Lodway 5 Wrington Redhill reserves 5

Considering neither of these two sides have started the season particularly well, they served up a feast of football with ten goals,suggesting both will improve on their current positions before long. Right from the start chances came thick and fast. For the visitors, Flynn’s cut back found Johnson whose low shot forced Hill in the Lodway goal into an early save. For the home side, Matt Crutchley raced clear only for his lob to fall wide. The first goal went to Wrington after 15 minutes as Holland won the ball in midfield and fed Johnson. His shot rebounded off the post allowing Flynn to tee up Paul Burnett who finished in emphatic style. The seconded soon followed as Max Brean linked with Charlie Cressy whose deep cross fell to the marauding Johnson who coolly passed the ball into the corner of the net. The visitors were in control…….but only for about five minutes. Luke Aldom escaped down the Lodway left wing and his pull back was rifled in by Andy Law-Smith. Almost from the restart, Wrington gave the ball away again and Lodway forced a series of corners. The latter of which was swung in by Leonard. The clearing header fell to Law-Smith who smashed in his second in a matter of minutes. Wrington responded and finished the half strongly with Cressy and Tom Cleaves going close to adding to the score. However, the most eye catching performances came from Wringtons’ young fullbacks. On his first start Max Brean was good on the ball and strong in the tackle. His tussle with Lodways’ Law-Smith was a real highlight. Similarly, Finn Taplin improves week by week and made a brilliant goal line clearance to keep the scores level at half time.

The second half started as competitively as the first with both keepers called into action .James Williams made a crucial save and as so often happens Wrington immediately went up the other end and scored. Cleeves and Burnett combining for Burnett’s double.
The match then swung again as Lodway discovered the potency of their long throws. Conversely, Wrington continued to give away a series of cheap throw ins inviting the tactic. In an instant,three such throws led to three goals. The first an unfortunate own goal, the second a delightful curled shot from Kieron Parkhouse and the third for Crutchley which rebounded off the stanchion.

Unbelievably the visitors were 5 – 3 down and after recent disappointments could easily have folded. However with ten minutes left they kept pressing and sub Dean Rix stiffened the defence with some meaty clearances. Finally, Nick Tucker’s long clearance found Johnson who reduced the deficit. As time ticked away, Williams long punt again found Johnson who drew the foul for a penalty. He picked himself up and converted the penalty for his hatrick to finish the scoring and the match.

Man of the match – Max Brean