Bishop Sutton 0-1 Westbury United – Toolstation First Division, Tues. 18th Oct.

Westbury fought through the heavy traffic to arrive in time for a quick warm-up before the 7:30 kick-off. It was a perfect evening for football at Lakeview, cold enough to freeze your toes if you’re watching but no wind so it made ideal conditions.

Westbury were on it straight from kick-off and it took just four minutes for the first chance to arrive; Jamie Jordan closed down the keeper and his deflected clearance hit JJ but ended up going just wide of the right post.

The breakthrough came after just 7 minutes; JJ had drifted out to the left and played a pass inside to George Bendle who drove into the area and powered a shot that appeared to go through the keeper and ended up in the net.

Westbury continued to play well and a good midfield battle had broken out which Jordan Pinder and Mattie Mantay were winning, giving the attacking players a platform to play from.

The domination continued until 20 minutes when there was a heart in mouth moment. Bishop Sutton had curled an in-swinging cross from deep on the right-hand side which the Westbury defence decided to leave much to the surprise of goalkeeper Ben Forester. Ben slipped but managed to get up and calmly gather the ball.

Westbury continued to play with passion and desire for the rest of the half. JJ had a turn and shot from the edge of the area saved, Nathan Hallett-Young tried a spectacular from the wide right position and Martin Johnson managed to break through the high line, only to be brought down by Bishop Sutton’s Scott Gregory about 20 yards from goal. Gregory got a yellow card and Westbury got a free kick which produced a good save from Bishop Sutton keeper Chris Manns.

Westbury went in at halftime with only one goal to show for their excellent performance.

It was a sloppy start to the second half and took until the 57th minute for Westbury to create a chance which turned out to be several scrappy chances that Bishop Sutton couldn’t clear, but they did enough to prevent Westbury from getting a clear shot on goal.

Bishop Sutton started to come into the game as Westbury dropped deeper and deeper but Dan Price and Jordan Lawrence made sure that Forester wasn’t challenged in the Westbury goal.

Westbury continued to stay deep but Lawrence kept calm and marshalled the defence well. He was strong in the challenge and always seemed to have 5 yards of space when he was in possession. There were no clear cut chances for Bishop Sutton and Westbury saw the game out to earn a well deserved 1-0 win.

Westbury Team: Ben Forester, Ian Groves, James Hounsell, Jordan Lawrence, Dan Price, Jordan Pinder, Nathan Hallett-Young, Mattie Mantay, Martin Johnson, Jamie Jordan, George Bendle. Subs: Grant Gunning, Marc Scammell, Dave Atkinson (used), Karl ‘Frampo’ Freeman (unused). Star man: Jordan Lawrence.