Hanley Town pulled themselves out of the bottom four of the Northern Premier League West division with an important 2-0 win over Bootle.
Goals either side of halftime from Louis Dodds and Jake Twyford won the game for Hanley but, their cause was helped by Newcastle Town’s last gasp win at Colne and 1874 Northwich’s narrow victory away at Glossop North End.
Ahead of kickoff, we knew that manager Ryan Shotton would have to shuffle his pack as National League side Altrincham had recalled Eden Bailey before sending him out on loan again, this time to Mossley. It meant that Dodds was recalled to the starting line-up.
From the off, it was Hanley who were the better side and, they had the game’s first chance on 15 minutes when Kieran Brown flicked the ball onto Dodds who cracked a shot from the edge of the area but, it was a comfortable save for Bootle goalkeeper Curtis Anderson.
He then had to be alert on 20 minutes when Dodds, Twyford and Brown all linked up just outside the area with some lovely intricate passing that would have pleased any football purist inside the Payaro Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The ball eventually fell to Dodds in the area but, he seem to get the ball stuck under his feet and Anderson was able to smother it.
However, the trio linked up again just five minutes later and it produced an even better result as the hosts took a deserved lead on 25 minutes when Reece Jones picked out Twyford with a quick throw in. The winger hit a deep cross to Brown at the back post where his lovely controlled cushioned header fell perfectly into the path of Dodds who fired home a half-volley to break the deadlock. A delightful goal involving probably the best three Hanley players on the pitch, the whole team played well but, the above-mentioned were certainly the star pupils in Mr Shotton’s class.
Photo by JDwine Photography
Despite the lead, Bootle finished the half, which was played in Monsoon conditions, the stronger and had two particularly good chances to pull level. The first saw Hanley goalkeeper Dale Eve tip a long-range effort from Tom Peterson around the post as he looked for his 13th goal of the season.
If that was a decent effort to score, then the chance they had four minutes later was even better. Steven Taylor broke the offside trap as he raced down the left wing before cutting the ball over to Jack McGowan who was left unmarked inside the six-yard box where all he had to do was put the ball into an open goal. However, he somehow defied logic and his effort flew up into the air and clipped the crossbar before bouncing away to safety.
Hanley started the second half like they did the first half as they were the better side and subsequently they doubled their lead just five minutes into the restart as Twyford got beyond the Bootle defence before hitting a strong shot past Anderson for his 10th goal of the season.
Despite having that two goal lead, Hanley were certainly not resting on their laurels as they looked for a third goal to put the icing on the cake. First of all Sam Turner and Twyford both seem to get in the way of each other as Dodds played in a delightful ball.
While Matt Bell went close to scoring his first goal for the club on 54 minutes when Kyle Blake squared the ball to the former Leek Town man on the edge of the area. Unfortunately for Bell, his shot was deflected wide for a corner.
Sensing they needed to act quickly to get a way back into the game, Bootle started to fashion chances but could not find a way past Eve as he was in top form. First, he made a fine stop to deny McGowen from an acute angle after the winger got beyond the Hanley defence.
Eve has been called up to the Bermuda national team for their games with Guyana and Haiti during the upcoming international break and, you could see why he has been picked to play as he made two more fine saves. First to push Connor Millington’s low freekick away from danger. Then in injury time, he stopped Taylor’s shot with his legs to preserve the clean sheet.
Hanley had one more chance to seal a third goal late on when Twyford put a chance over the crossbar after Brown saw his shot blocked by the Bootle defender Simon Willis, but, in the end, it didn’t matter as they were able to hold out for the win.
It’s a result that drags Hanley out of the bottom four and they will be hoping to remain out of it on Tuesday night despite not being in action, as Widnes will play their game in hand as they welcome Leek Town to the DCBL Stadium, it’s a game we will have live commentary on. Hanley are back in action next Saturday when they visit Trafford in the Northern Premier League West division.
After the game, I caught up with Ryan Shotton to get his reaction live on Moorlands Radio.
I also grabbed a word with the scorer of the first Hanley goal, Louis Dodds.
Hanley Town: Eve, Jones, Morris, Bell, J.Stair, Shotton, Twyford, Blake, Brown, Dodds (Walford, 86) and Turner.
Unused subs: Chapman, T.Stair, Winkle and Sanders.
Bootle: Anderson, Roberts, Clark, Welsh, McCarten, Willis, Millington, Peterson, Taylor and Lomax-Jones (Holland, 50).
Unused subs: Cooper, Houghton, Rydel and Hunter.
Attendance: 136
