Bollington Athletic 1 Middlewich Town 4

Mid-Cheshire League

Wednesday, April 21

MIDDLEWICH started this difficult away fixture at a terrific pace.

They were 2-0 up within the first ten minutes, with a superb solo effort by man of the match Les Miranda, beating three Bollington defenders before unleashing a bullet of a shot which gave the keeper no chance.

His second came from a quickly taken free-kick from the inspirational Chris Melia and again Miranda coolly placed his shot clear of the keeper.

Middlewich were playing some of the best football they had played all season. This could have been down to manager Dave Twite, selecting himself to play alongside his captain Mick Jump in midfield.

Against the run of play Bollington scored after Whitehurst, Town's full-back, made a tackle on the edge of the box. The ball fell kindly to Atkinson who shot beyond Coleman.

Then in a bizarre incident, the referee sent off Town's manager for dissent.

Firstly, when Bollington's Marsh handled in the centre circle, it seemed the referee had given Middlewich a free-kick. Twite picked the ball up and the referee then signalled for a free-kick against Middlewich.

Twite remonstrated with the official who then showed the Middlewich manager the red card. The ten men of Town held out to lead 2-1 at the interval.

Straight from the kick-off Miranda completed his hat-trick. Steve Moss played the ball forward from the restart, Miranda collected the pass and superbly chipped the keeper from twenty yards.

Bollington started to push forward menacingly, but Town's defence stood firm.

With 15 minutes remaining some of the Bollington players started to lose control and were dishing out some fierce tackles, and were duly reduced to ten men when Marsh threw a punch at Matt Hitchen who fell to a heap on the ground.

Hitchen picked himself up though and lashed an unstoppable shot from the edge of the box to put the game beyond Bollington.

Bollington, who had won their last five games, were now becoming erratic, and Atkinson got himself sent-off after a lunge at keeper Dave Coleman, which left the goalkeeper with a three-inch gash on his hip.

In the dying minutes, Town could have increased their goal tally by another three with Melia, Jump and Olliver all missing easy chances.

With events happening in Turin, this game matched United's victory over Juventus - and more.

Man of the Match: Les Miranda

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