Unable to sustain the consistency

Following a first-rate game previous day, it perhaps wasn't surprising that Stockport weren't able to sustain the consistency and confidence of that performance in this game against Bolton 2s. At times the defence became rather frantic, and overall our structure collapsed a bit under pressure from Bolton, who were able to dominate the midfield as we tended to drift out of position and let them open up gaps which they exploited well: scoring twice in the first half after about fifteen minutes and then again a few minutes later.

The result could possibly have been different if it had been Stockport who scored first in the second half, as the team, even if not as effective as the previous day, were still all battling away and determined not to give up without a fight: but it was Bolton who got their third 20 minutes into the half. Only two minutes later, reminding us of the real quality of the team, Jenny Worth broke from midfield with Amy Nicklin in support. With perfect timing, Jenny forced the keeper to commit and passed to Amy who moved into position to slot the ball home.

Stockport continued to fight on, and had a few chances, including an agonising moment when the (very good) keeper was again pulled out of position but the pass flashed across the goal and neither attacker was able to connect with it.

We were perhaps unlucky not to have faced Bolton on the Saturday!