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2/9/2008 VODKAT LEAGUE DIVISION 1 DARWEN 0 BOOTLE 6

Bootle handed Darwen their heaviest home league defeat for many a season on this rainy night, as they made the best of the poor playing conditions. Mick Green was making his first team debut for the home side.

The visitors were ahead within ten minutes. A corner from the left by Hopkins was only cleared to the same player. He put the ball back into the box, and it passed through a ruck of players to arrive at the feet of Dale, who put a low shot past the unsighted Matt Pilkington. Hay was then put through but was thwarted by the blocks of Pilkington and Oliver Telford. Hay was again denied when his downward header inside the area was pounced on by the Darwen keeper.

Bootles’ second goal came ten minutes from the break. A Hopkins free kick from inside the Darwen half was looped into the box. Hickey came through a crowd of players with a diving header into the corner of the net.

A minute later, they increased their lead when a free kick from five yards outside the area got through the wall. Pilkington initially grasped the shot, but the wet ball squirmed out of his fingers into the path of Hay, who had the simple task of tapping the ball into the empty net.

A remarkable goal followed within two minutes. A ball was put over the Darwen defence, and was chased down by McDonald. Matt Pilkington rushed from goal, and managed to get to the ball first to boot it upfield. It arrived to Kilroy, who was in the centre circle of his own half. He tried a speculative long shot over the head of Pilkington, who was running back to defend his goal. The ball looped just under cross-bar and entered the net.

Half Time: Darwen 0 Bootle 4

The visitors chalked up the fifth goal, when the Darwen players stopped for what they thought was a two footed challenge by a Bootle forward. The referee let the tackle go and as the ball fell to O’Connor from over thirty yards out, he struck a powerful shot which thudded against the underside of the cross-bar, and into the Darwen goal. It was another spectacular effort from the visitors.

Hopkins had a good chance to make it six. He outpaced the Salmoners’ defence when latching onto a ball over the top, and as Matt Pilkington came out to narrow the angle, he slid the ball past him, but also past the right hand post.

In the last ten minutes, the home side started to put pressure on the Bootle defence, with Jason Jones and Daniel Stubberfield having shots blocked at the last minute by defenders, and Mick Green hitting a shot just wide of the post with the Bootle keeper beaten.

The away side made it half a dozen three minutes before full time. A clearance into the Darwen half had Matt Anderton running back with Black of Bootle chasing. The Darwen skipper headed the ball back towards Matt Pilkington, but did not put enough power into the header. Black nipped in between the two Darwen players to lob the ball over the keeper’s head and into the net.

Right at the end, Daniel Stubberfield went close with a shot on the turn, and on the final whistle, Matt Anderton hit a powerful volley inside the box, which Bootle keeper Mawdsley did well to hang on to.

Full Time: Darwen 0 Bootle 6

ATTENDANCE: 17

REFEREE:
ASSISTANTS:

GOALS:

Bootle: Dale (7), Hickey (35), Hay (36), Kilroy (38), O’Connor (55), Black (87)
Darwen:

MAN OF THE MATCH:

Bootle:
Darwen:

TEAMS:

Bootle

1. Mark Mawdsley
2. Joe Doran
3. Carl Dale
4. Neil McQueen
5. Mike Carberry
6. Paul Hopkins
7. Daniel O’Connor
8. Jamie Hay
9. Mark Kilroy
10. Paul McDonald
11. Anthony Hickey
12. Kevin Black (replaced McDonald, 62 minutes)
14. Will Dolan (replaced Kilroy, 57 minutes)
15. Lee Mitchell
16. Chris Tyson (replaced O’Connor, 65 minutes)

Darwen

1. Matt Pilkington
2. Mick Green
3. Oliver Telford
4. Ed O’Neil
5. Matt Anderton (Capt.)
6. Matt Woods
7. Ashley Higgins
8. Jason Jones
9. Josh Eastwood
10. Rick Fogarty
11. Paul Lynch
12. Daniel Stubberfield (replaced Higgins, 58 minutes)
14. Graham Perkins
15. Mark Knowles (replaced O’Neil, 80 minutes)
16. Anthony Hodges (replaced Lynch, 52 minutes)
17. Dennis Hill