Wrington Redhill 3 Staplegrove 1

Wrington Redhill welcomed Staplegrove to the Recreation Ground for this league encounter plus the return of Cory Thomas-Barker, having completed a two-match suspension. He came in for Ryan Pugh, the only change from the previous week’s line-up.
The hosts quickly got into their swift passing mode with the midfield quartet of Sam Parkinson, Thomas-Barker, Leigh White, and Josh Pitt taking control. Within the opening minutes George Fake was through on goal but his shot went into the side netting. Soon after a delightful interchange between White, Pitt and Thomas-Barker saw him facing the keeper Shaun Locke who seemed to smother his attempt but the ball ballooned up and left him with an open goal . He easily passed the ball into the net to make it 1 nil to the hosts.
The lead was extended when Pitt put Fake in again and he fired under Locke for 2-0. Amazingly Fake missed out on a first half hat trick when Pitt provided a great cross but somehow fired over the crossbar.
Staplegrove rallied late in the half, and it needed a good save by James Williams from a free kick on the edge of the box to maintain the 2-0 lead into the break.
The game re-started evenly before Jack Hutchings reacted quickly to a defensive error and raced in on goal and slotted past Locke once again for a 3-0 lead. Wrington Redhill should have gone on to complete their dominance and convert more chances. However, they went off the boil as Staplegrove took the initiative and grew in confidence and for a period of 10 minutes or so showed great resolve. They kept possession and kept probing but were limited in the main to long range efforts which Williams dealt with very well especially 1 effort that looked to be goal bound before he tipped it over at full stretch. Soon after Staplegrove went close again but the alert Dan Ferguson made a last-ditch tackle to thwart the dangerous attack.
The visitors did score a goal when a player advancing into the penalty area was block tackled by skipper Ethan Johnson who was unfortunate to see the ball bounce up over the head of Williams and over the goal line.
Substitutions were made to see out the game with Ryan Pugh, Reece Ferguson-Obamwonyi and Ollie Clements introduced and ensure the victory was secured which elevated the team to third position in the league.
The supporters’ player of the match was awarded to Josh Pitt.
Team:
Goalkeeper: James Williams
Defence: Si Hewish, Dan Ferguson, Ethan Johnson, Jordon Bonner
Midfield: Josh Pitt, Sam Parkinson, Leigh White, Cory Thomas-Barker
Forwards: Jack Hutchings, George Fake

Substitutes: Ryan Pugh (for Jordon Bonner), Reece Obamwonyi-Ferguson (for Sam Parkinson), Ollie Clements (for Leigh White)