Stitch2Print Devon & Exeter League division one: Hatherleigh Town 2, Wellington Reserves 4
Our Reserves made the long journey down to Hatherleigh, hoping to turn around a losing streak of three games.
Man-of-the-match, sponsored by JH Total Construction, was Ned Ogilvie, who is pictured with Michael Owen.
It was not made easy with three players dropping out in the morning of the game and, with manager Mark Owen still away on holiday, it was down to Tom Hawkings and Michael Owen to lead the team.
On a tight pitch, Wellington played a 3-5-2 formation and started the game well but struggled with the final pass in the wet conditions.
On 20 minutes, they had a free kick on the right just outside the box. Jack Lewis swung in a fantastic cross with his left foot and Wes Poulsom drifted in at the far post to knock the ball into the net from close range – nothing less than they deserved.
Wellington really started getting hold of the game, looking the second goal, so it was a massive surprise when Hatherleigh scored to make it 1-1.
Ther hosts won the ball on the left wing, which looked a foul on Tom Davies, and quickly played it into the empty space left by Davies to equalise past Charlie Hawkings in goal after hitting the post.
With ten minutes left of the first half, Wellington went back in front with Dom Healy completing a slick move by finishing past the keeper just inside the box.
With the first half just about to end, Rohan Poulsom was sent clean through on goal but the Hatherleigh keeper saved so it remained 2-1 to Wellington at the break.
Hatherleigh started the second half well and, from a corner, the ball was cleared to one of their players to hit a superb volley which gave Hawkings no chance.
With the score now at 2-2, Wellington’s reply was instant with Ollie Nott picking up a mistake in the Hatherleigh defence to glide past a defender and round the keeper to knock the ball into the empty net and restore the visitors’ lead.
Wellington started to create more chances but were wasteful which has been a trend in the past few weeks.
However, there was not long to wait for the goal of the game as some neat passes saw Nott receive the ball on the edge of the box and, with a faint to his left, he moved the ball on to his right foot and let fly into the opposite top corner – 4-2 to Wellington.
Then a fine, lung-bursting run from Logan Sellick saw him fouled in the box with the ref pointing to the spot. Up stepped Luke Perry to crash the resulting penalty against the bar and away for a goal kick.
With the game drawing to an end, Wellington had further chances to increase the lead but it remained 4-2 until the final whistle.
Wellington: Charlie Hawkings, Ned Ogilvie, Connor Noble, Dom Healy, Tom Davies, Jack Lewis, Wes Poulsom, Tom Hawkings, Ollie Nott, Rohan Poulsom, Luke Perry. Substitutes: Jordan Mace, Logan Sellick, Alex Conway (all used).
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Our A team also got back to winning ways with a 3-2 victory away to Galmington Reserves with goals from Tom Scarlett (two) and Jordan Sellick.
Man-of-the-match was Aiden Trott who is pictured (below) with joint manager Matt Groves.
