It’s been four weeks since our last league action – that 2-2 draw at Springhead – so as the Saturday morning turned to afternoon, all attention was on the next challenge and this was a big one. We were making our way over to Oldham to take on current league-leaders – and still unbeaten – Uppermill FC and although we knew this was going to be a big ask, that spirited performance at Lostock St Gerards in the County Cup gave us plenty of optimism. Off we went in search of bringing something home to Bolton…
As the lads began arriving, it was clear that Shorty was missing out on this one – and everybody connected to Bolton County would love to send our huge congratulations to Liam and Mrs Short on the birth of the beautiful daughter Hallie. S’pose that’s a good enough excuse eh? With their warm-up kits on, the rest of his team-mates began their stretches and it was going to be interesting to see what the starting 11 would look like without the ever-present Shorty in there…
And when it was announced, the County fans that had made the trip over were intrigued to see us come away from the usual 4-3-3 shape to set up with a 3-5-2 for this one. That meant that Pomf was in net and the three at three back were to be Ben, Hodgy and Houghie. We were going with Asumani and Phil as wing-backs and the central trio were to be Smalley, Ax and Louis. The top two that were being tasked with putting any chances away were to be Dylan and Sam and with Robbie Smith and Liam Hulme on the bench, we were good to go. The hosts were accompanied by their u7’s as mascots and as kick-off approached, there was a great atmosphere floating around Churchill Playing Fields…
But that soon changed within a minute of the start as Louis landed awkwardly after a strong challenge and had to be replaced – which saw us making a slight change to the plan as Robbie Smith came on at right wing-back and Phil was moved into the middle of the park. The game was starting to find some rhythm and it was County who had the first chance of note on 5 minutes as Sam found himself clean-through – but he could only shoot straight at the Uppermill keeper and the chance was gone. At this stage of the game, it was really important that we made every chance count as we didn’t know how many we’d see today – but how wrong were we?
We were working the ball well down our right now and creating overloads aplenty – with Robbie Smith playing a great ball into the path of Dylan – but he took too long to get his shot away and the home defence managed to smother it from danger. We were controlling play in good areas and what little the hosts were offering was being easily snuffed out by our brick-wall of a back-three. We were looking good – so far…
And then came the breakthrough. Using the ball well down our right again, we broke at pace and the ball was fed into the feet of Sam by our Robbie. It was quickly moved on to Dylan and getting the right side of his marker, he smashed the ball into the roof of their net from about 10 yards out. A fine goal and we had the lead. 1-0 County and the home fans now quietened a little…
As the half wore on, all of the good goal-scoring opportunities were falling our way but a mixture of poor finishing and scrappy defending kept the ball from flying into the back of their net. In truth we could had easily seen County going in at the break with a 5-0 lead but when the whistle went, it was the home coaches that were the happier to get their players in…
Half-time: Uppermill FC 0-1 BOLTON COUNTY
The lads were smiling as they came for their half-time refreshments – as were the coaches – but nothing was won yet and we knew that today’s hosts had not gone unbeaten so far this season by simply rolling over. They were going to come out all-guns blazing from the re-start so this was about being professional, remaining focused and not giving them anything to get the wind back in their sails. It was clear that the Uppermill coach was furious – as he got the cones out and was less than quiet in how he wanted to see their formation for the second-half – but this was about us now and if we could stick to the task in hand, we could pull off a real shock here. No changes were made and as the lads made their way for the second-half, they knew exactly what they needed to do now…
It was how we guessed as the Uppermill players came storming out of the blocks from the whistle – and for the first five minutes, they looked as though they had got their passing game and their positional awareness back on track – but County reorganised to stop them forcing the overloads down our sides as they wanted – and when we did that, we were back in control of the game. A couple more gilt-edged chances went begging – but the next goal that was scored saw us take a two-goal advantage. Sam received the ball about 30 yards from goal and drove straight into the heart of their box before slotting the ball past their helpless No.1 and into the back of their net. As he rushed off to do his back-flip and roundhouse to finish celebration, both sets of supporters enjoyed that bit! More importantly though – we were 2-0 up at the home of the league-leaders and we had a cushion to defend now…
Things went from good to even better though as with 57 minutes on the clock, we went further ahead as Phil danced past at least three Uppermill challenges before looking up and tucking his shot home nicely in the far corner. This had been a great display from our lads and to now be 3-0 in front was more than we expected as we made our way over here…
The expected onslaught from the hosts just didn’t seem to come and with Asumani making their midfield chase shadows, they just couldn’t nullify the attacking moves we were throwing at them. And with 67 minutes on the watch, it was 4-0! Smalley took hold of the ball and with a Pirlo-like reverse pass, he played the ball into the path of Sam – and there was no doubting his finish this time and he slammed the ball home for his brace – and 4th of the league campaign – to see us with a really comfortable lead now. 4-0 County!
We hadn’t finished yet either – as it was dreamland now – when we popped up with our fifth and final goal of the game. This time it was Ax’s turn to take hold of the ball, turn two defenders and seeing their goalkeeper slip, he drove a left-footed strike into the back of the net. His team-mates rushed to congratulate with him and he was quick to remind everybody that this was his 50th goal in his last 60 games. Not bad going that is it? But the main thing was that at 5-0, there couldn’t be anyway of throwing this away now surely.
We kept peppering their goal with shot after shot and it really did look as though the hosts just wanted the final whistle now – but they did manage to get their consolation goal when a poor shot seemed to bobble over Pomf’s arm and end up in the back of our net. That was the only blemish on this unbelievable day – not keeping a clean-sheet – but we would most definitely have taken that as we left Bolton a few hours ago. 5-1 and the points were coming home with us…
Nothing much happened between then and the referee deciding he had seen enough – and when that final whistle did go, it was the County players dancing and singing. The Uppermill bubble was well and truly burst and this result is going to send shockwaves across the Premier Division tonight. This had been by far the best Bolton County performance for many a year and as the lads trotted off, the travelling faithful were more than happy with their heroes…
What could the coaches say about that then? To a man, they were outstanding all over the park – and Asumani and Sam gave their players nightmares that will take an awful long time to forget – but is was Chris Hough that was awarded the PPSL Man of the Match for his impressive display of commanding defending. Nobody was getting past him today and he was a rock in that back-line. Well played Houghie…
We’ve set the mark now though. It’s about carrying this performance into the next one – when we travel to bottom of the league Manchester Gregs in a fortnight – so we’d love to see you all over there roaring us on again. Another win will push us further up that table and that’s where we want to be. And as we packed up our stuff and made our way back to Tonge Cricket Club, in fairness we were all a little shell-shocked. Nobody was expecting this today – least of all the Uppermill side – but we played the best we’d played for years and the points were coming home with us! That’s what Saturdays are all about isn’t it?
Massive respect to the Uppermill crew for being such fine hosts and a huge thanks to the County fans that made the trip over to watch this. We know you’ll have driven home beaming that’s for sure. See you all over in Sale in a fortnight…
#UpTheCounty!