Bracknell Town 1 Winchester City 2
Southern League South & West Division
Two late goals by Ian Mancey and Mark Gamble secured all three points for Winchester City at Bracknell on Saturday. With Martin Thomas still suspended and Neil Champion injured, Melvin Rogers and Dan Wakefield returned to the starting eleven. There were also Southern League debuts for two graduates from the Hampshire Cup-winning youth side, Warren Bentley and Nathan Bailey, who both appeared as second half substitutes.
City dominated the early possession in the strong wind on a difficult pitch. However, chances were hard to come by, although a good move gave Mancey the chance to head down into the path of Dan Wakefield, who drove powerfully just beyond the left post. Phil Cousins also created a shooting chance for himself, but home keeper, Paul McCarthy, saved comfortably.
Despite being penned back for long periods, the home side took the lead after 27 minutes, with their first real chance of the game. A free kick on the edge of the area was blasted straight into the City wall, but the visitors never properly cleared their lines and the ball fell to Graham Lewis who shot home from 12 yards.
Moments later, Bracknell almost doubled their lead when Lewis got free down the left and looked to score from a tight angle, but City keeper, Lyall Beazley, blocked well with his legs. A minute later, there was another scare for the visitors, when Beazley’s kick was charged down, but the keeper showed his agility to recover. City looked set to equalise after 37 minutes, when Gamble got past the keeper, but the last defender darted in from the left to clear the ball from the striker’s path for a corner.
City slowly began to re-impose themselves in the second half but, despite dominating possession, were still unable to create many genuine scoring chances on the bumpy, sloping pitch. Bracknell won another free kick in a dangerous area after 66 minutes, Lewis found himself another shooting opportunity, but hit the side netting. It looked for a while that the visitors would get nothing from the game on a pitch which did not suit their passing game.
However, City’s equaliser came in the 73rd minute. Gamble fought his way clear on the right hand side, providing a lovely low cross for Ian Mancey to turn home. City were dominating at this stage, and took the points in the 81st minute with a great, sweeping move. Tom Vavrecka was put clear down the left, he ran across the edge of the area, laying off for Lloyd Webber to float a great cross for Gamble to head home at the far post.
The victory moved City to 13th in the South & West table, their highest position since the first few weeks of the season. Thatcham Town visit the Denplan City Ground on Tuesday 3rd April, 7.45pm. Steve Moss’s side then travel to Taunton Town on Saturday 7th April, before entertaining league champions, Bashley, at 3pm on Easter Monday.
