Bootle lose 4-3 to Congleton Town in a seven goal thriller.
By Brendan Doyle
The Bucks started the game relatively well, up until then 9th minute when George Sankey played in Danny Needham with a ball over the top to give the hosts a 1-0 lead. Almost ten minutes later Matthew Gillam doubled the score and it looked as though Bootle were dead and buried at this point. However, on the half an hour mark Tom Hannigan found the net after a Bootle corner, and for the rest of the first half Bootle seemed to gain momentum and had a fair bit of possession.
The second half started with the hosts coming out of the tunnel firing fast, Max McCarthy had a shot on target but Bootle skipper Tony Thompson parried the effort away from goal. After storming the weather from a sharp start to the second half from Congleton Town, Bootle found an equaliser from another Tom Hannigan goal and The Bucks were level. After continuing pressure from Bootle, Ben Hodkinson cut in on the right hand side outside the box and tried his luck outside the area with a left footed shot and somehow the ball flew into the far bottom corner which sent the Bootle away end behind the goal into a burst of euphoria.
Unfortunately Bootle’s joy and lead was short lived as Kieran Garner Knapper scored within seconds after coming on as a substitute with practically his first touch of the ball of the game. To top off a fantastic game of football in Congleton but also to cause heartbreak for Bootle, Danny Needham snatched a winner for Congleton with a fantastic strike inside the box defeating Tony Thompson to claim all three points for Congleton Town.