Boldmere St Michaels 0 – 4 Corby Town

Northern Premier League Midland Division Saturday 26 April 2025

Once again, the Mikes finished their season with a game at home to a team for whom the result mattered. Last year, Rugby Town avoided relegation, by victory here: this time, Corby Town cemented their desired second place, for Play Off purposes.

For the first half hour, as Boldmere’s youthful squad dug in to their older opponents, you wouldn’t have known which team was in second place. With only a minute gone, a headed corner was cleared off the visitors’ line; soon, Charlie Manners latched onto a long ball down the left, his effort pushed away by Corby keeper Ross Durrant; twice, Durrant had to leave his area to deal with dangerous through balls. Three yellows were administered to the hosts, as they made their presence felt, and bodies tumbled, regularly.

All that said, the Mikes’ habit of faffing around at the back nearly saw them fall behind on nineteen minutes. The opposition having sensed Boldmere’s vulnerability, they seized on a feeble clearance, fed the ball through…and had a man upended in the box. A strange, anti-Corby, visiting claque had installed themselves at the far end. They now hurried towards the Club House to witness the spot kick. Fletcher Toll’s shot wasn’t of the deadliest, and Jonathan Brown smothered his effort. At this stage, the Mikes deserved equality.

The tide started to turn eight minutes from the interval. Passing neatly down the left, for once the Steelmen managed to avoid Boldmere’s muscular attentions. The ball was cleared from a crowded home box; a pinpoint centre came back from the left; and Rory McCauley headed powerfully home. Neo Dobson soon spurned a simple chance to double the difference; but on the stroke of half time, Toll was presented with an open goal, and tucked the ball away. Half time: 0-2.

With Corby now able to relax on their two-goal cushion, the second half was a very different affair from the first. The visitors had so much of the territory that, at one point, Durrant went twenty minutes without touching the ball. All ten substitutes were used, as the hosts wanted to give their young charges some game experience, and their guests, with an eye on the following Tuesday’s Play Offs, sent their best men to the safety of the dugout.

As time went on, and Corby failed to take their chances, you asked yourself, “Could the Mikes keep the deficit to two, or would we see those late goals we’ve conceded all season, against the leading Clubs?” Alas, the latter came true. The Mikes’ young replacements gave a good account of themselves; but two misplaced passes in midfield were seized on. The first one saw a slick three-pass move upfield finished off by substitute Tendai Daire nine minutes from time, and Matthew Slinn took a simple chance, right at the death, to make it four.

A disappointing end to a game where Boldmere had gone toe to toe with their opponents. The final score spoke more of their inexperience than of their performance.

Boldmere St Michaels: Jonathan Brown; Lewis Allison; Pierre Phillips; George Cleet; Demico Burton (Red Simmons 86); Ben George; Nathan Oyemade (Jake Wilkes 68); John McHugh (Zachary Binns 69); Kevin Ngombi; Charlie Manners (Danny Wood 55); Frankie Ealing (Charlie Edge 81).

Corby Town: Ross Durrant; Kalern Thomas; Amarvir Sandhu; Matthew Slinn; Callum Milne; Rory McAuley (Spencer Edwards 63); Reuben Marshall; Gary Stohrer (Jordan O’Brien 66); Fletcher Toll (Tendai Daire 58); Neo Dobson (Jack Keeble 75); Joe Butterworth (Daniel Gordon 54).