The Mikes 3-2 Stourport Swifts

The Mikes fielded the same team that gained their first League point on Monday last, except that newcomer Anthony Smith came in for Simeon Tulloch, whose hamstring had given way during the warm up. Stourport had Mark Danks, who’d briefly represented us, as their player/Assistant Manager. Three Hansons figured in their squad - all brothers.

Only two minutes had elapsed when the Mikes went ahead. A long, looping through ball nearly bounced over Swifts keeper Richards’ head. He managed to get a despairing hand to the ball, but the rapidly following up Owen Parry had a simple chance to put Boldmere in front. No threat to the home goal seemed imminent until visiting forward Martin Slevin was flattened by Cameron Gayle - some distance from the ball! With twelve minutes gone, Stourport were unnecessarily level, as Mark Danks converted the penalty. This visibly unnerved the Mikes, who nearly committed hari kiri. A suicidal back pass was only prevented from becoming a scoring chance by a ball played to Lewis Fenney’s hands. Our referee, who had an eminently sensible head on him throughout the game, refused to award an indirect free kick. Further defensive disaster, however, was not far away. A determined run down the right by Danks followed by a decent cross caused problems in the home defence. Harry Craven’s attempted clearance stuck under his feet and as the defender went to ground Jamie Clarke had the simple task in putting the Worcestershire men ahead. Boldmere responded in spirited style, and just beyond the half hour, Richards had to tip a fierce volley from Anthony Smith over the bar, after he’d punched out yet another searching long throw from Brad Lindsey, who set an example of commitment throughout. Owen Parry went close with a shot on the turn before the pressure finally paid off two minutes before the break. Rikardo Reid ran at the visiting defence from distance: two defenders and the keeper converged to close him down- and he threaded the ball through all of them to open his account for the season with a well taken equaliser. The referee (in your humble correspondent’s opinion) had a good game throughout; but this didn’t spare him from loud opprobrium from the home bench, leading to Kirk Smith picking up the Mikes’ first yellow card of the day. Parity at half-time with little between the teams.

Stourport began the second period on the attack, and had ten minutes’ sustained pressure; but the deciding goal came with a smart move out of defence. Fenney punched out from a crowd of players: Steve Palmer picked up in midfield, and fed the ball out to Ty Knight on the right: his centre found Anthony Smith, whose smart back heel set up Barry Healey to put Boldmere ahead, on 57 minutes. The Swifts responded quickly, and within four minutes Fenney was having to push a Nick MacPherson header round the post. As the game progressed, both sides tried to go up a gear, and passes were continually lost in midfield. Tension at the visitors’ rear led to them conceding two yellow cards: Jamie Clarke, for a rash challenge on Cameron Gayle, and his namesake Lewis, after he’d hauled over Steve Palmer. In response, the Mikes could only gain one: Healey, with just over half an hour to go. Time ticked by: was a one goal advantage going to be enough? Taimoor Hussein, Charlie Morris and Kyle Byrne came on as substitutes in the last fifteen minutes, and contributed intelligently to the Mikes’ survival, keeping the ball down by the flag, and out of danger. When the Swifts were able to extricate the ball from the corner, they attacked with vigour, and a smart Fenney save and the outside of the post came to Boldmere’s rescue deep into added time. The Swifts straggled off the park, hoping for better things two days ahead, while the Mikes sat down on the half way line, perhaps debating Parso’s perennial question - “Will we ever get past Christmas in the Vase?”

The Mikes: Lewis Fenney; Cameron Gayle; Barry Healey; Brad Lindsey; Harry Craven; Joe Lyng; Ty Knight (Taimoor Hussein 82); Steve Palmer; Rikardo Reid (Kyle Byrne 85); Owen Parry; Anthony Smith (Charlie Morris 83). Subs not used: Rico Taylor; Harry Buttery; Jack Burgess; Simeon Tulloch.
Stourport: Dominic Richards, Jim Hanson, Lewis Platt, James Timmins, Matt Hanson, Matt Fulloway, Lewis Clarke, Martin Slevin, Jamie Clarke, Mark Danks, Nick MacPherson. Subs Used: Elliot Lees, Cameron Peters, Dan Tustin. Subs not used: Joe Hanson, Matty Smith, Ryan Smith