Wrington Redhill 3 Saltford 0
Wrington Redhill hosted Saltford at the Rec in a back-to-back fixture following their visitto their opponents only a fortnight ago and last week’s game falling foul of the recent storms. In came James Williams, Matt Walsh and Sam Parkinson for Matt Hill, Josh Pitt,and player/manager Leigh White, the latter two resting with injuries.
The home side struggled to get to terms with the bobbly pitch and facing a strong wind in the first 20 minutes as Saltford were on the front foot with a physical and aggressive game plan. During this period, they missed two good chances to take the lead which they later rued to their cost.
Wrington Redhill’s trio of Sam Parkinson, Cory Thomas-Barker and Ollie Clementsworked hard to gain control of the midfield area establishing a foothold on the game. Their threat came from free kicks which were dealt with by the Saltford defence until late in the half when the breakthrough came with an excellent goal. Inside the opponents half Jordan Bonner ponced on a loose ball and fed Thomas-Barker on the left touchline and his cross into the penalty area was superbly headed home by the advancing Joe Creese from 6 yards out leaving keeper George Denley no chance of saving.
Now in the ascendency the home side lost the services of Parkinson due to a knee injury and Ryan Pugh stepped into the midfield slot and accounted for himself well. The half finished at 1-0 in Wrington Redhill’s favour.
The second period started similarly to the first with Saltford again starting strongly and after one-to-many niggling fouls Sam Sarre was shown a yellow card. Despite this early pressure the back for of Matt Walsh, Dan Ferguson, Ethan Johnson, and Jordon Bonner held firm and James Williams made a couple of good saves.
The tide started to turn as Joe Creese raced onto a long ball from defence and facing only Denley ahead of him tried to shoot round him, but his effort went wide of the far post. Next Jack Hutchings wriggled himself free of defenders only to be kept out by Denley at the last moment. This period produced some scintillating passing moves and it was no surprise the lead was extended further. In the build up Hutchings slotted a ball into the path of George Fake who clinically found the net drilling his shot past Denley.
Manager Leigh White made two late changes with Ethan Williams and Chris Bradley replacing Fake and Walsh. His team continued to look for more scoring opportunities and Hutchings missing another 1–on–1 with the keeper finally got his deserved goal from the penalty spot following a defender’s hand ball inside the box. This brought an end to the game with a well earned 3-0 victory moving up a place in the league to 5th position.
Well satisfied with a hat trick of wins on the trot White was very pleased with the battling of his team to add to the undoubted technical ability of his young squad. He added ‘we have some tough and important fixtures over the next few weeks, and we will need to utilise the whole squad of players and overcome a few injuries we have picked up. Fortunately, I have players able to step up when needed and with Mark Brown and Sam Clements management support we are happy with our progress so far this season.’
The player of the match was awarded to Cory Thomas-Barker
Team:
Goalkeeper: James Williams
Defence: Matt Walsh, Dan Ferguson, Ethan Johnson, Jordon Bonner
Midfield, Sam Parkinson, Ollie Clements, Cory Thomas-Barker
Forwards: Joe Creese, George Fake, Jack Hutchings
Substitutes: Ryan Pugh (for Sam Parkinson) Chris Bradley (for Matt Walsh), Ethan Williams (for George Fake)