Street Reserves 1 Wrington Redhill 2

Wrington Redhill travelled to Street with a depleted squad with several players missingfrom a mixture of injuries, illness, and suspension. Assistant manager Mark Brown was on the bench plus Chris Bradley and physio Charlie Cressey who unfortunately was added to the casualty list during the team warm up!

The starting line up was still strong with the depth of personnel at the team’s call at its limit with Matt Walsh and Ryan Pugh taking the full back roles and Sam Parkinson and player/manager Leigh White both in midfield.

The visitors started slowly and were giving the ball to the opposition too easily and putting themselves under pressure. This led to an early goal for Street when the ball was laid into the path of Rich Fowler who firmly rifled the ball past James Williams from just outside the box. The 1-0 lead only lasted for a short while as Wrington Redhill struck back with a quality goal. A cross from Parkinson was brought under control by George Fake with his back to goal then swivelled round and blasted the ball past Street keeper Keelan Charlton for the equaliser.

Wrington Redhill’s main danger was down the right flank with the lively Joe Creese using his pace to good effect, but he was constantly brought down with some cynical tackles. He was well supported by Matt Walsh who was himself clattered which left him limping through the last 10 minutes of the half before being replaced.

The team was still finding it difficult to find their passing flow on a bobbly pitch but went into the break with the lead when Ollie Clements launched a long-range effort just inside the Street half towards goal. The flight deceived Charlton who scrambled back to his line but could only observe the ball flying over him and into the net.

Walsh was duly replaced at half time and on came Chris Bradley to take over his defensive role. A chance to increase the lead came when White won the ball in midfield and slotted through to Fake who couldn’t get the ball to Jack Hutchings who was completely unmarked and would have a simple tap-in. Both Hutchings and Creese were looking dangerous on the counter attacks before Creese became another injury victim and was replaced by Mark Brown. Play was seeing both sides looking to add goalswith end to end moves and defences coping well.

Street came into the game more as legs tired and more or less dominated the final 15 minutes, but central defence partners Dan Ferguson and Ethan Johnson held firm withJames Williams making three very good saves to earn 3 more hard earned points. In the closing seconds White again released a ball to Fake and this time only facedwith Charlton saw his low goal bound shot brilliantly pushed past the post by the keeper.

This victory extended Wrington Redhill’s run to five wins on the trot and this game showed the players can roll up their sleeves and grind out a result despite not being at their best form which bodes well as the season progresses to a its late stages.

The player of the match was awarded to Ethan Johnson.

Team:

Goalkeeper: James Williams
Defence: Matt Walsh, Dan Ferguson, Ethan Johnson, Ryan Pugh
Midfield: Leigh White, Ollie Clements, Sam Parkinson
Forwards: Jack Hutchings, George Fake, Joe Creese

Substitutes: Chris Bradley for Matt Walsh), Mark Brown (for Joe Creese)