Bishops Lydeard Reserves 3, Wellington Reserves 3
Our Reserves’ customary Friday night pre-season friendly at Lydeard provided a six-goal thriller.
In a game played over three 30=minute sections, Wellington came out on top in the first period. A fast-paced end-to-end encounter, saw university-bound Robbie Broomhead give Wellington the lead from a direct free kick on 15 minutes, bending his right footed shot around the wall past a helpless keeper.
Two minutes later, Wellington were celebrating their second goa l… or so they thought. Broomhead found Brad Holmans’ run, his first touch was sweet, his second touch even better as he rolled it past the oncoming keeper and into the far corner. As the players celebrated, the referee allowed play to continue. Holmans’ shot had hit the wheel of the mobile goal … a good yard behind the goal line and returned the ball back into play. The referee believed it had hit the post to Holmans’ utter disbelief.
Keeper Luke Vernon kept Wellington’s lead intact with a superb reflex save late on.
The second period saw Wellington make five changes. In a slightly more frantically paced period Wellington soon extended their lead. Ash Saunders latched on to Clay Westcott’s edge of the box pass, took a neat first touch before guiding his shot into the bottom corner. This time the ball missed the wheel and nestled in the net! Two minutes later, Jake Nichol delivered an excellent left foot free kick which ended being headed home by a Lydeard defender – a looping header over the keeper making it 3-0.
But Lydeard hit back immediately, a 20 yard low drive catching Vernon out for pace. Lydeard were truly back in the game five minutes later, converting from an inswinging corner at the near post
Both teams continued to make chances, but the second period finished with Wellington holding on to a slender 3-2 lead.
More changes ensued for the final period which saw Lydeard level the game with a fine run and finish from ex-Wellington player Reagan Scotcher.
The game saw both teams go for the win but poor light eventually brought the game to an on 83 minutes. A 3-3 draw was a fair result given both teams’ effort and was an excellent spectacle for the many spectators who finally had the chance to watch some football.
All oue players can take a lot of credit for their individual contributions. The main point of concern is the occasional loses of composure which needs weeding out if they want to progress and improve on previous seasons.
The Reserves’ next game is on Saturday, 29th August, when they travel to North Devon to face Premier League champions Park Utd.
