When you wake up on a Saturday morning knowing that there’s another game on at The County Ground, life is good. And then when you open the curtains and see the sun is shining, it makes it even better. Knowing that the league leaders – Atherton Town – were the visitors meant that it was a quick opportunity to put right the first league reversal as we travelled over to Butler Park to start our campaign only a fortnight ago and a dubious penalty saw today’s visitors claim all three points – so we had a chance to put that right fourteen days later. Being the first league game at the home of football, as expected the pitch looked absolutely pristine and with the lines freshly painted and the grass looking ace, it really did want a good game of passing football on it. Could we provide that? The next 90 minutes or so would soon tell us…

The lads came out for their warm-up’s and despite the skies not being blue, the temperature was warm enough to put a sweat on the brow. There were new faces in there as well – with Ste Palin and Brian Millington drafted in from the ressies – but there still looked enough quality in there to do a job for us. And when the starting 11 was announced, it saw us going with what looked like a 4-3-3 shape with Charlie taking the gloves and a back four in front of him of Kieran and Robbie Smith at full-backs and with Hodgy starting the first of his three-game ban, Tom Aspen joined by Finchy in the heart of defence. The middle three were made up of Houghie, Smalley and Shorty with Carl on the left-wing and Shaun on the right. That left Tom Axon-Smith to plough a lone furrow up top and with a bench consisting of Ste, Brian and Robbie Kennedy, we were set. Tomo was away on his jollies so as Dave Hough and Damo got their troops together, the message was simple – we had to compete better, We had to keep that football in our possession and we had to win our own individual battles. Sure – these were top – but we had the players in that changing room to put a dent in that. So as the lads pepped each other up, they were out and ready for action…

Both sides started the game looking to get the ball down and play it but it was clear right from the start that the officials were going to have a busy afternoon – with plenty of niggly challenges and all the players trying to exert their authority on the game. That meant that there was no pattern to the play and in truth, the first half-hour went without much to mention. Both sides were huffing and puffing but when push came to shove, that final ball just wasn’t there. But with 39 minutes on the clock, it was the visitors that took the lead – and it was a goal that we didn’t really need to concede. They had played the ball down the wing and as it was floated into our six-yard box, we all stood there expecting Charlie to step forward and claim it. But he didn’t – and in ran Lee Simmonds to get his head to the ball and force it home from close-range. As his team-mates rushed to celebrate with him, the County players stood around wondering what had just happened. 0-1 – and we had it all to do now…

Thankfully the County lads didn’t just roll over and we began pressing and probing a bit more in dangerous areas. Shaun and Carl were working hard to close down the spaces out wide and then turning their full-backs whenever they could and as the half-time whistle beckoned, there were huge calls for a penalty to the home side when the ball was played into the box and as it bounced up, it clearly hit the defender’s hand – but the referee thought otherwise and no amount of protestation was going to change his mind. The man in black had put the whistle to his mouth and we all thought he was going to blow it – but he didn’t and the chance was gone. Not long after that, the whistle did go – but it was only to bring proceedings to a halt and as the lads trotted in, they knew that there was an important 45 minutes ahead…

Half-time: BOLTON COUNTY 0-1 Atherton Town

As they came in, the coaches were quick to praise the good stuff – we were battling well and not pulling out of challenges – but we hadn’t actually starting putting together any real football so we needed to take back to basics. Start passing to a blue shirt. Don’t simply give them the ball back too easily and most importantly – we all had to raise it at least another 20%. But the good thing was that we were only a goal behind so if we could get the next one, the whole complexion of the game would change. So with the drinks drunk, the bladders emptied and the lungs filled with air, we were back out there ready to go again…

The second half started much as the first had ended with both teams looking to stamp their authority on the game but on 50 minutes, we saw Tom Aspen take a nasty knock that despite extensive work by the physio (thanks Mark) we couldn’t get him right again – so on came Robbie to take his place – and not long after, we thought we had a glorious chance to level the score. Robbie Smith had took possession of the ball on our right and as he drove forward, he spotted Smalley making a great run towards the back post. Inch-perfect, Robbie found him with a tantalising pass – only for the assistant referee to quickly hold his flag in the air and the chance was gone. It didn’t look offside from where we were – but the referee’s decision is final so on went the game…

We didn’t have too long to wait to see County’s first goal of the 2022-2023 league campaign though because with 58 mins on the clock, Smalley played a fabulous pass over the top that saw Houghie racing onto it. We all awaited the flag to go up again – but it didn’t this time – and as their No.1 came out to close down the angles, Chris got his boot to it a split-second before and lob him. Their keeper tried his very best to stop it going in but all he could do was flap it straight into the back of his net and the goal stood. We were back all-square. And hopefully the platform to build our season on. 1-1…

Minutes later we could have taken the lead when more good work from Shaun saw him hit the bye-line and dink a great cross into the back post and there was Smalley again to rise highest and plant his header hard down towards the far corner. Their keeper managed to get across and dive full-length to tip it around the post for a corner and it truth, it was a marvellous save that kept his team on level-terms. Their No. 10 then hit a hopeful shot from all of 40 yards that’s probably still travelling and as the game wore on, this was definitely there for the taking…

But just past the hour-mark, the visitors re-took the lead – and yet again it was another soft goal to concede. A raking ball over the top saw the ball come into our box and with no defenders lying claim to it, their No.9 Jack Valentine had the simple task of rolling it around our Charlie and tucking it into our empty net. There was certainly a lot of work to be done now if we didn’t want to be looking at three defeats on the bounce. 1-2 and we had it all to do…

Changes were made – with Ste coming on for his first-team debut in place of Tom Ax and as we tried to pour forward in search of another equaliser, it was leaving us pretty bare at the back. Charlie was forced into making a great save when they fed the ball into Valentine again and as he cracked his shot back across goal, there was No. 1 to deny him with a good stop. Up the other end we went and Ste had a good chance to drill it goal-wards – but could only scuff his shot and their keeper gladly gobbled it up. But then came the killer and on 82 minutes, the visitors managed to grab their third goal of the game, secure the points and keep themselves on the top of the early league table. We were going all-out to try and get at least a point – but a long-ball over the top saw their winger look in an offside position. The flag stayed down and as they charged forward, they worked the ball right across our six-yard box to find Valentine in acres of space again and as he had already done this afternoon, he showed that he knows where the back of the net is and slammed it home. 1-3 and surely that was that?

It was. We couldn’t really muster anything in the way of endangering their goal again and when the whistle went to end the game, it was the Atherton Town side that had claimed all the points at stake. The handshakes were done with respect and as the players began taking the goal-posts down, the inquest had already started…

We need to pick ourselves up quickly though. We travel over to take on Leigh Foundry in the quarter-final of the Atherton Charity Cup on Tuesday night so the bosses will be hoping for a better outcome to that one. There is a massive ‘well done’ for the lads that made the step up today for the first time and we hope they enjoyed the experience – but football is about winning matches and that’s something we definitely need to start doing again.

Onwards and upwards. A huge thank you to the travelling supporters who made the journey over today and we hope you had a good trip home – and good luck for the rest of the season. Nuff respeck’ to the County fans as well – we love having you there cheering us on!

When County TV managed to grab hold of Dave Hough at the end, he was in an upbeat mood despite the loss. He said ‘We played well out there really. These are a really good side so to come into the game with several lads making their first-team debuts, it was always going to be tough. But credit to them all – they did themselves proud – and we know have to pick ourselves up and go again. We know we can play better football than we have been doing – so it’s about going out there again next time determined to put things right’. Quite reserved for our Dave don’t you think? (Ha ha – we love you really!)

Tuesday it is then…

#UpTheCounty