As the sun rose this morning, all thought turned to the task at hand – and that was welcoming our old adversaries Hindsford AFC to the County Ground! We all know what that means and with the atmosphere charged in every kitchen, the minutes ticked away until kick-off. We’d had a strong pre-season so far – and although the midweek game at Atherton Town was postponed due to the weather, we all knew that a win against our biggest rivals would see us into the quarter-finals of the Atherton Charity Cup. Not that it mattered – we always want to beat these – but with the last few games going their way, today we were determined to put an end to that. And do that we did…
There were many different faces warming up compared to the last time out but there’s no better time to blood young reserves players than in hotly-contested games like this – so as Matty, Cole, Harrison and Zac joining the more experienced lads, it was going to be interesting to see this starting 11. And when it was announced, it saw Pomf take his place between the sticks with Liam Hulme and Robbie Smith in again at full-back. Cole made his first-team debut sat beside Ben T and with Ax dropping in to join Smalley and Shorty as a midfield three, we had the required steel in there to more than match them. The front trio saw Dylan flanked by Kez and Asumani and with Zac, Matty HIll and Harrison to call upon when needed, we were good to go. There wasn’t many words required to pump the lads up here – they looked more than ready for it – and as they made their way onto the pitch, they received a warm round of applause from the home faithful. Game on…
As expected it was a cagey start as both teams knew the first goal could be decisive here – but County were creating chances that saw Ax and Asumani both put their efforts just over the bar. Shortly after, Asumani was clearly carrying an injury – so it was chance for Matty Hill to show us his stuff. The visitors were playing their usual game of looking for ex-pro Mike Phenix with longs punts upfield – but it was a good bit of football that eventually saw them open the scoring. Passing it well through the middle, they caught us a little flat-footed at the back – and their winger managed to charge through and slide it through the advancing Pomf’s legs and into the back of our net. Harsh on our No.1 as he had been having an excellent game up until then. But we had to go again – and go again we did! 0-1…
We kept playing our football knowing that when the chances came, we had to put them away. And on the stroke of half-time, we did just that. Smalley jinxed through their back line and as he went into the box, the Hindsford defender could only bring him down. With the home contingent demanding a spot-kick, everybody seemed miffed when the man in the middle awarded a free-kick. Everybody apart from Ax that is. Because he placed the ball down, looked up and picked his spot – before slamming the ball into the far corner of their net leaving their keeper no chance of stopping it! There was pandemonium in the County end and as the ball came back for the re-start, there was hardly time to go again before the whistle went for the break. An interesting 45 – and another still to come…
Half-time: BOLTON COUNTY 1-1 Hindsford AFC
The lads came in knowing that they’d done more than alright out there – but we still had a lot of work to do to achieve our mission. Just keep doing what you’ve been doing and make sure we didn’t give them an inch of space to do again in our half of the pitch. Stop that long ball and we stop them. Simple. So drinks drunk, we were back out there ready to go again…
Not long after the restart, we looked to have created our own drama as Pomf and Ben decided to play the ball between each other in our own six-yard box and as it looked as though Pomf had fouled their striker, the only person in the ground that didn’t think it was a penalty was the one that counted – the referee. We got away with one there and to make it even sweeter, almost immediately we took the lead. A good ball out to young Matty on the right saw him take it past his man and swing in a great cross to the back post – that saw Kez turn into a prime Messi as his first touch was divine – leaving him to rifle it left-footed into the far corner! The home fans were ecstatic and as to be expected, the team in red were livid. 2-1 and we had something to look after now…
Things soon got even sweeter though. With 65 minutes on the clock, we won a free-kick in the centre-circle after yet another robust tackle from the visiting midfielder. Ax clipped a gorgeous ball into the box to find the head of Kez and he did the rest – dinking it over their advancing keeper and into the back of his net. Kez’s double and we were now 3-1 in front. This was looking good now – but we knew we’d have to stay focused…
It may still be pre-season – but this was definitely no friendly – and at times the decisions were leaving a lot to be desired. So many off the ball incidents were making a farce of the game but at times, that’s what makes today’s visitors play better. And with 82 minutes gone, they clawed a way back into the game when a long ball into the back post saw the header find a red shirt unmarked in the six-yard box and he managed to poke it home just before Pomf could get to it. 3-2 and this was going to be a tasty last 10 minutes or so…
The kitchen sink was now being thrown at us – but this afternoon saw us stand strong and not be intimidated. We were here to win this so as the lads dug in, we looked solid. Yes – the away side had sights of our goal – but between Pomf and his back four, we were dealing with whatever they had. And when that final whistle went, boy did we celebrate. A win against these had been a long time coming and we’ve now shown that we’ll be more than a match for them when it comes to the league campaign. A good performance against a strong side – and onto the start of the league campaign with our place booked in the Cup Quarter-Final in April…
The coaches were full of pride as their troops left that pitch tonight and with Pomf and Matty Hill being the stand-outs, all of the lads can be pleased with their efforts here. Never a bad thing beating Hindsford is it?
A massive thanks to today’s opponents for yet another tough battle and we wish you all the best for the coming season – apart from those two games against us obviously. Safe journey home to you all…
And another big tip of the hat to the County fans that came down to cheer us on today. We’re sure you’ll agree that it was a stormer of a performance from the boys in blue and signs that if we can keep up that work-rate, things are looking good as we head towards that opening game at home to Walshaw Sports next Tuesday evening…
It feels good tonight that’s for sure. And we’ll be celebrating this one long into it as well…
#UpTheCounty!
Starting 11
Chris Pomfret
Liam Hulme
Cole
Ben Tomlinson
Robbie Smith
Tom Axon-Smith (G) (A)
Jonathan Smalley
Liam Short
Keiran Hennessey (G, G)
Dylan Jeffs
Asumani
Subs
Zac
Matthew Hill (A)
Harrison Crook