The Bucks come away from the midlands with a 3-0 defeat and sit 16th in the league table being four points away from the relegation zone. Not an idea debut for new boss Alan Morgan.
In the early minutes of the first half Bootle showed signs of being the aggressor to make their mark as Michael Simpson intercepted a Chasetown pass and carried the ball from the right flank to then spread a pass to Ben Hodkinson who then picked out Courtney Duffus but the latter’s shot on goal was not enough to trouble Curtis Pond.
Minutes later the hosts looked threatening down their left hand side as Luke Yates played in a dangerous looking ball but Lewis Earl cleared Bootle of any danger, Chasetown showed more signs promising signs of coming into the game as George Cater hit an outside of the box effort but the ball only bounced wide.
Chasetown came very close to taking the lead just before the twenty minute mark as Kieran Fenton made a powerful header from a corner but Bootle skipper Tony Thompson just got a finger tip to it, a huge opportunity for The Scholars to go a goal up. Ben Hodkinson lined up to take a free kick from close range which he then got a good strike on the ball but his effort only landed on the roof of the net.
Luke Yates once again inflicted headaches for the Bootle defence as he managed to skip around Tony Thompson but the Bucks managed to track back just in time to narrow the gap from the ball to the net. In the closing stages of the first half Lewis Earl had the ball in his possession from just over thirty yards out and tried his luck but his shot flew wide and over, a minute later Joey Butlin made a header towards goal but Tony Thompson made nothing more than saving practice of the effort.
Less than five minutes into the second half Chasetown full back Joe Dunne picked up the ball far out from the area on the left flank and had an effort from a fair distance but his strike only ended up way over, Courtney Duffus pressed the Chasetown backline which caused Kieran Fenton to panic whilst clearing the ball which Duffus got a touch on but Curtis Pond seen to the high loose effort.
As the game went on Courtney Duffus ran onto a ball down the right hand side and as he took a touch which was looking to go around Curtis Pond, the latter cleaned out Courtney Duffus and the late challenge seen the Chasetown keeper receive just a yellow card, a touch of luck for Curtis Pond.
Half an hour into the second half Chasetown were awarded a free kick on their attacking right side of the pitch which was just on shooting distance, Kieran Fenton who almost snatched the opener the first half struck the free kick and as the ball was flying closer towards goal it looked more and more dangerous but fortunately for Bootle it clipped the crossbar and went out for the goal kick. Two minutes after hitting the woodwork however, Kieran Fenton eventually got his goal from via a six yard effort after being on the right end of a ball played into the box.
The goal scorer again stepped up to take a free kick on the opposite side of which he hit the crossbar, only this time the shot was made into an easy pick up for Tony Thompson. Substitute Kenzie O’Neil made a headed ball towards Courtney Duffus who seemed through on goal until Chasetown skipper made a fantastic sliding challenge on Duffus to keep his side ahead in the game. Seconds after a Bootle corner Chasetown managed to get the ball away from danger and then into Bootle’s final third which led to Sam Unitt going one on one with Tony Thompson and slotted home his effort doubling Chasetown’s lead.
Four minutes later the game went from bad to worse as Joey Butlin hit home his effort from a ball played into him from the left hand side, the match would end 3-0 to Bootle and we still remain four points above the relegation places. A win against our local rivals next Saturday at the Berry Street Garage Stadium City Of Liverpool is hugely needed in order to create a gap from ourselves and the bottom four.