Tomkinson ‘Proud’ After Close Defeat to League-Leaders

Tomkinson’s side tested the league-leader’s resilience after establishing an early lead but fell to a close-fought defeat despite their dominance under the lights at Ten Acres Lane.

Team News

Tomkinson kept a relatively settled side from the team that beat AFC Monton 5-2 on Saturday, making just one change as Djankpata came into the side for Kieran Taylor who was doubtful after receiving a knock on the weekend.

Line-Up:

Daniel Whiting, Tawab Djankpata, Jordan Greer, Michael Taiwo (Omar Khochtali, 66’), Dan Dolling (C), Chris Wilson, Rory Robertson (Elliot Regan, 66’), Kaine Martin (Mouchine Tefahi, 85’), Fuad Kasali, Ruben Lawal (Aria Asqari, 58’), Junior Silva (Zak Bell, 58’).

Match Report

Central once again lined-up in their usual 5-2-3 formation under the lights at Ten Acres Lane, with the game once again seeing a fast start.

In just the second minute, Djankpata stole the ball just inside Central’s own half, beating two players with a wonderfully executed roulette turn before dribbling forwards and completing a one-two with Lawal on the edge of the box. Just as Djankpata received the return pass just inside the box, he was brought down by a Bolton United defender, gifting Central an early penalty.

The penalty was initially saved by the opposition’s goalkeeper, however, he failed to properly clear the ball and so a goal line scrabble ensued. After the ball bounced around the box, it fell to Robertson who converted for Central at the second time of asking.

It didn’t take long for opportunities for Central to double their lead to come, with Lawal flicking on a whipped-in corner to prompt another goal mouth scramble. The ball then fell to Dolling on the edge of the box, but his shot was blocked by a goal line clearance.

Silva then intercepted a pass just inside the opposition’s half, threading a through ball between the split Bolton defence. However, Lawal’s first touch was a little too heavy and the ball slipped just outside of his grasp.

Next, it was an opportunity for Kasali. Central broke forwards again in the 11th minute, with Lawal curling a fabulous ball past two defenders and into Kasali’s path. But, like with Central’s last chance, Kasali too couldn’t quite get a touch to control the ball.

Thankfully, it wasn’t long until Central were able to find the back of the net once again as Kasali collected his 23rd goal of the season after catching the goalkeeper off of his line and sliding the ball past him and into the bottom left corner of the net.

At the twentieth minute mark, the game had flowed heavily in Central’s favour. The home side had enjoyed the majority of possession, dominating the game as they repeatedly surged into the Bolton half. Tomkinson’s men had successfully thwarted the league-leader’s early attacking attempts, looking to further extend their lead as Silva collected the ball deep in the opposition half and taking a long-range shot, which sailed towards the top left corner of the goal but was neatly caught by the shot-stopper.

Central would continue to dominate in the coming minutes, with the ball switched across the edge of the Bolton box from Silva to Kasali and then Djankpata, who beat two players with a lovely showing of his technical ability, before his shot dribbled past the near post. Djankpata then recreated the move, including his skill, just a minute later. However, this time, the ball bounced off an opposition player and out for a corner.

Unfortunately, Central’s period of dominance soon came to an end as they conceded a fould halfway down their own end. The opposition number 8 took the resulting free kick, blasting it in the direction of the goal. The ball took a huge deflection, moving its final placement from the bottom left corner, where Whiting was already diving towards, to instead bounce into the bottom right corner of the net.

Central would attempt to answer back to the table toppers, with Djankpata winning the ball on the edge of his own box and beating a handful of Bolton players with more outrageous skill. He progressed the ball up the channel for 20 yards before finding Lawal, who showed some flair of his own to beat another handful of players, before firing a powerful shot straight at the goalkeeper.

Soon, Central had another chance as a corner was whipped in, with a glancing nod from Dolling forcing yet another goal line clearance from a Bolton defender.

Central continued to fight to extend their lead, with Robertson whipping a brilliant ball into the box, which was smartly headed clear by a Bolton player. This prompted Tomkinson to praise both Robertson and the opposition player for their efforts.

Just a minute later, in the 36th minute, Central would have another attempt on goal. However, the goalkeeper parried the shot. The ball then dribbled towards Djankpata, whose attempt flew just over the bar.

In the 37th minute, Bolton United broke forwards with an attack of their own. Progressing down the left, their winger then saw his chance, forcing Whiting to make a brilliant stop. Just seconds later, Whiting would be forced into action once again, as their second attempt skied over the bar.

However, this double chance signalled the turning tide of the game. Whilst Central still dominated the play, Bolton hit hard on the counterattack in the 37th minute, with a ball slicing through the middle finding the opposition winger who had cut inside to meet it. Whiting dived to block his run, but just before reaching the goalkeeper’s outstretched arms, the winger shifted the ball across to the striker, who slid the ball into the back of the empty net.

Central worked hard to find another goal before half time, with Taiwo providing a lovely ball to Lawal from the halfway line, who neatly controlled it using his chest. However, as the striker attempted to turn into the box, the ball was stolen from his feet.

Central were then gifted two free kicks, with Dolling taking both. The latter offered the most threat, with Martin’s powerful headed sailing just wide of the post.

However, after a bright start for Central, who had dominated the majority of the first forty-five minutes, a few simple mistakes had allowed Bolton United back into the game. This outlook was mirrored by Tomkinson in his half time speech to the players, as he said:

“We’re playing a good team, and the beautiful thing is, we’re a match for them. Good teams will find a way to score, even if the flow of the game is against them. They’ve done that with their two goals so far, but we also did it with our first goal against them.

Keep going and keep the flow against them, they’re not used to it. Not many other teams in this league will be going at them for the full first half like we have, they won’t be used to the ball being dinked or curled past them, or to your flair and skill taking them out of the game. Also, look to exploit them down the channels and cut in, they look weak when you have done that so far, and keep going with the corners, we’ve already nearly scored three from them.”

With Tomkinson’s words fresh inside the player’s heads, Central got the second half underway in an equally positive and dominant manner, with an early curling ball from Robertson finding Djankpata on the right side of the opposition box. Djankpata’s shot blasted straight towards the ‘keeper, who batted it away.

A ball was then threaded across the centre of the pitch, with Kasali showing his blistering pace as he sprinted past multiple Bolton defenders to meet the ball on the left corner of the box. However, his shot was too saved by the goalkeeper.

Central continued to pepper the Bolton box until the 53rd minute, when Bolton broke forwards from a long goal kick, finding their winger. The winger then crossed the ball towards the striker, who headed it goalward, but his attempt was saved by Whiting.

Unfortunately, just one minute later, Bolton would convert a chance for their third and final goal of the evening. Central conceded a free kick again midway through their own half, with the Bolton United captain once again stepping up to take the dead ball. This time, his attempt did not need a deflection as it sailed straight into the top right corner, leading to begrudging praise from the Central sidelines.

Central would look to force themselves back into the game, with Taiwo making an exceptional sliding challenge on the byline before quickly recovering to make a blisteringly quick run forwards. He passed to Silva, but the last man prodded the ball away from his feet and out of play.

Soon, in the 62nd and 64th minutes, it would be Bolton attempting to find the back of the net as they utilised the left side of the pitch to surge forwards. With their left winger causing Central problems, although thankfully not taking advantage of them, Tomkinson decided to make a switch.

Central would continue to dominate throughout, with a free kick taken by Djankpata fired straight at the wall, before Bell’s attempt with the rebound was dispelled by the shotstopper. In an attempt to grind out their win, Bolton too made a switch, adding numbers to their backline to give themselves a numerical advantage for the remaining 20 minutes.

The switch appeared to work, thwarting Central’s next couple of attempts at progressing the ball forwards, before leading to two almost identical chances of their own, again via the left winger, which were prevented by Wilson and Dolling in the 74th and 75th minutes respectively.

In a hectic final fifteen minutes, Djankpata would force another save from the Bolton keeper, whilst Whiting would too have to make a fantastic stop – which nearly bounced over the line to give Bolton a fourth. Bell nearly converted yet another floated free kick from Dolling, with the goalkeeper once again preventing an equalisers.

In the 78th minute, Central were awarded possibly their best chance of the game so far as Kasali worked relentlessly to create an opportunity down the left before cutting it back to Asqari on the edge of the box. The midfielder’s swerving thunderbolt of a shot unfortunately glanced to the wrong side of the post.

Martin would see another shot saved by the keeper in the 81st minute before Central began to throw bodies forwards to find the long-elusive goalkeeper in the 87th minute. Whiting started off Central’s final move of note with a long goal kick which was nodded on by Asqari into the path of Djankpata, who then rounded the whole team as he ran to the byline before his shot was punched away.

As the referee blew the final whistle, it was clear to see how hard Tomkinson’s side had worked to bring home some points from the game as he exclaimed his proudness over their performance. It was also clear to see how hard the Bolton United team were made to work by the home side, as they exclaimed their delight on the opposite touchline knowing that they were fortunate to not share the spoils on the night.

Daniel Whiting Man of the Match Interview:

“I thought that the lads put in a real good effort last night to try and get something out of the game. Bolton United have dominated the league from the outset, so to make them sweat shows how far we have come this season. It gives us a great source of encouragement to hopefully replicate their success next season.

I feel very proud to have been nominated as man of the match and, despite not taking home the three points, it is a great pleasure to pick up this accolade. After being out for a season, I was very apprehensive about coming back into the game a year later, but a lot of time and effort has gone into my own training to get match fit. It feels great to see that everyone else believes it has paid off.

There is still a slimmer of hope that we can claim the final promotion place this season. We need to re-group and take every game as it comes to finish the season strong and give ourselves the best possible chance. Furthermore, if we can deliver a strong showing in the Murray Trophy, we can make a real dent for our collective aspirations. I and the rest of the team believes that it is possible to win this cup, we definitely have the talent and personality in the dressing room to do so.”

Chris Tomkinson Post Match Interview:

“The lads were great last night. They took it to the league-leaders who are first for a reason. They were a good team who have been together a long time so have the experience of how to play and win games.

I thought we definitely had the chances to win the game, Bolton United probably haven’t come across a team like us in this league with how we like to play fast, aggressive, attacking football. I think they will have had it relatively easy for most of the season, with teams allowing them to dictate the play, but we really took it to them. I am really proud of the lads for that, they were brilliant again and its disappointing to not get anything from the game. I thought we deserved a point at the very least. If you don’t take your chances or make silly mistakes, which we did to concede the three goals, then you unfortunately don’t deserve to win the game.

We dominated large parts of the game. Bolton had positive spells, but they always were going to as they are good going forwards. It was a game where we took the early lead and surprised the opposition, but we allowed them back into the game by conceding a couple of silly free kicks. They had a huge slice of luck for their first goal, which took a massive deflection, which took the wind out of our sails a bit and also boosted Bolton’s confidence which led to their second goal almost straight after.

What Bolton did really well, which we knew they would as they have been together for quite a long time, was defend well. They got men behind the ball, playing their back four very narrow and extremely deep, whilst their midfield three say only about five yards in front of them. That meant that no matter how much pressure we were able to put them under with our direct balls and quick movement by the front three, they were able to soak it up.

After the first twenty minutes, they knew they were in for a tough game, and they showed how much the win meant to them after the final whistle as they really ground it out. It was disappointing to lose after building up an early two-nil lead, we were really unlucky and just let down by a couple of silly mistakes to concede the free kicks. The second of which, by the way, was a great free kick for the Bolton player, I can’t take anything away from him. But that is what happens in football, and Bolton United took their chances. I think that we deserved a point as that would have been a fair representation of the game, but it was not to be, so we just have to crack on and focus on next week.

I think that the lads have proved to themselves that they can compete with the best teams in the league, with a win over AFC Monton on the weekend and a good showing against Bolton United last night – as well as games earlier in the season against the likes of Avro. I f we had this team earlier in the season, we would probably be a bit closer to the top. We want to build on these strong foundations for next season. We have to keep the core of this team together, try to get some players back fighting and fit as well as perhaps bring in a few new bodies. We don’t know what will happen with the remainder of this season, but if we are in this division next year, we want to be fighting at the top of the table and be consistent throughout the season.

Hopefully we can keep this form up for the season run-in and push on into the next campaign, but it would also be great to get a good cup run as we face Altrincham Hale in the Round of 16 of the Murray Trophy next weekend.

The lads have been great this season, I can’t fault any of them, they are a top bunch of people who have bought into the way we want to play. They understand that we want to play a fast, attacking, and high pressing brand of play, and it has taken a while for them all to buy into it and gel with the system, but they have taken on the challenge brilliantly. It has been a pleasure to coach them and watch them develop together this season.”