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Winchester City 1 Bridgwater Town 1
WINCHESTER CITY 1 BRIDGWATER TOWN 1
City picked up their first home point, despite playing for almost 70 minutes with 10 men, but it could have been so much more, hitting the bar twice and missing a superb opportunity at the death.
City took the lead with their first attack. Kyle Joryeff played in Carl Foster, the hat-trick hero of the Reserves midweek cup victory, whose vicious shot was palmed out by Tom Manley into the path of Brett Williams, who poked the ball over the line.
Bridgwater also created a great opportunity with their first attack. The ball was played down the wing, and with City’s defenders claiming offside, the ball was crossed to Mackay who turned and shot inches past the post. Roden, on his home debut then put in a strong challenge and released Joryeff who choose to shoot with team-mates well placed.
On 17 minutes, Steve Llewellyn climbed well to put the ball behind from a corner from which Bridgwater worked the ball to Olondo whose volley went just over the bar.
After 23 minutes, Roden who had produced the bite that City had been missing to date, produced a challenge on Chris Young, that referee Powell deemed excessive and produced a straight red.
The ten men of City were now up against it, but Bridgwater were unable to create any chances, with the striped shirts showing dogged resistance, ably demonstrated by Carl Foster who tracked back fifty yards to put in an excellent block on Trowbridge.
With 38 minutes gone, City almost doubled their lead. Joryeff’s free kick from near the touchline on the right, was played in low and met by Matt Bowler, whose shot on the turn crashed against the underside of the bar and away. A minute before the end of the first half, Bridgwater created their best opportunity of the match, when a corner was flicked on by Mackay to the rear post, where Pepperell missed his kick, with the goal at his mercy.
Richard Gregory replaced the injured Joryeff at the start of the second half, with City changing to a 4-4-1 formation. Bridgwater scored out of the blue after 51 minutes when Trowbridge’s curling shot from the edge of the penalty area went beyond Davies’ despairing dive into the bottom right hand corner.
Gregory and Foster were supporting the hard working Williams up front and Gregory almost produced a moment of magic on the hour, when his 30 yard shot was pulled narrowly wide. Clint Davies then pulled off a double save at the other end. Olondo’s free kick was deflected and the keeper had to adjust his footing to push it out, and then quickly got up to save the second effort.
With the game now end to end, City almost re-took the lead when Gregory put in an enticing cross for Williams, whose header beat the keeper only to see it cannon off the bar and away to safety. With six minutes to go, City had a gilt edged chance to win the match. Again Gregory was the instigator as he played in Williams who jinked past two defenders and chipped the keeper only to see his effort inch past the left hand upright.
City now have two big cup ties in a week. They face Bashley at home in the Hampshire Senior Cup on Tuesday evening (7:45) before Taunton Town visit in the FA Trophy on Saturday (3:00pm)
City: Clint Davies, James Wilson, Sam Lockyer, Andy Borthwick, Matt Bowler, Steve Llewellyn, James Roden, Adam Kelly (Ben Morgan 83), Brett Williams, Carl Foster (Moussa Mamadou 63), Kyle Joryeff (Richard Gregory 45).
Unused Subs: Andy Darnton, Andy Leader.
Document last updated: 05/10/2008
