10 men Bootle triumph Trafford at Shawe View on a rainy Tuesday night.
By Brendan Doyle
The first twenty minutes of the game was in Trafford’s favour having most of the possession, creating chances in Bootle’s final third and Bootle centre half Jonny Spittle received a red card.
Trafford used the extra man on the pitch to their advantage almost as soon as Jonny Spittle left the pitch. Isaac Noble made a threatening run down the left hand side cutting into Bootle’s area but his cross couldn’t find another Trafford body.
Hilal Khan tried his effort with a first time hit outside the box but it drifted just wide of Tony Thompson’s far post. Rio Clegg knocked on the door with a curled effort but the shot flew just a couple of metres over the bar.
Bootle had a chance of their own when the ball dropped to Will Bell just on the inside of the Trafford area but his effort skied over Sam Booth’s cross bar. Just minutes later out of nowhere on the stroke of half time, Michael Burkey tried his luck from all of 50 yards out which astonishingly flew over the head of Sam Booth and into the Trafford net, a goal which will take some beating for Bootle’s goal of the season despite only playing two competitive games.
Bootle started the second half much livelier than the first when only seconds after kick off Tom Peterson had a free header but couldn’t meet the ball with the right connection as it fell yards wide. After a foul on Burkey in the Bootle penalty area the referee pointed to the spot kick which Peterson stepped up to take but blazed his effort right over the crossbar, failing to double Bootle’s goal tally.
Straight after the penalty, Trafford created a counter attack which ended in Rio Clegg trying to beat Thompson at his near post but Thompson successfully parried away the shot. Burkey once again tried his luck with a shot from long range at a similar angle and distance from where he converted his effort in the first half, but this time the attempted was astonishingly tipped over the bar by Booth.
A ball into Trafford’s box found Bell with a free header in a dangerous position but was straight into the arms of Booth putting any doubt of a second Bootle goal out of mind. A free kick fizzed in from Ben Hodkinson which found a slight touch from Conor Harwood went just wide for a goal kick.
In the later stages of the game Trafford seemed to gain more possession and attacked Bootle’s final third, such as when Eoin Hogan almost hit home a ball whipped into him but he couldn’t quite meet the ball in time to have much impact. Thanks to defending heroics from Sam Hughes, Sean Smith and Will Bell, Bootle were able to see out a 1-0 win despite being down to ten men.
Mick McGraa’s squad showed fantastic heart, character and work ethic to overcome the obstacles they faced and it certainly paid off, making it the second win in two league games for Bootle so far.