Bottesford Town fought well to overcome a 1 goal deficit at the half time mark to record what turned out to be a comfortable score line of 3 goals to 1.
The Birch Park outfit started the game strongly winning 2 free-kicks in the opening minutes but the strikes from Martin Pembleton and Terry Barwick came to nothing. There then followed a 10 minute spell with both teams sharing the balance of play before a strong run from Danny Gibbons almost created the 1st goal but his effort was defended for a corner. It was against the run of play when Hallam secured their goal, from a Bottesford attack the ball was launched forward Jack Bradbury who beat the off-side trap and lobbed the ball over the advancing keeper, Leigh Herrick to core the opening goal in the 20th minute.
Moments later, the visitor’s almost doubled their tally when from a free kick Bradbury went close with his goal attempt that went just wide of the target. Bottesford responded with a series of attacks on the visitor’s goal with Craig Bridge testing Hallam keeper, Adam Ledger.

A corner toHallam came to nothing when Joe Charlesworth’s header attempt went over the bar followed at the other end of play with Tom Johnson linking up well with Bridge but once again the strikers shot was wide of the target. On the half-hour mark, the home side seemed to be camped in the visitor’s half with first Bridge bringing out another save from the keeper followed by Pemberton going close when his effort was blocked on the line only for the rebound to come to Bridge who saw his strike defended for a corner. With Hallam being restricted to but looking dangerous on the occasional break, they maintained their slender lead until the break.
With Tom Johnson suffering from concussion, the Bottesford line-up had to be reshuffled moving Mike Thompson into the centre back position and presenting the opportunity for Danny Boulton to be introduced into the team who soon made his presence known with the home team continuing as before the break taking the game to Hallam. In the 53rd minute during one such attack, the ball fell to Chris Mcdonald but he could not get enough momentum into his shot to trouble the keeper. This was followed shortly after with a header attempt from Luke Anderson agonizingly going over the bar and in the 70th minute, the same player saw his strike hit the post and eventually cleared for a corner.

The pressure on the visitor’s goal eventually paid off when in the 76th minute, Thompson rose above the Hallam defence to send home a strong header to level matters.
With Boulton proving to be a handful for the visiting defence, Hallam were reduced to 10 men when Carlton Dickinson was issued a red card for a foul on Boulton. This provided the opportunity for Bottesford to take advantage of the situation and there then followed a series of raids on the Hallam goal with keeper Ledger being the busiest player on the pitch. The break arrived in the 87th minute following a strong run from Danny Gibbons whose final effort was blocked but only cleared as far as the waiting Mcdonald who calmly picked his spot to get Bottesford’s 2nd goal.
With the game entering extra time, the best goal of the game came from Boulton who did well to hold of the chasing defenders to strike home a spectacular goal which the keeper could only stand and watch. Such was the quality of the goal, it actually brought out applause from a Hallam player!!