the floor and into the spaces, there was every chance we’d get in behind them and start making these chances count. One change was made – with Nico coming on in place of Jude – who had done really well in there – and that meant Robbie Holt pushed into the midfield with Alex and Matty join Gatesie in the middle and with the drinks drunk, we were ready to go again. Could these next 45 minutes see our first three points of the season? We’d soon find out…

The second period started much the same as the first – with both teams looking to get the upper hand in the middle of the park – but the better football was coming from the team in blue. And on 52 minutes, we got the goal that we had been craving so much. The team in orange had mounted an attack that we managed to snuff out easily and as the ball landed at Gatesie’s feet, he looked up and curled a gorgeous pass within the outside of his right-boot directly into the space in front of Robbo. He strolled forward and at precisely the right moment, he fed it through that channel that the boss had been urging us to do all game. Ricky beat his marker in the foot-race and as their keeper came out to try and dive on the ball, Ricky played it around him, burst forward and stroked the ball home from about 8 yards! The home supporters went crazy – and then a melee ensued when it looked as though they had tripped Robbo over as he came back for the restart. There were arms and legs flying everywhere as both sets of players defended each other and it took the referee a while to resume order – only to see a yellow card in the direction of Robbo. Strange – but we needed to focus on the football and nothing else if we wanted to win this game. 1-0 County and we had something to look after now…

It became a right royal battle from this point forward – with neither side wanting to give an inch as they didn’t want to lose this now – and to our credit, for a set of lads so tender in years, we were not allowing them to stamp their authority on this game whatsoever. All over the pitch the lads in blue were working hard to shut their man down and whenever they did get it into our box, Pomf was commanding and taking man and ball when he had to. Gatesie took a bang to the head as he desperately cleared the ball when they swung over a good corner but on 63 minutes, the visitors did manage to level it – and there was nothing any keeper in the world could have done about it. They had fed the ball down their left and as it found it’s way to their striker, he saw the winger making a good run towards the edge of our box. As the ball came across, he hit it so sweetly first-time that it was in the minute it left his foot – and the ball smashed into the top corner of our net from about 20 yards out. What a strike in truth – and there was nothing we could do about it. Once again there were scuffles as the ball came back for the re-start and for all of our graft, the scores were equal again. 1-1…

Wayne decided to bring Callum Chadwick into the fray on the right and Bradders quite rightly got a round of applause as he came off – and as the game wore on, it was clear neither side wanted to be on the end of a loss here. The tackles were still flying in and at times, it was a war out there- but fair play to our lads, they didn’t back out of anything. And on 74 minutes came probably one of the most bitter-sweet moments of this season – in the first game! We had won a corner on our left and as Nathan came across to take it, we had four men stood on the six-yard line. Nath whipped in a glorious cross and as the bunch went for it, all their defender could do was slam it past his keeper and into the back of his own net! All hell broke loose as the referee signalled the goal – and with Ricky and Robbie getting themselves involved, it became a farce. Hands were everywhere and it looked like a right mess – and when things had calmed down, we saw the match official brandish two red cards – both to our players- and a yellow card in the direction of one of the Horwich lads. Absolute madness really and although we were now winning 2-1, Wayne was already thinking of what he’ll need to do for the next three games. It is things like this that we need to learn and having just taken the lead, we didn’t need to get involved. Passion is passion but we will now be a lot lighter in manpower when we welcome Old Alts next weekend – and there’s where the experience will need to be learned. That said, as the game restarted it was County that were in front – and we were determined to see it out now with 9 men! 2-1…

And my word how well the lads worked for the next 15 minutes – and 6 added ones as well – as we faced an onslaught from the visitors as they searched for their second equaliser. Each and every lad in blue put their bodies on the line for the cause now – Gatesie making a tackle with his back, Nathan and Robbo doing the work of at least three men and Alex Willams putting in a shift to keep things tight. We thought we’d seen one of the best overhead kicks ever when Gatesie somehow managed to turn his back and perform his trick from about 20 yards – only for the keeper to tip it onto the crossbar at the very last second – but again, the decision was a goal-kick and on went the game…

With the County supporters wishing the seconds away, Pomf made another great save to keep us in front when they drilled one in from about 18 yards and Bailey came on in place of Rav – who deserved a rest after the shift he had just put in there. We were playing a 4-4-0 shape now and every one of our lads looked assured and determined not to give this away now – in fact we had chances to increase our lead – and when the referee decided that 96 minutes was enough and blew his whistle to end proceedings, we had done it! We had got those first three points and we had worked so hard for them! The handshakes were done with a respect that should have been shown throughout the game really and as both teams left the pitch, this had been a tasty, enjoyable encounter. Good luck to our colleagues at Horwich RMI and we wish you the very best of seasons – and a safe journey home – but for now this was about us and as Wayne and Brian got their troops in, they let their feelings known. Ricky and Robbie both knew and apologised to their team-mates and the boss said that it is these things we need to cut out – because to be successful, we need all hands to the pump. When we score, we reset and smile. That’s it. Nothing else is needed. There will be internal discipline taking place (Ricky will probably have to wash the kit and Robbie dry it!) but for now, we had done what we set out to do when we arrived a few hours earlier. What performances we saw as well – fron Rav and the rest of the defence working their socks off to Alex, Jude and Robbie controlling those middle areas for most of the game. Nathan showed that he can pass a ball for real out there and with Robbo his usual menace, we had players that troubled their defence all game. Apart from the shenanigans, Ricky gave 110% out there as well and whenever the subs were called upon, they did themselves justice. It had been a brilliant squad effort out there and as the dust settled on the County Ground, we were going back to Tonge Cricket Club for a beer or two with big smiles on our faces. Next up are Old Altrinchamians here again at 2pm next Saturday so we look forward to seeing you all there again willing us towards another three points…

Mission accomplished then – with only a few casualties along the way. There needs to be some consideration into the starting team next week…

#UpTheCounty!