Leek Town produced a fantastic comeback as they came back from 2-0 down to defeat Bootle 3-2 at the F.Ball Community Stadium.
It looked like Neil Bakers’ men were going to head into the festive fixtures on the back of a defeat as two quickfire goals from Tom Peterson and Simon Wills had given Bootle a commanding 2-0 lead. However, goals from Scott Wara and, a brace from Dan Trickett-Smith won the game for Leek Town.
Ahead of the game, Baker had to make two changes to the side that lost to promotion rivals Runcorn Linnets a fortnight ago. Midfielder Will Hugill was back in the starting line-up after he recovered from a groin strain and replaced Tom Thorley, who has left the club to join Hednesford Town. While Scott Wara replaced Louis Keenan who was away from the team following his partner giving birth to a baby during the week.
In the first half, we did not have many chances for the deadlock to be broken. In reality, both sides had just one chance to get the game’s opening goal. For Leek, Rob Stevenson put a cross in which Trickett-Smith could not connect with the ball properly as it came off his head and went over the crossbar.
While for Bootle it came from a free-kick after just 10 minutes of play when one time Stoke City man Andy Owens smashed a 25-yard free-kick straight down the throat of Danny Roberts who was able to catch the ball comfortably.
The visitors also lost defender Jacques Welsh who picked up an injury inside the opening exchanges of the match and he had to be replaced by Ben Roberts. For some teams, an early change could have affected the defence, however, not for Bootle who remained strong at the back to repel any Leek Town attacks that came through.
While the first half was devoid of any real action, the second half was full of action as the 505 supporters inside the ground were treated to five goals, one of them being an overhead kick and, a fabulous comeback from Leek.
The visitors took what was a deserved lead on 51 minutes as Owens went down appealing for a penalty which distracted the Leek defenders as they expected the referee to point to the spot. However, he played on as the ball had fallen to Peterson who slotted the ball over the dive of Roberts.
Three minutes later and the visitors from Merseyside doubled their lead when Ben Hodkinson’s corner found Willis who produced a stunning overhead kick that left Roberts with no chance of saving the effort and, suddenly it looked like the game would be a nightmare before Christmas for Leek Town.
Neil Baker made a switch shortly after the second goal as he brought an extra striker on as Tom Carr replaced Hugill. We will never know if it was the factor that swung the game in Leek’s favour or it was just a coincidence but, the Blues took the game to their visitors.
They got one back on 64 minutes when a Trickett-Smith’s corner found Wara who decided that it was the right moment for him to score his first goal of the season as he rose like a salmon to head the ball past Josh Ollernshaw.
All of a sudden, Leek were back in the game and, they pulled level just three minutes later when Stevenson, who caused Ben Roberts all sorts of problems all game, put in a perfect cross onto the head of Trickett-Smith who headed home. From out of nowhere Leek had come back from 0-2 down to draw level at 2-2 within a matter of 10 minutes.
Some teams would have taken a point at 2-2 but, not a team managed by Baker as they could sense the victory was there for the taking and, they got their noses in front on 73 minutes when Stevenson yet again caused the Bootle defence problems as he got down the left before putting the ball on a plate for Trickett-Smith who once again slid the ball into the back of the net as the F.Ball Community stadium erupted in wild celebrations.
Leek had two chances to put the match to bed late on in the game. The first was Josh Ryder having his header scrambled off the line by the Bootle defence.The second was when Tim Grice flicked the ball over the defender’s head on his way into the penalty area. However, the strike did not match the skill to beat the defender as the club’s record goal scorer put a weak shot into the hands of Ollernshaw.
The final whistle was met with great cheers by the Leek supporters as their side move back into 2nd place in the league table as their nearest challengers Runcorn Linnets could only scrape a 1-1 draw at Widnes. The two teams are level on points in the league table, but critically Leek have a much better goal difference and have a game in hand on the Linnets.
Leek now have eight days off as we take a short break from the action. The Blues will be back on the pitch on Boxing Day when they make the journey across North Staffordshire as they visit Newcastle Town FC.
Leek Town: Roberts, Wara, Bavanganga, Grocott, Harrison, Ryder, Hugill (Carr, 57), Reeves, Grice, Trickett-Smith and Stevenson (Davidson, 85).
Unused subs: Baker and Tomlinson.
Bootle: Ollerenshaw, Cooper, Devine, Welsh (Roberts, 12) McCarten, Wills, McGowan, Smart, Owens, Peterson (Rodrigues, 64) and Hodkinson (Obastoto, 79)
Unused subs: Rydal and Holland.
Attendance: 505
