Boldmere St. Michaels 2 - 0 Cradley Town
The Mikes returned home fresh off an away win at Friar Lane and as a result fielded an unchanged side against the current basement side of the MFA.
Boldmere needed to start sharply and took the lead after 5 Minutes when Kirk Smith ran through several defenders to pass to Simeon Tulloch who shot into the Cradley net.
A Minute later the lead was nearly doubled when a Ricky Baker header was deflected over the bar by a Cradley defender. On 13 minutes Boldmere’s Simeon Tulloch shot was parried by the goalkeeper and the follow up by Nathan Gough was deflected around the post.
Cradley’s first opportunity came on 21 minutes when Azarrah Ogarro shot just past the Boldmere post and 10 minutes later Benjamin Store turned and shot but it was comfortably saved by Sean Butler.
Boldmere’s last chance of the half came on 43 minutes wshen a Nathan Gough long shot was saved by James Poulton.
The second half was generally scrappy for the most part with Boldmere looking for a second but Cradley defended doggedly but the introduction of former youth team striker Johaine Thompson for Boldmere started to pay dividends and on minutes Boldmere finally got the cushion of a two goal lead on 79 minutes when a corner was floated into the area and Tom Stevenson managed to fire home a rare goal.
Cradley’s last effort came on 83 minutes when a Daniel Ludlow long shot curled beyond the bar. Boldmere made two changes late on but secured all three points and could look ahead to a potentially lucrative FA Vase run starting at Studley on Saturday
Boldmere Butler, Simmons, Swain, Stevenson, Wood, Smith, Tulloch, McNaught, Gough, Osbourne, Baker Subs used Hawker, Thompson, Weller, Not used Fuller, Watkins
Cradley Town Poulton, Lioyd, Martin, Langford, Clifton, Yapp, Williams, Douglas, Ogarro, Store, Ludlow
