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The Green and Black had a useful run out against First
Division promotion hopefuls Heaton Stannington. If it were not several
contentious decisions from the home official masquerading as a referee,
Bohs would have won. The hard work in preseason looks to have paid off
as several players ran hard for the whole 90 minutes in searing temperatures
against a Heaton side who changed most of their team around at half
time. Hopefully if this high level of fitness can be maintained, teams
in the Second Division can be blown away in the latter stages of games.
Footballing-wise BOHs compared very favourably with their opponents,
creating more and better chances, record scorer Danny Sherwood will
be gutted at not bringing up his 200 for the club, hitting the post
and twice bringing good saves from the home keeper.
Big positives for Bohs in addition to their fitness were the unveiling
of latest signing Dave Cave who gave an assured performance in the centre
of midfield which deservedly earned him Man of the Match honours, Neil
Hindley was full of running alongside him and will be hard to leave
out if he can perform consistently at this level. The born again Gaz
Hopkins put in an industrious performance out of position on the left
side of midfield before injury ended his day early. Dave's cousin Mike
Cave looks like another top quality signing and caused real problems
to the home defence with his dribbling ability. David Alexander
now in his third season displayed encouraging signs of physical and
mental maturity, finishing coolly for the club's first of the season.
New fullbacks Mark Brown and Mark Menton looked the part, with Brown
especially impressive defending resolutely and overlapping with enthusiasm.
Menton looked very comfortable on the ball and covered intelligently.
Another new defender Dave Morgan competed well. Keeper Dave Martin had
little to do but organized the defence well and inspired confidence.
Captain Shaun Cavanagh approaching full fitness for the first
time in a Green and Black shirt raised his game to a new level and even
heading in the second goal from Hindley's well-flighted free kick.
On the negative side the main concerns were injuries suffered by Matt
Buckley and Paul Wilkinson in the early stages, which curtailed their
participation frustratingly for them. The nastiest incident was Menton
being knocked out with a flying elbow, an injury that will hopefully
not sideline him for too long.
Gosforth Bohemian Garnett
D.Martin, M.Brown, M.Menton, N.Hindley, M.Buckley, S.Cavanagh (1), M.Cave,
P.Wilkinson, D.Sherwood, D.Alexander (1), G.Hopkins
Subs (all used): J.Poole, D.Cave (MoM), D.Morgan, D.Robinson, A.Tellez
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