Taunton Saturday League: Wellington A 2, Nether Stowey 1
With the cancellation of the fixture against Minehead, our A team managed to arrange a match to be played away at Nether Stowey but using it as a “home” game.
In the first half, Welly tried to keep the ball down and knock it around when possible but against the strong cross-wind it was more difficult than it looked.
Neither side really created many major opportunities except for one ball over the top which the lively No 6 for Nether Stowey managed to get on the end of to put them in front.
The first half was very physical and, with a league referee, a couple of Stowey players could have easily seen red, but stand in ref Tyler Fyfe tried to keep the flow of the game going without it getting out of control.
At half-time, Welly had already arranged a substitute with their big cup semi-final game coming up and manager Luke O’Hara replaced Matt Holmes.
Less than five minutes into the second half, a long ball saw O’Hara run through and score an equaliser. With the wind now in Welly’s favour they took the game to Nether Stowey and created several opportunities, although Stowey looked dangerous on the odd counter attack they created.
Thanks to some fine goalkeeping by the Stowey keeper and a couple of tame efforts, it stayed 1-1 until, with ten minutes remaining, Tennesse Harlow was taken out from behind, just inside the box. Liam Thorne stepped up and slotted the ball home to make it 2-1.
For the next few minutes the game got physical and could easily of got out of hand, but Welly kept their cool and defended in numbers until the final whistle.
A much-needed three points as the lads now go into a big chunk of games – eight in four weeks starting with the semi against Castlemoat’s first team … David v Goliath!