Hillingdon Borough 3 Winchester City 3
British Gas Business Southern League Div One S&W
CITY BACK FROM THE BRINK
City travelled to the Middlesex Stadium on Tuesday night to play Hillingdon Borough and achieved a first for the season, they scored first! In fact City
started well and an early shot from Pete Smith after a good run and a shot across the face of goal by Mark Gamble showed the team's intent.
The pressure paid off , a pinpoint cross from Lloyd Webber was met by Jamie Musselwhite who stooped low to head home (14th minute). The ball flashed past the keeper and hit the stanchion at the back of the net and bounced back out before he could move.
Unfortunately City could not hold their lead and Hillingdon equalised with a near post shot in the 19th minute and took the lead in the 24th minute
from a headed cross.
It looked as if City would be back on even terms when Musselwhite threaded the ball to Ian Mancey, who was well placed, but he over ran the ball and the chance was gone. A few minutes later mancey had a penalty appeal turned down and from that point the half swung towards Hillingdon and they increased their lead just before half time when Dave Hook came out to narrow the angle but was beaten from close range.
New signing Melvin Rogers came on at the start of the second half in place of Andy Darnton and Manager Steve Moss, reorganisation had the desired effect with City completely dominating the rest of the match.
Winchester were given the glimmer of hope of a draw in the 55th minute when Webber steadied himself after collecting a cross from Smith and shot home from the edge of the penalty area. City now piled on the pressure with Sam Cockerill having his best game so far, instrumental in midfield and combined with the experience of Webber and Mark Jones, they began to create chances. Musselwhite, Mancey and Gamble all managed to get in shots but Hillingdon defended well.
With time running out Tom Vavrecka came on for Webber and was soon in the thick of things, receiving two hard knocks almost immediately resulting in treatment from City's new physio Kayley Brown who worked well whilst under pressure on her debut.
City gained their reward in the first minute of injury time when Hillingdon conceded a free kick on the edge of their penalty area. Mancey took the kick
and tried to place it rather than power it in but the keeper failed to hold what was quite a soft shot and Gamble running in slammed the loose ball home
City: David Hook, Danny Wakefield, Peter smith, Mark jones, Francis Dolan, Andy darnton, Sam Cockerill, Ian mancey, Jamie Musselwhite, Mark gamble, Substitutes , Melvin Rogers (46), Tom Vavrecka (85), James Davis, Mark Zawadski
