Reserves fight back only to fall away against Division Favourites

This always looked a tricky opening fixture but if they expect to challenge this year Wrington will need to dig out results away from home and certainly can’t afford to gift good teams a goal start. From the kickoff a hopeful ball was not dealt with and the visitors were immediately behind as Tom Fowler slotted home.

To their credit, Wrington showed great spirit and with Matt Lenny and both the Caufield Brothers strong in the tackle, they began to dominate the midfield. Tommy Johnson and Louis Louvrais created several good chances showing that they were still in the game. It was no surprise when they equalised as Adam Caufield chased down a back pass causing the keeper to fumble and present him with an easy finish. The visitors pushed on and had the better chances with Paul Faulkner’s fine header hitting the crossbar from a Kyle Selman pinpoint cross. However, as half time approached Thistle reasserted themselves and a period of pressure resulted in several free kicks in promising positions and finally a corner in the last minute of the half. The perfect in swinging delivery caused enough confusion for the ricochet from a defender to end up in the net.

Wrington lost the dependable Paul Burnett with a knee injury at half time and seemed to loose a bit of bite in the tackle. As a result, Portishead began to win the 50/50 challenges and gained the run of the ball. Wrington compounded this by giving the ball away cheaply. Whereas in the first half the visitors had disrupted the home side’s system, they now seemed able to flood the midfield and utilise the space down the flanks of Wrington’s back three despite the best efforts of Curtis and the persevering and spiky Briggs. Wrington continued to give the ball away and were penalised twice by lightning breakaways which sealed the match. In between Louvais and Curtis had opportunities to cut the deficit but in reality Wrington had missed their chance in the first half.

Team: James Williams, Dan Caufield, Callum Briggs, Nick Curtis, Paul Burnett, Matt Lenny, Adam Caufield, Kyle Selman, Paul Faulkner, Louis Louvais, Tommy Johnson. Subs Mike Clements, Phil Williams.

MoM: Dan Caufield for an assured debut