UNITED’S second home game of the season felt more like two points lost than one point gained.
It didn’t take Westbury long to get going; within the first five minutes Dan Kovacs controlled the ball with a great first touch to cushion it down to his strike partner, Mark Robinson, to take on a long shot that just went wide.
The dominance continued with Jamie Jordan pouncing on a loose ball and setting Robinson off on a breakaway. Robinson checked and set the ball to debutant Steve Hulbert; he slightly dragged his shot which went low and wide to the left.
The breakthrough came on the 18-minute mark when the busy left winger, Leon Greenland, sent a forward pass for Kovacs to chase. He was goal side of the defender and in desperation the defender brought him down as they arrived into the 18-yard box. A penalty was awarded by the referee. After a few penalty misses throughout pre-season, the duty now laid with Kovacs to take it. He confidently stepped up and slotted a low drive in of the inside of the left-hand post to make it 1-0.
Two minutes later Matt Jones gave Greenland a ball to chase, but this time the defender read the pass and managed to beat Greenland to the ball.
Westbury carried on playing a positive game looking to get the ball into the danger men quickly. Probably the move of the match, which involved Robinson and S.Hulbert neatly exchanging passes, set up Kovacs, but unfortunately ended with a shot the went over the bar.
Malmesbury started to grow into the match and started to get their footing. They were using their long throw and when they were winning the second ball the result was a shot; fortunately they were off target. The half finished with a low strike from Robinson which the visiting goalkeeper saved well.
At half-time, the injured Kovacs was replaced by Ricky Hulbert who was returning to fitness after missing the last few pre-season games with a knee injury. Malmesbury started the second half the stronger; whatever the message was at half-time had clearly got through, but it was Westbury who struck again to double their lead.
Dan Jordan managed to nip the ball past the defending player inside the Malmesbury half wide on the right-hand side, and he got the ball out of his feet and delivered a beautiful cross that left the whole defence and the goalkeeper stranded. JJ came ghosting in at the far post to take delivery of the curling cross to strike it hard and low first time with his left foot, back across the goal keeper into the net.
It only took two minutes for Malmesbury to reply and half the deficit. There was some confusion near Westbury’s left back corner and the ball couldn’t be cleared or safely put out. The Malmesbury player nicked it and drove out towards the edge of the 18yard box. Panic set into the Westbury defence and a low shot was unleashed from the crowd past the unsighted goalkeeper Lewis Porter.
On the 66th minute the referee missed an obvious pull on Ricky Hulbert in the area, but the ball was cleared and the Malmesbury striker was on hand to chase the ball down and apply a powerful finish past Porter to level the score at 2-2.
Westbury pushed to try and win the match, but Malmesbury stood strong and proved to be dangerous on the counter. The winner never came though and both teams had to settle for a draw, and even though it is a hard one to take, Westbury can be satisfied with the knowledge that the Malmesbury Victoria committee expect their team to put a real challenge in for promotion this season. Maybe as the season goes on, this will prove to be a valuable point against one of the division’s top teams.
Star Man: Dan Jordan.
