Staplegrove 1 Wrington Redhill2
Not having played for four weeks due to weather related fixture postponements showed as Wrington Redhill started the game slowly and struggled to get a grip with their normal fluent passing style of play. In fairness to the hosts, they were on the front foot and belied their current struggles at the bottom of the league table with their battling performance.
It was Staplegrove who took the lead from a David Richardson corner and whilst Jonathan Lambert celebrated scoring from the cross it was in fact Wrington Redhill’s George Fake whose attempted headed clearance found the net instead for 1-0 to Staplegrove. The visitors were then most thankful to keeper James Williams for making two very good saves to prevent them going further behind.
Midway through the first period Wrington Redhill started to get into their stride and Cory Thomas-Barker had two long range efforts, but home keeper Shaun Locke was not seriously tested, and a 1-0 deficit was taken to the interval.
The half time pep talks from Player/ Manager Leigh White and his assistants Mark Brown and Sam Clements were certainly effective as their team stepped up the tempo, took control, and looked more like the team of form prior to the extended lay off. Reece Ferguson-Obamwonyi was starting to trouble the opposition defence with his dribbling skills as White, Sam Parkinson and Thomas-Barker began to find their passing form and led to more threat in their attacks. George Fake made amends for his own goal by finding the right end for an equaliser as his half volley from a Parkinson corner crashed past Locke into the net. Fake was unlucky not to put his team ahead with an audacious thirtyyards lob which agonisingly went just wide as he spotted Locke off his line.
Now being in firm control Wrington Redhill pressed on for a victory and saw Obamwonyistrike the crossbar with a vicious shot but no one was able to get to the rebound. To increase the attacking threat Jack Hutchings replaced Matt Walsh and instantly made an impact by getting behind the defensive line causing uncertainty in their ranks. Soon after Ollie Clements returning from injury, and Jordon Bonner replaced Rory Thomas and White to add to the impetus.
The lead duly arrived as Clements delivered a free kick to the feet of Daniel Fergusonwho calmly slotted the ball into the net to the delight of his teammates. In the dying minutes a through ball was pounced upon by Ferguson-Obamwonyi and driving into the box he was upended for a penalty. After receiving treatment for his injury, it was Clements who stepped up to take the spot kick which unfortunately he blasted high and handsome over the crossbar with the game ending with a 2-1 victory for Wrington Redhill.
This was a crucial win as White pushes his young team on for the second half of the season on the edge of the leading group of teams in the mix for league honours
The player of the match was awarded to Daniel Ferguson.
Team:
Goalkeeper: James Williams
Defence: Matt Walsh, Dan Ferguson, Ethan Johnson, Rory Thomas
Midfield, Sam Parkinson, Leigh White, Cory Thomas-Barker, Josh Pitt
Forwards: George Fake, Reece Ferguson-Obamwonyi
Substitutes: Jordon Bonner (for Rory Thomas), Jack Hutchings (for Matt Walsh), Ollie Clements (for Leigh White)