Portishead B 4 Wrington Redhill reserves 2
Still without a manager, Wrington put out another much changed side away to Portishead B.
Although a patchwork line up, any side with Rory Thomas, Joe Moore, Ethan Williams and Jordon Bonner stands a chance and will play some decent football. Straight from the start Williams terrorised the home defence and without the 6ft 5inch Luke Berry in goal, could have had a hat trick within the first 10 minutes. First he tipped a header onto the cross bar from a Nico Anderson cross and twice collected attempted lobs with ease all from Williams who was combining well with Asa Viney. The new partnership of Moore and Anderson were combining well in centre midfield and with Bonner Marshalling the defence the home side could not settle into the game. Kai Found was typically tigerish at right back and was involved in a battle Royale with Mitch Aldom. However, after one typically hard collision he needed his wrist strapped and it was obviously hampering him from then on.
One of the problems with an unsettled side is that they tend to give away soft goals and even after such a good start this befell the visitors once again. A seemingly unthreatening cross found its way right across the Wrington box and reached Alex O’ Keefe whose simple finish gave Portishead the lead. Kai Found finally succumbed to what proved to be a broken wrist to be replaced by the returning Dean Rix and Wrington responded again. With Thomas a constant threat down the left, he won another corner. Nico Anderson’s delivery somehow evaded everyone and ironically bounced into the net off Ethan Williams as he tried to get out of the way to record a goal his play had deserved.
As halftime approached the contest looked evenly matched but O’Keefe changed that in a matter of minutes with two quickfire goals to complete his hat trick. He might not have scored an easier hat trick in his career. Following his tap in for the first, two Wrington defenders failed to stay on their feet to leave him free on the penalty spot for his second and whilst trying to play out from the back a Wrington defender presented him with an easy intercept for the third …all of which were well taken.
In the second half Portishead were now in control and a fine passing move released Mitch Aldom to add a fourth for the home side. Matt Hill also had to make several good saves however, from this high point, they tired and Aldom was replaced with cramp. With Zibi Ballicki finding space on the right, Charlie Dereham still full of running and Dan Foan adding creativity in midfield, Wrington pushed to get back into the game driven on by the tireless Moore and good distribution from Hill in goal. Foan was the next to try his luck at lobbing Berry only to see it drift agonisingly wide with the keeper finally beaten. Anderson then completed his eventful game with a second assist with a cross which Viney sweetly volleyed into the roof of the net. At 4 – 2 , Portishead down to 10 men and 15 minutes to go Wrington were still in it but couldn’t add to their score.