1874 Northwich vs Bootle

Recap

1874 NORTHWICH FC 1 V 0 BOOTLE

1874 finished the month of September with another win and the hard earned three points moved them up into joint second place with Glossop North End just behind leaders Runcorn Linnets but with games in hand.

As the score line suggests this was certainly a narrow victory against a no-nonsense side from Liverpool but Manager Ian Street would have been extremely pleased again with the all-round commitment shown by his side.

The game started very lively with both sides eager to take a strong foothold in affairs. 1874 had the first half-chance when Ward created a chance for Beadle but his effort was well saved by the visiting goalkeeper Porter who went on to prove his worth to his side in much the same way as 1874’s Conkie did at the other end.

On the quarter hour mark, Bootle created their first real chance when Coulton volleyed over after McQueen had provided the good opportunity for him but almost immediately 1874 countered with the industrious Ward finding the marauding Beadle with a dream of a pass but the striker shot narrowly wide.

A period of strong pressure from 1874 then ensued with Chappell and Ward at the heart of most moves with Jones also contributing expertly in both defence and attack. Brandon looked menacingly threatening all game and after Ward and Beadle worked hard together a chance was created but Brandon’s shot went narrowly wide with the keeper beaten. A few minutes later and it was the same story as Mitchell’s long raking pass from the defence was inch perfect falling at the feet of Brandon but although he demonstrated excellent control and movement once again his shot went just wide.

Beadle, who was working his socks off up front then combined with Woolley to create a chance for Ward but perhaps quite inevitably as it was on his right foot the effort was another off target and the keeper wasn’t troubled.

A goal always looked on the cards but when it arrived it had more than a small piece of luck with it. Yet again Beadle had been busy – this time on the left flank – and after he had seen off the close attention of a defender he crossed the ball into the penalty area and as a defender desperately attempted to clear the danger he only succeeded in hitting the ball against Matt Woolley and then watched as it rebounded slowly into the bottom corner of the net to open the scoring.

The final piece of first half action almost brought another 1874 goal. Chappell who had been involved with most of all the action broke clear on the wing and his progress towards goal was thwarted by a foul. From the free kick Thomas saw his strong header saved.

After the interval 1874 picked up where they had left off and Brandon shot straight at the keeper when well placed following an excellent five-man move by his team mates.

On 52 minutes Conkie had to be alert a Bootle attack finished with the ball being pushed round the post for a corner and then two minutes later an excellent ball from Chappell found Brandon in space and once again the striker did all the hard work well, advanced into the box but then saw his lobbed effort go agonisingly wide.

The game then started to open up more possibly as a result of tiredness creeping in as well as the visitors pushing forward more and more in search of an equaliser and this nearly came just past the hour mark as Sherlock’s excellent shot clipped the bar before going for a goal kick.

But in truth 1874 finished the game looking the side most likely to score the second goal of the game with Beadle, Brandon and substitute Wellstead all going close after good chances had been created for them.

However, there were no further goals but most of the crowd of 289 would have gone home very pleased with the end result achieved as a result of an excellent all-round team performance well orchestrated by Beadle, the tireless Chappell and the magical skills of Man of the Match Matty Ward

Team: Conkie, Woolley; Duckworth; Thomas; Mitchell; Chappell; Beadle; Jones; Brandon; Ward and Tandy. Sub statute Wellstead replaced Brandon in the 73rd minute