🟢 BEDWORTH UNITED JUNIORS U18s 3–1 BOLEHALL SWIFTS U18s 🟢
Three points. Five times off the woodwork. One very eventful evening!
After almost three weeks without a game, the Young Greenbacks finally returned to action last night, welcoming Bolehall Swifts U18s.
And we certainly weren’t short of entertainment… FAST START We came flying out of the blocks and took the game to Bolehall from the first whistle.
The energy was good, the intensity was there and we created a couple of early opportunities, coming agonisingly close to breaking the deadlock.
Then, around the 15-minute mark, we turned the ball over and attacked with real purpose.
Kiely, who had been a constant threat from the opening minutes, found himself on the end of a superb through ball. He powered away from the defender with a combination of pace, strength and directness before calmly slotting the ball beyond the advancing goalkeeper.
1–0 BEDWORTH.
And we looked good for it.
Not long afterwards, we hit the woodwork… the first of what would become a rather familiar theme throughout the evening.
Five times. FIVE.
Bolehall then showed exactly what they could offer, particularly from set pieces. A fantastic delivery and well-timed run allowed them to level the game at 1–1.
The goal gave Bolehall confidence and they enjoyed a good spell.
For us, the game became scrappy. We lacked some of our usual rhythm and familiarity, both with and without the ball, and there were too many turnovers from both sides.
Then came the final kick of the half…
A ball was played through the Bolehall defence and their goalkeeper raced from his goal. Kiely got there first, knocked it past the keeper and into the box, only to be brought down by the chasing defender.
An obvious goalscoring opportunity denied.
Free kick given… but no caution.
There were a few very confused faces around the ground at that point!
Kiely dusted himself down, stood over the free kick and absolutely leathered it.
BANG.
The ball bent beautifully into the net beyond the stunned goalkeeper.
2–1 BEDWORTH.
And almost immediately, the half-time whistle went.
HALF-TIME CHANGES
If we’re being honest, the first half wasn’t really us.
We felt the change in shape had created some unfamiliar patterns, with players sometimes finding themselves in spaces we weren’t expecting.
In possession, we were turning the ball over too often because the usual supporting movements and combinations weren’t quite clicking.
Out of possession, we were also too open at times, with our usual compactness missing.
So we changed personnel.
We changed our approach.
Vincent, Massingham and Oakes were introduced at the break.
SECOND HALF
Bolehall came out with real heart and desire after the interval and made sure we knew they weren’t going away quietly.
There were opportunities at both ends inside the opening 10 minutes, with Bolehall continuing to pose a serious threat from set pieces.
But once again, it was Bedworth who found the net.
Riley unleashed a strike that smashed against the post — yes, another one!
The ball dropped loose inside the box and Stokes reacted quickest to follow up and put it away.
3–1 BEDWORTH.
We then introduced Hanley and Eales, and the game began to open up.
Bolehall’s goalkeeper produced a fantastic and brave save to deny Goodman, taking the ball and seemingly a knee to the face in the process!
At the other end, Phillips produced an outstanding one-handed save, fully stretched, to keep out a goal-bound Bolehall effort.
The right-hand side then started causing problems.
Bradley and Hanley brought energy, linked up well and continued to ask questions of the Bolehall defence.
Hanley got a couple of efforts away without finding the target, while Bradley repeatedly beat his opposite full-back and became a real threat going forward, creating opportunities that we just couldn’t quite finish.
THE VERDICT
Was it our best performance?
No.
Was it our usual “total football” performance?
Definitely not.
But sometimes football isn’t about producing the perfect performance.
Sometimes it’s about finding a way to win.
And we did exactly that.
Credit to Bolehall Swifts — they made life difficult for us all evening. They were organised, competitive, hungry and a constant threat from set pieces.
For us, the biggest positive is that even without being at our best and without showing much of our usual identity, we still found a way to take all three points.
That’s something we should be proud of.
We are also extremely fortunate to have another fantastic squad this season, and the support, togetherness and unity within this group is already incredibly encouraging.
There is plenty to work on, plenty to improve and plenty to look forward to.
Training Friday
Then our focus turns to Coton Green away next week.
Thank you, as always, to everyone who came along and supported the lads.
UP THE YOUNG GREENBACKS! 🟢💚⚽
