POSTED: April 12 2022 16:37:45 By Keith Long
- Prince Hat-Trick Earns Thunder Three Vital Points
A hat-trick by Prince Idusuyi secured Beechfield United Under 17's Thunder a vital 3-2 home win over Crompton Blues as Beechy chase Section D title honours in the Bolton Bury & District League.
At Salford Sports Village Crompton Blues made a confident start and both Thunder's central defenders William Whipday and Zion Agbiji were soon in action and it was the visitors who forced the games first corner. The Crompton No12 forced a fine reaction save from Andrew Woodward as Thunder struggled to get a better foothold in the game inside the opening five minutes. Against the run of play Beechy had the lead in the 7th minute when a great move between Max Chidgey and Ishor Bajgai set-up Prince Idusuyi who easily rounded the keeper before adding a decisive finish. Crompton Blues continued to enjoy a greater share of the ball and as the visitors played some great attacking soccer Thunder had to soak up a period of heavy pressure.
Twice William Whipday made safety first clearances then both Riley Walker and Zion Agbiji defended superbly to deny the Crompton No9 a chance to net an equalising goal. The visitors had the ball in United's net but the goal was ruled out for offside then at the end of a mazy run the visitors No18 fired the ball off target. Tom Cox replaced Max Chidgey and a couple of minutes later Konstantin Hristova who had a very good opening twenty minutes made way for Jack Davies. As the pace of the game remained fairly lively Crompton Blues were back level when the visitors No18 made it 1-1 following a counter-attack down the left wing.
Before Beechy had time to properly re-organise they suddenly found themselves 2-1 down when the Crompton No12 took full advantage of slack defending by Thunder and fired the ball low into the net from about fifteen yards. Konstantin Hristova was back on the pitch when he replaced Lucas Madden as Thunder set about getting a tighter grip on this absorbing contest. Tom Cox intercepted a poor pass by a Crompton defender but he fired the ball across the area and both Jack Davies and Prince Idusuyi also had chances to score just before half time. Thunder knew they needed an improved performance in the second half and back in the action was Max Chidgey who combined with Reiss Miller to win Beechy a corner.
Thunder's keeper Andrew Woodward made two comfortable saves before Beechy found a better rhythm as they started to test the ability of the visitors defence. Ishor Bajgai and Dominic Lawton started to have a greater influence on Thunder's overall display and the latter saw a effort fly off target from the edge of the area. On fifty three minutes Beechy's target man Prince Idusuyi broke through the central area of the pitch and calmly slotted the ball home to level the score. With the three points in sight Thunder picked up the tempo and with fifteen minutes to go Beechy were rewarded with their match winning goal. After receiving the ball on the right wing Tom Cox chipped it onto Man of the Match Prince Idusuyi who was under pressure but he controlled the ball with his chest then drilled it into the bottom corner of the net. Thunder survived a nervy final ten minutes before they could celebrate this vital victory.