And so the FA Cup brought me back to Boldmere on a mild Tuesday evening for a local derby clash with high flying Coleshill Town. Lets face it, it was never going to be a walkover. While the first round had served up a rather entertaining clash against a team a division below, this one presented Boldmere with a much tougher challenge, made tougher still, by the comparative loss of form since the last tie.
And so it proved.
Boldmere again set their stall out to play as unattractive, direct football as possible, their sole attacking strategy being to hit the channels in the vain hope of releasing a pacy winger, or giving service to the big man up front. In truth, this direct style of play seemed like it was paying off, as the huge Number 9 struck a superb left foot shot in from about 18 yards. However, false dawns are aplenty in non league football, and it was only a matter of time before Coleshill's industrious play was to yeild them rewards. They equalised, and soon went 2-1 ahead.
What I have seen already in both ties is that a football game rarely opens up until late in the second half. Boldmere started the half better, quicker and set about their task with new enthusaism. Their archillies heel however, was yet again the tactics they were to employ, making little use of any centre midfield intricacy they did have. Meanwhile, both sets of players quickly began to use the match as a method of stress relief, Boldmere suffered injuries in quick succession, and gaining a penalty soon after. Though the penalty was saved, Boldmere were able to gain some reward for their hardwork by eventually equalising.
At the end, it was a truly dour affair, suitably rounded off at the very end, by a scuffle, an argument, and a centre midfielder getting sent off AFTER the game had finished. The result? Iv got to do this all over again on Tuesday for the replay.
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