Wrington Redhill A travelled to Weston St. Johns to face St. Pauls Church, both sides newly formed for this season.
Wrington were much changed from last week fielding what will hopefully be closer to their more regular line up with skipper Dan Burnett coming in to marshal the back line and the midfield duo of Garrett and Ayres making their debuts in the middle of the park. The visitors immediately looked much more composed on the ball and creative than last week. Ayres went close early on with a long range effort before another Ayres effort found its way to McMullen in the box who took a touch before blasting past the St. Pauls’ goalkeeper for his 2nd goal in 2 games.
Wrington continued to dominate possession communicating well and keeping the ball. An impressive passage of play culminated in Faulkner, McMullen and Ayres moving the ball quickly in a triangle of passes which released Ayres down the left flank from where he delivered the ball of the game. His cross beat both centre backs and goalkeeper and dropped directly on the head of a well positioned James Marshall who made no mistake in converting the opportunity for his first goal of the season for 2-0.
The away side then went off the boil for the remainder of the half which is where the experience and quality of the back line of Paul Burnett, Dan Burnett, Dave Pullen and Sam Fowkes in front of ‘keeper Jon Marsh stepped up to resist all the hosts had to throw at them. The home side were blessed with pace up top but the well disciplined solid back line held tough with Marsh helping to nullify the threat even further being quick to read any potential danger coming off his line on a couple of occasions to bravely dive at the feet of the onrushing strikers to keep his clean sheet intact.
Half time saw the chance to regroup and reiterate the need to keep the ball better than in the closing stages of the first half. Paul Burnett and the pacey Tom Lucas continued to confuse their opponents by intelligently swapping between right back and midfield at regular intervals to good effect. The visitors then created chance after chance which on another day could’ve easily seen them score 3 or 4 more. Marshall rose well from a corner and was unlucky to see his header go just over before Faulkner saw his well taken finish somewhat retrospectively ruled offside. Faulkner then delivered a pinpoint cross which McMullen volleyed against the post. The home team keeper then pulled off a couple of good saves first saving a point blank header from McMullen off a superb Garrett corner, showing excellent reflexes, before good interplay between McMullen and Paul Burnett on the right then saw Burnett cleverly set up McMullen which again was saved with a smart diving effort down low. Brean came on for the impressive Marshall and dealt well with slippery conditions whilst Stabbins gave the hardworking Lucas a rest and proved a threat himself down the right hand side.
The visitors may have missed a hatful of chances which could’ve made the score line much more flattering than the 2-0 result but this week’s display was much improved from was the previous week where hardly any opportunities were created. Any one of the Wrington players could justifiably be awarded the man of the match award but this week it goes to Tim Ayres who was constant threat and provided the much needed creative spark, claiming 2 assists.
Next week Wrington are ‘home’ to Congresbury A.