Timsbury Athletic 5 Wrington Redhill 1

Wrington Redhill travelled to Timsbury for this first round Divisional Cup fixture for Premier and Division 1 teams. The hosts had won the first division title last season earning them promotion to the Premier division where they have got off to a good start to the campaign,so a tough game was certainly anticipated in this cup tie.For Wrington Redhill James Williams returned in goal with Matt Walsh and Ayrton Phillips also restored to the starting line-up.

It was the visitors who started brightly with swift passing and the midfield trio of Phillips, Josh Pitt and Travis Yule-Turner fully involved, providing the flank men Joe Creese and Reece Ferguson-Obamwonyi plenty of the ball and pressing the home defence without quite finding a real cutting edge to worry Ashton Tucsker in goal. There was a big contrast in styles with Timsbury well organised and direct often bi-passing their midfield to front men Rhys Cook and Ellis Hancock. With their good movement stretching Wrington Redhill’s back line, Leigh White and Dan Ferguson was holding them at bay and keeper James Williams played his part as well in saving two good efforts at goal.

It looked like the 0-0 score line was going to be taken to the half time interval which would have been a fair position to be in on balance. As the break approached the referee pointed to the spot for a penalty for Timsbury,harshly awarded against Ayrton Phillips for a handball in the area. This was hard to take as similar ball contact to ‘hand/arm’ throughout the game went un-punished and no way could Phillips avoid the contact. Nonetheless the spot kick was firmly struck home by Cook sending Williams the wrong way for a 1-0 half time lead.

The second half started with Ethan Johnson replacing Ryan Pugh nursing an injury up to which point had enjoyed a good performance. However, from the restart possession was lost in the home side’s half and the counterattack was cleared but a mistake by Josh Pitt allowed a further press on goal and Dom Barresi found the net to increase the lead. After such an early setback Wrington Redhill could not seem to find a way back into the game and Timsbury went on to dominate most to the remaining game as the midfield trio of Phillips, Pitt, and Yule-Turner were unable to get a hold on the game.

Timsbury went on to score three more goals with Cook, Barresi, and Ellis Hancock although after the third goal George Fake scored for the visitors but whilst this gave a bit of a lift to the team, they could not find a way back. Sam Parkinson replaced Ferguson-Obamwonyi and gave a good late cameo show in the middle of the pitch but by this time the game had been sealed by Timsbury with a final score of 5-1.

Team:

Goalkeeper: James Williams
Defence:      Matt Walsh, Leigh White, Dan Ferguson, Ryan Pugh
Midfield:       Josh Pitt, Ayrton Phillips, Travis Yule-Turner
Forwards:    Joe Creese, George Fake, Reece Ferguson-Obamwonyi  

Substitutes:    Ethan Johnson (for Ryan Pugh), Sam Parkinson (for Reece Ferguson-Obamwonyi )