By Liam Price
Bootle continued their 100% winning start to the NPL West season with a 2-0 win over Nantwich in Merseyside.
Harry Davis returned from suspension as Perry Bircumshaw missed out through injury. New signing Zack Stritch came straight into the team, and Bruno Cina started after his 2 goals off the bench on Saturday.
After an even start, Bootle took the lead just past the half hour. A deep cross from the left was nodded down into the path of Jack McGowan who tucked it away.
In the second half, a couple of chances were spurned for the hosts to double the lead with Sam Booth making important saves on what looks like being his last game of this short term spell in the Dabbers goal.
A decisive moment came with 15 minutes to go when Josh McWilliams was sent off for a second yellow card. His first yellow was given for an accidental high foot with the referee also suggesting it may have been the ‘totting up’ of a previous offence/s. The second was given for what again looked an accidental trip, if there was any contact at all. A 3rd red card in 5 games for the Dabbers now, but this one owed more to bad luck than bad judgement.
Bootle capitalised on this as all good teams do by killing the game 6 minutes later. As goals go it was certainly unconventional; a long throw in was acrobatically turned towards goal by an overhead kick that was surely going wide, were it not for the head of Ben Hodkinson who reacted sharply to head in. A goal they couldn’t replicate if they tried even in training with no opposition, but when you are top of the league those things come off.
So 2-0 Bootle was how it finished, and afterwards Luke Goddard shared his thoughts:
“Firstly huge respect to Bootle the work they’ve done off the pitch & are doing on the pitch; they have earned the right to be the team to chase. We showed for large parts again how close we are & how competitive we remain but that final quality at the top end just evades us to be ruthless in the big moments. But that’s the situation in front of us, we are working extremely hard behind the scenes to add a couple of finishing pieces to a talented squad that of course has been dwindled with injuries and setbacks. It’s all part of the game, even in the frustration of the short term but this group will look to make October a positively consistent one to edge that bit closer to where we should and want to be.”
Teams
Bootle: Joe Mason, Jay Roberts (C), Michael Simpson, Matty Fenton, Tom Hannigan, Lewis Doyle, Jack Lenehan, Sam Hughes, Jack McGowan (Ste Edmondson, 82), Ryan Beigan (Declan Daniels, 55), Ben Hodkinson (Saul Fox-Akande, 90+2)
Subs not used: Isaac Da Conceicao, Anthony Miley
Goals: McGowan (31′), Hodkinson (82′)
Nantwich Town: Sam Booth, Aidy Roxburgh, Josh McWilliams, Ethan Hartshorn, Harry Davis (C), Paddy Kennedy, Will Smith, Callum Saunders (Collins Kagame, 71), Bruno Cina (Ollie Pope, 66), Zack Stritch (Byron Moore, 84), Jack Stafford
Subs not used: James Baillie, Joe Collins
Red card: McWilliams (76′)
Attendance: 541