Bottesford FC — Sat 15 Dec 2007

Match report

Half time: 1 – 1

Samba made the comparatively long trip to Leicestershire with the manager again having to shuffle his pack due to players being unavailable. Boughton and Sharp were absent at the heart of the defence but were replaced by Hawkins and D.Bassett who was making his first appearance of the season. Samba were boosted however by having G.Taylor back in the starting line up. The game kicked off on a hard pitch but with the sun beating down to help the thaw. In a scrappy opening period Samba forced a corner but it was cleared and when the Bottesford man won a challenge on the edge of the box, it set up a counter attack and Bottesford quickly sprung to the other end of the pitch. Hawkins held up the Bottesford striker but his cross was stabbed towards goal by his partner only for Ballard to save the shot + the rebound. However, it was third time lucky as Bottesford took the lead after the ball had resembled a pinball in the Samba box. It was a very poor goal to concede and matters got worse moment laters when D.Bassett went down in agony with a twisted ankle. It was clear he could not continue and so the big centre half was replaced by Horton, who went to left back with M.Bassett reverting to centre half to replace his younger brother. Samba were not fluent but looked to have the beating of the Bottesford defence who were holding a high line. It took a while in coming but sure enough Samba breached the defence with Francis sprinting through before his shot found the bottom right hand corner. The game at this stage was fairly even with both sides trying to play on a very difficult pitch. Five minutes before half-time Samba were struck with another injury blow when Gibbons had to come off with a muscle injury. This time there was no replacement and Samba faced the prospect of playing the remainder of the game with 10 men. To compound the concerns Wilford was also severely restricted with a knock that he had picked up in the first half.

The second half started and Samba were still confident that they could get something out of the game. Samba kept two men up front in an attempt to provide some relief for the back line but in the opening period of the half Bottesford did not really create much. The first action of note came from a Samba corner and when the ball dropped there was a loud appeal for handball which was duly spotted by the referee. Francis converted the penalty to give Samba the lead. Moments later it was 3-1 and if there was any doubt about the previous penalty, this one was a stonewaller, with Francis drawing the foul from the clumsy centre half. Taylor took responsibility this time and Samba were two clear. As Bottesford fought gainly to get back into the match Samba were at full stretch with Hill resembling the energiser bunny in midfield but with substantially more bite, Wilford defying his injury to provide some relief for the Samba defence and Francis and Taylor leading the line superbly. Bottesford were handed a lifeline when Hill caught the striker just inside the box. Bottesford reduced the arrears with a well struck penalty despite Ballard guessing right. Bottesford came close when a header from a corner was cleared off the line by Bassett and then Ballard produced a great save, flying to his right to deny Bottesford. It wasn't to be for the home side though as Samba held firm in defiance to register a superb away day victory against the odds