In their first home game of the season, Boots came up against a strong Arnold Old Boys side in energy-sapping conditions. Within seconds of the start Boots were given a glimpse of what they were up against as Arnold’s pacy wing-play resulted in a volley that was dispatched towards the top right corner, but fortunately Phil produced a sensational diving save to tip the ball over the bar to ‘ooohs’ from the watching crowd. After that early warning Boots defended well, but Arnold were clearly a confident and skilful team, and their midfield began to dominate the ball and look for passes over the top of the Boots defence. The deadlock was broken after 20 minutes when Phil struggled to clear Ash’s backpass with his left foot, and the ball dropped invitingly towards the Arnold winger, who produced a sweet volley that lobbed the stranded Phil and plopped under the bar. Boots began to produce a few chances of their own, and Bally flashed a header over the bar from Griff’s corner, Brett came close to finding Ian with several long free kicks, and both Luke and Justin saw low shots saved by the diving keeper. Unfortunately luck wasn’t on the side of Boots, and Arnold took full advantage of minor defensive mistakes to extend their lead; their second goal coming when the Boots defence failed to clear the ball after Phil had made yet another superb diving save, and eventually an unchallenged Arnold midfielder found the space to dispatch a rocket from 20 yards that gave Phil no chance. The third goal saw a long throw nodded into the box, and despite Sicky’s presence, the Arnold striker flicked his header over Phil with the ball landing perfectly inside the far post.
Boots survived several more scares at the start of the second half, with Horlicks producing an unbelievable last-ditch block on the line and Ash tackling his winger strongly in the box to deny goals, before Pete began to reshuffle the formation; Patto came on in defence and later moved to attack, while Daz replaced Tom on the left wing for 30 minutes. With Arnold’s domination beginning to waver, Justin and Sicky found more space in midfield and Boots started to compete much better. Deano almost bundled his way through on goal and Patto released Bally into the box but his low shot was parried wide by the keeper, before great play from Justin released Deano down the left, and his strong run towards the front post eventually allowed him to square across goal for Bally, who (just about) tapped the ball over the line from less than a yard! Unfortunately Boots couldn’t find another goal, and Arnold grabbed their fourth after a extremely good ‘pass and move’ team effort that ended with a powerful shot through Phil’s fingers. Patto almost grabbed a consolation at the death after Ash’s superb cross, but he glanced his header wide at the far post.
