Northern Premier League | Midland Division | Saturday 19 October 2024
A good afternoon’s entertainment ended in a sharing of the spoils after the Mikes turned around a two-goal deficit against a strong visiting Anstey Nomads side. In the absence of both Neil Kitching and Ian Cooper, stand in Nick Amos made a couple of changes to the side that drew at Coventry Sphinx the previous Saturday. Harry Sweeney and Liam Murphy being preferred to Corey Cooper and Jake Collins who moved to the substitutes bench.
The Mikes expected a stiff test against a Nomads side who had lost just one game since the opening day of the season and that was an emirates FA Cup tie against Step 2 side Rushall Olympic. It was important to start strongly but seven minutes in the visitors were ahead; left wing back Oscar Tonge found space on the left and fired a ball across the six-yard box to find at least two colleagues waiting to sweep the ball into the unguarded net as keeper Jonathan Brown was stranded at the near post. Rhys Dolan claimed the goal with a simple tap in.
To be fair the rest of the half was evenly matched with neither forward line getting much change out of the opposing defenders. Interval thoughts by the home supporters looking for a good result were seemingly dashed early in the second period. An exchange of passes left to right caught Harry Sweeney in two minds and a through ball to Zayn Hakeem resulted. He slipped too easily past Lewis Allison before beating Brown with a left foot cross shot.
It looked a long shot now for Boldmere to get a result yet six minutes later they were on level terms. Firstly, Theo Rowe cut in from the left, not for the first time and fired a right shot past Conrad Logan who seemed slow going down. Just two minutes later Sweeney equalised; supporting the attack he picked up a loose ball on the edge of the box and beat Logan who again seemed sluggish getting down to the shot. The Mikes were in the ascendancy now and just a few minutes later had the golden chance to go ahead. Niall Prenderville, a recent signing from Shepshed Dynamo, was adjudged to have fouled Charlie Manners conceding a penalty. Logan atoned for his ‘errors’ by saving Dan Gyasi’s poorly taken penalty. Mikes needed the goal; Gyasi needed the goal but it was not to be and as the final quarter of the game was played out it was the Nomads who looked the more likely winners.
Both sides made several substitutions in this period with the visitors changes perhaps having more effect.
As the minutes ticked away Anstey forced a succession of corners but resolute defensive work prevented any real scares and a share of the spoils reflected the efforts of both sides following a hard-fought battle.
Boldmere St Michaels: Jonathan Brown; Lewis Allison; Harry Sweeney; George Cleet; Joe Hull; Oliver West; Theo Rowe (Alfie Taylor, 85); Thomas Edge; Liam Murphy; Daniel Gyasi (Jake Collins, 90); Charlie Manners (Kyle Burke, 80). Subs. not used: Corey Cooper; Hisham Chiha.
Anstey Nomads: Conrad Logan; Ben Bayliss; Oscar Tonge; Jordan Annable; Lewis Gibbens; Jack Thomas; Rhys Dolan (Jacob Fenton, 62); Niall Prenderville; James Tague (Leo Brown, 81; James Snedden, 90+2); Kyle Tomlin (Drew Lowe, 85); Zayn Hakeem. Sub. not used: Brad Wilson.