Boldmere St Michaels 1 Loughborough Students 2
 
Northern Premier League, Midland Division Saturday, April 25th, 2026

Blazing sunshine, in front of a crowd looking forward to laid back summer days, and a game between two teams who’d climbed away from relegation and so had nothing at stake, meant a classic end-of-season encounter. The Mikes kept faith with the team that had won at Bourne the previous week; but took the opportunity to give some youngsters pitch time, four of them starting on the bench.

Enterprising visiting forward Sonny Albert began proceedings by running twenty yards before kick-off, behind the referee’s back! Boldmere, meanwhile, began as they continued for long periods, concentrating on possession, rather than penetration. Inevitably, they lost the ball, and Connor Keene was through…but fired just wide. The Mikes were conceding fouls on their left wing, and five corners (nine throughout the match, gaining one) in the first twenty-one minutes.

With Boldmere looking predictable, Loughborough cut open their defence on twenty-nine minutes, Zac Scutt heading right of the target. Soon, though, they were ahead. Tobenna Ikegwuonu was causing plenty of bother on either wing, and an incisive centre from the left bamboozled Daniel O’Callaghan…and Keene had an easy task to push the ball home. This seemed to wake the hosts up, and in three minutes they’d charged the Students’ goal three times; but no goal resulted, and we reached half time at 0-1.

On the resumption, the sides now exchanged close shaves, two Tolani Omotola headers eliciting diving saves from Steven Bessent, while Jonno Brown kept out Ikegbuono (scrambling smother) and Scutt (a fizzer turned over the bar). With the hour passed, Kyle Byrne angrily kicked the wall after all but equalising: could the Mikes pull a goal back? Alas, on sixty-nine minutes, a three man move down the middle ended with Scutt tucking the ball inside Brown’s left-hand post, to make it 0-2.

Connor Armstrong had a fierce left-footed strike turned aside by Steven Bessent’s legs in one of the Mikes’ best responses. It seemed the result was finalised, both teams brought on substitutes, and the Boldmere youngsters put themselves about, in the unceasing heat, with commendable energy. In a well-behaved contest, a physio was on the park for the first time with only a quarter of hour’s standard time to go – inevitably to Pedro Lima, who always seems to soak up an astonishing amount of punishment. Six minutes of added time were enlivened by Charlie Manners, who in the first of the six sent in a twenty-yard rocket. Bessent got a hand to it, but it was in. Could Boldmere conjure up a late equaliser? The closing minutes saw Brown stop a long-range Thomas Higgs effort at second grab, and Danny Wood rather harshly booked when he accidentally kicked Albert in the head. Lewi Burnside nearly gained parity, taking the paint off the right hand post…and that was that, as the full time whistle immediately went, bringing Boldmere’s “season of two halves” to a disappointing end.

Boldmere St Michaels: Jonathan Brown; Frankie Ealing; Pedro Lima; Daniel O’Callaghan; Jordan Gough (Ben Croot 78); Connor Armstrong (Jack White 85); Jack Burgess (Danny Wood 85); Kyle Byrne (Lewi Burnside 78); Tolani Omotola; Charlie Manners; Jaiy Leydon (Nathan Allison 58).

Loughborough Students: Steven Bessent: Alex Spiteri; Ben Royall; Josh Roddy (Thomas Higgs 82); William Early; Nat Salsby; Marcus Gilpin (Hussain Issa 67); Sonny Albert:  Zac Scutt; Connor Keene (Alfie Lee 77); Tobenna Ikegwuonu (Benrick Navti 67). Sub. Not used: Leo Webster