Highgate 0-2 Boldmere St. Michaels
The Mikes will take a two-goal lead into the home leg of their Polymac Services League Cup semi final against Highgate United, following a professional team performance at the Coppice.
Highgate, however, showed enough to confirm that Mikes will need to be on their mettle in the return leg ob Tuesday 7th April (7.30pm).
The home side started brightly, but were unable to convert their possession into a lead. They hit the angle of post and bar and saw two long range efforts fly narrowly over.
The Mikes rode their early storm and started to force the pace. Jason Holmes was unlucky to hit the foot of the post with a flicked header from Ricky Baker's excellent free kick.
Baker repeated the dose as the Mikes grabbed the lead on 18 minutes. Another right wing free kick was curled to the far post where Adam Wood arrived unchallenged to head home from 8 yards.
Lee Osborne missed a chance to extend the lead when he fired narrowly wide, but the rest of the half was characterised by midfield possession and plenty of huffing and puffing with little in the way of goalmouth action.
The Mikes started the second half brightly as they searched for a priceless second goal.
It arrived in stunning fashion 7 minutes after the break. The Mikes were awarded a free kick some 25 yards from goal. Ricky Baker strode up to curl a glorious strike into the top corner, with Cox in the home goal comprehensively beaten.
The home side regrouped, and looked to force pressure on the back line. The Mikes defence looked comfortable, with the main danger from set pieces.
However, for all their possession, Highgate managed only one worthwhile effort on target. Boldmere were indebted to Adam Jenkins, who showed excellent agility to claw away a goalbound header and preserve the two goal lead.
The Mikes managed to see out the last ten minutes fairly comfortably, but will be clear that they have to produce an equally assured performance to progress to the final. It's an old football cliché, but the next goal in the tie will be crucial.
The Mikes meet Highgate at home on Saturday, this time in the
Aspire MFA (3.00 pm).
Boldmere: Adam Jenkins; Adam Swain; Matt Jackson; Aaron Hamilton; Adam Wood; Anthony Juxon; Lyndon Weller; Stuart McNaught; Jason Holmes; Lee Osborne; Ricky Baker.
Subs: Jack Brown; Sean Butler; Kevin Buxton (Weller); Mark Mason (Osborne); Tom Stevenson.
