Wrington Redhill 1  Fry Club3

This was a frustrating afternoon for Wrington Redhill bowing out of the Somerset County Senior Cup at the hands of Frys. The hosts were seeking to take the scalp of yet another Premier League side having already got past Worle and Clutton in previous rounds.

An early setback came when Leigh White glanced a free kick from Freddie Gwyther into his own net following a miscommunication from keeper Matt Hill. Minutes later Frys doubled their lead when the referee failed to spot a handball prior to Will Simpson-Jarman rifling a great 20 yards shot past Hill.

At 2-0 down and with a couple of key players absent it seemed a mountain to climb was needed to assert any kind of come back against the opponents from the league above. However there was definitely grit in the team when Ollie Clements, Sam Harvey and Ryan Pugh started to get Reece Ferguson-Obamwonyi and Joe Creese into the game on the flanks feeding central striker Jack Hutchings. Josh Pitt ventured forward whenever possible from his defensive right back position as did Jordon Bonner on the other side and Ethan Johnson also got stuck in. They went on to dominate the remaining half hour of the first period.

Sam Harvey struck a free kick which looked to be heading into the top left corner, but a late swerve saw the ball strike a post. Fry’s keeper Charlie Kelly quickly followed up by making two good saves, a clearance off the line and a stonewall penalty remarkably ignored again by the referee. The frustration was growing and the team felt they should at least have entered the break on level terms. Poor decisions by the referee and a flag happy Frys linesman certainly did not help the cause.

Looking to continue the momentum after the break was quickly dissolved by a poor start when Wrington Redhill conceded yet again when Dan Hynes scored from another accurately delivered corner. Despite this the players kept going to their credit never letting the visitors to feeling completely at ease but it was just not their day.

A glimpse of recovery came when Ryan Pugh was fouled in the penalty area and George Fake, who had replaced Jack Hutchings, stepped up and lashed the ball firmly past Kelly with ten minutes to go. Virtually every time a pass was made forward in the Frys half the flag was raised for offside decisions which were blatantly wrong and led to even more frustration and stopping the attacking flow. Frys advance to the next round and we wish them well.

As assistant manager Sam Clements commented after the game whilst it would have been good to progress further in this County competition the team need to bounce back next week with an important league fixture at home to local rivals Yatton & Cleeve to keep their promotion bid on track.

Team:

Goalkeeper: Matt Hill
Defence:      Josh Pitt, Leigh White, Ethan Johnson, Jordon Bonner
Midfield:       Sam Harvey, Ollie Clements, Ryan Pugh
Forwards:    Joe Creese, Jack Hutchings, Reece Ferguson-Obamwonyi  

Substitutes:    George Fake (for Jack Hutchings), Matt Walsh (for Josh Pitt), Rory Thomas (for Ollie Clements)