Northern Premier League Midland Division Tuesday 23 September 2025
Five smash and grab goals decided this fixture – and Boldmere got three of them, thus winning a game by the odd goal, for a change. One thing you notice about our squad this year is that we’ve got no long throw in specialist. Bedworth had, in the shape of midfielder Ben Blakeley, whose first missile, after seven minutes, found someone’s head at the heart of a crowded visiting penalty area. The ball came back from the bar…and there was George Dunkley to nod the Greenbacks ahead. A minute later, he could have conceivably doubled his account, but found the side netting from an acute angle.
The Mikes, meanwhile, were playing a refreshingly direct Route One game; but shooting was often of the “three points to Wigan” variety. As the first half unfolded, they slowly increased the pressure on their hosts, and with the half hour just passed, it took two pieces of last ditch defending to deny Frankie Ealing, as he dribbled skilfully towards the Town End goal. Three corners in a row were fended away as the Mikes mounted their siege; and on twenty-five minutes the home defence was breached, Ealing dribbling in yet again, to feed Freddie Cockerell, who gently side footed netwards. Boldmere finished the half strongly, but couldn’t add to their tally, making the interval score 1-1.
Restarting untidily, Boldmere were unable to maintain their momentum, and desperate defence soon cleared away another long throw. Eleven minutes in, the homesters went ahead again, in the simplest of fashions. Dunkley broke down the right, fed Tolani Omotola up front, and he nutmegged Jonathan Brown to reestablish the homesters’ lead. This seemed to unnerve the Mikes, the ball being continually passed along the back line, as if it were a bomb that you wanted to explode under someone else’s feet.
A dangerous challenge by Ealing saw our referee waving his arms like a windmill, thus preventing a full-scale contretemps, as substitutes began to appear, and you wondered whether the Mikes would gain the point they deserved for their night’s efforts. Both teams were going close; but with eight minutes standard time left, a long, searching cross from the right found the head of Harry Wakefield, to equalise.
Neither team were prepared to settle for a draw, Bedworth going close twice and Boldmere once, as they strove for victory. Charlie Manners had hardly entered the park when a very late tackle brought retaliation, general upset, and another yellow card. Three minutes into added time, some clever play right down by the right-hand corner flag somehow kept the ball in play, and in Mikes’ possession. The ball escaped its confines…a three man move worked it across the box…and there was Freddie Cockerell to hammer home from eight yards. Thus, Mikes keep themselves above the relegation places, while the Greens are anchored to the bottom of the table with only two points. If there’s one moral we can draw from this entertaining fixture, it’s this: get the ball up at the front. We’ve got the forwards to do something with it.
Bedworth United: Oliver Sayer; Jamie Ashmore (Joe Anthony 89); Charlie Watts; Elliott Parrott; Ben Richards; Ben Blakeley; George Dunkley; Charles Gordon; Tolani Omotola; Harvey Westwood (Ross Evans 79); Maxwell Ngbeken-Itota (Connor Mooney 74). Subs. not used: Callum Martin; Luke Curtlin.
Boldmere St Michaels: Jonathan Brown; Ben George (Kye Bilton 86); Aris Christophorou: Jordan Gough (Red Simmons 76); Dan O’Callaghan; Connor Armstrong; Frankie Ealing (Pierre Phillips 90+1); Nathan Oyemade (Charlie Manners 70); Freddie Cockerell; Harry Wakefield; Kaireice Cunningham (Lewis Allison 86)