Things have improved significantly for our Development squad and as we welcomed local rivals Bolton Lads & Girls Club to St Catherine’s this afternoon, Ste and the lads were looking to make it nine games unbeaten since the turn of the year. A penalty shoot-out saw us victorious in the Open Trophy game back at the start of February so we all thought this was going to be another tight affair this afternoon. Oh how wrong were we?
Because from start to finish, it was the County lads that were on top and we managed to open the scoring on 19 minutes when a neat assist from Will saw the ball land at Ali’s feet and he did the rest – slamming the ball home from about 12 yards out. 1-0 to County and we were off – again…
We went down to 10 men for a bit on 38 minutes when Louie J saw his name taken in the referee’s notebook and a 10 minutes rest ‘in the bin’ but his team-mates managed to save his blushes as they saw out the remainder of the half without any drama and as the whistle went for the break, we had the lead – but it was all still to play for…
Half-time: BOLTON COUNTY DEVELOPMENT 1-0 BLGC Reserves
The bosses’ message was loud and clear as they sat gulping their drinks – nothing was won yet! There was more hard work to be done. More concentration required. And focus had to remain the same. We were doing well in all areas of the park so it was about going back out there and repeating what we’d just done if we wanted to keep all three points in our name. The lads knew that and as they made their way back out there, they looked like they meant business. They did…
Because within two minutes of the re-start, we had doubled our lead. It was that name Will that was the provider again and this time he crafted out a glorious ball into the path of Zak and with panache, he calmly drilled the ball into the bottom corner leaving the Girls Club keeper no chance of stopping it. 2-0 and we were in control now…
Not long after Louie J was allowed back onto the field, we were back down to 10 again – and this time it was Sam who was made to come and have a 10-minute rest. Talk about making things hard for ourselves eh? Not really – because whilst he was off, we made it 3-0. This time the provider turned into the scorer as Louie picked out a peach of a pass and there was Will to rifle the ball home from about 10 yards out. As his team-mates rushed to join him, he turned and smiled at the bench. The lad had played today that’s for sure…
The away side then decided that they too wanted to join the Sin-Bin game and on 70 minutes they were the ones with a man less – but we couldn’t capitalise on it and seemed content with what we had already. Sure – there was still some nice football and their keeper was performing heroics to keep it at three – but we were not as desperate to pour forward now and on 83 minutes, Sam also got himself a nice £12 fine as he went in the book. But by now the destination of the points was already decided and when the man in black blew his whistle for the final time this afternoon, it was County that had the bragging rights…
A solid all-round performance from the lads and with a squad of only 13 going into this, Ste was more than happy with his troops. Some were playing out of position but yet again, they did him proud and that’s now 18 points in the bag from the last 24 available. This win moves us up to 8th in the table and that’s credit to this group of lads for digging in and turning their own fortunes. It continues next weekend as we make the long trip over to 2nd bottom Uppermill Reserves and if we can play like we did today, there’s every hope of making three wins on the bounce…
Thanks to those of you that came to cheer us on this afternoon and it would be great if you could make the journey over there with us in seven days’ time. Your support is greatly appreciated…
Another Saturday. Another win for the Development squad. Getting pretty standard that now…
#UpTheCounty!