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Veterans: 'The Battle of Bollington' - Honours even
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13 October 2008 Match report for Wilmslow Town Veterans 3 - 3 away draw with Bollington (12/10/2008)
Sunday afternoon brought an eagerly awaited top of the table clash with the visit of the veterans of Wilmslow Albion to their counterparts from Bollington. Bollington were keen to maintain their 100% winning start to the football year and Albion were hoping to regain ground after their unfortunate defeat to Sale Town the previous week.
Not for the first time this season, the sun shone brightly and playing conditions were ideal for the sport's elder statesmen.
Bollington came out fighting and were soon forcing the play against the comparatively slow starters of Wilmslow, who were forced to give away several early free kicks to break down their opponents flowing moves. Bollington, however, were undeterred by Wilmslow's spoiling tactics and a good series of passes left them clear on the right side from where a precision cross was delivered to the far post and headed home for the opening goal.
Bollington's opener served as a wake up call to Albion, who then exerted some pressure of their own to force a free kick on the edge of the box. Thomson took charge of the kick and easily beat the wall and keeper to level the game at one apiece. Game on!
The match defied its Division 2 status and the age of the competitors and the work rate of the players and the standard of play became increasingly impressive. The home side once again took the game to the visitors, whose goalkeeper, King, pulled off a number of wonderful saves to confirm the belief of so many opponents that he is the best last line of defence in the division, if not the entire league. Wilmslow's early series of petty fouls appeared to have set a precedent for the referee to pull up play somewhat easily and his regular whistle blowing, often unnecessarily, became an unwanted feature of the game. As half time neared, the Bollington players had a justified appeal for a corner as a fine 20 yard effort was deflected over by a fine Albion tackle. To the bemusement of all players, the referee saw different and awarded a foul and the free kick was neatly placed in the back of the net by the centre forward.
Half time - Bollington 2 Wilmslow 1
With the second half came another Wilmslow resurgence and they were soon on level terms when Steve Jackson coolly dispatched a rather soft penalty. 2-2.
Confidence was now high in the Wilmslow camp and remained so when King saved well to his left from a penalty after a clumsy tackle in the box by Carden. Wilmslow maintained their pressure and another free kick on the edge of the box gave them the opportunity to take the lead for the first time. Thomson produced another fine strike to give his team a 3-2 advantage.
The league leaders were in no mood to surrender their position easily and brought the scores level again in the last 10 minutes when they were awarded a second penalty. Carden was again the Wilmslow culprit but on this occasion the award was given for handball when the ball had clearly struck his chest. An unrelated incident in the build up produced a mouthy confrontation between two rival players but their name calling and idle threats to each other did little to detract from an enjoyable game all round. The minor melee didn't distract Bollington's centre forward, nor did his previous failure from the spot, and this time he sent King the wrong way to secure the draw and a final score of Bollinton 3 Wilmslow 3.
A draw was probably the fairest result for this good strong battle and both teams will take some beating as the season progresses.
 Man of the Match: Stuart Thomson
Team : A King, D Beech, N Brindley, D Jackson, C Phythian, P Wilson, P Affleck, M Arrowsmith, B Carden, G Harris,
A Price, S Thomson, K Barber, D Hall, S Jackson
 Goals : S Thomson (2), S Jackson
 Assists : K Barber, S Jackson
Source: B Carden << to news index
Wilmslow Town Veterans : More Information
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