Street Reserves 1 – Wrington Redhill 2
Wrington Redhill travelled to Street and were able to make several changes to their squad from the previous week with players returning from holidays and injuries. They were also boosted with the return of Josh Pitt from his spell at Clevedon Town.
It was the visitors who started the game brightly with Joe Creese seeing a lot of the ball on the left flank and threatening the home defence on numerous occasions. Sam Parkinson was pulling the strings from his central midfield position creating chances for his forward players. The first real chance fell to Ryan Pugh breaking through on a one on one with keeper Tom Punchard who saved the resultant shot well.
Playing entertaining attacking football Wrington Redhill deservedly went ahead when good approach play down the right flank allowed Ethan Williams to slide the ball inside to George Fake who slotted past Punchard at the second attempt.
Wrington Redhill almost went 2 up soon after when Ollie Clements clipped the ball into Parky who’s shot on the turn was brilliantly saved by Punchard meaning the visitors had to settle for a 1-0 half time lead.
The home side exerted pressure from the restart and a miskick by Ethan Johnson allowed Tyler Nicholson to nip in and with only keeper Matt Hill to beat saw Hill make a fantastic save to Johnson and his team mates’ delight. From hereon Wrington Redhill clawed back their dominance and should have extended their lead when Leigh White released Joe Creese on goal but his shot went wide.
A spell followed where excellent short and sharp passing movements were being serve up and from one flowing team move ended with Pitts firing against the cross bar which if the shot had gone in would have been a real classic goal. The lead was doubled when an excellent Jordon Bonner tackle broke up a counter attack. The ball was moved on and ended up at the feet of Fake who turned his defender and planted the ball into the bottom corner completing his brace on return to the team.
Street were never out of the game and pulled a goal back with a huge slice of luck. A free kick struck Creese and a wicked deflection saw the ball thwart Hill and over the line. This led to a nervous fifteen minutes in a game that Wrington Redhill had well in control. Skipper Ollie Clements marshalled his team to ensure they earned the points and late on Matt Walsh was subbed on and played an important role in securing victory.
A well deserved first win of the season and provides a good base to get the season up and running.
The man of the match award (an empty plate) was awarded to Matt Hill for his great save and general all round display between the sticks.
Team:
Goalkeeper: Matt Hill
Defence: Josh Pitts, Leigh White, Ethan Johnson, Jordon Bonner
Midfield: Ollie Clements, Matt Parkinson, Ryan Pugh
Forwards: Joe Creese, George Fake, Ethan Williams
Defence: Josh Pitts, Leigh White, Ethan Johnson, Jordon Bonner
Midfield: Ollie Clements, Matt Parkinson, Ryan Pugh
Forwards: Joe Creese, George Fake, Ethan Williams
Substituts: Matt Walsh (for Ryan Pugh), Chris Bradley (unused)