Westbury extended their unbeaten run to 12, but slipped to 3rd place after Keynsham and Roman Glass St George both won.
Had the controversial VAR system been in use, this match wouldn’t have finished until well into the evening – such were the amount of close calls on penalty appeals and offsides.
Calne, who had beaten United at Meadow Lane earlier in the season, had an early shout for a penalty waved away by the referee when Stuart Windsor went down under pressure from Leon Greenland.
Both sides traded spells of pressure and corners/free kicks in the opening 20 minutes, but the defenders kept their respective opponents at bay.
United opened the scoring from the spot after the second penalty appeal of the afternoon. Excellent play on the right by Ricky Hulbert played in Dan Kovacs who was fouled in the 6 yard box by Marcus Lovesey, before stepping up and netting the kick.
Play became stop-start for 15 minutes, with several players needing treatment for injuries and poor midfield passing, which frequently gifted possession.
However the hosts then had a few chances to equalise. Firstly Bill Boakes’ fizzing cross was half volleyed over by Windsor. Then a scramble inside his box saw Westbury keeper, Lewis Porter, do excellently to deny Joshua Haro and Porter then leapt to his feet to brilliantly fingertip a shot over the bar!
Westbury could have doubled their lead before the break, but Kovacs opted not to shoot when well placed and Mark Robinson met Jamie Jordan’s cross with a fine header which was saved by James Rae!
The visitors seemed set to carry on after half-time where they left off, but again they were unable to add a second goal, with Ricky Hulbert and Jake Hiscocks failing to hit the target at the end of pacy moves!
VAR would surely have been used around the hour mark when Ricky Hulbert was clattered inside the box but no penalty was given!
Rae did well again to save Jordan’s low strike and, having kept their deficit to just one, drew level on 68 when in a rare situation both Dan Price and Matt Jones were outmuscled by Windsor before he squared the ball to Aaron Witchell, who managed to force it over the line.
Remarkably Westbury had two more penalty situations! Hiscocks went down but again the referee said no. However, then he did point to the spot a few minutes later when Kovacs was fouled, but this time offside against Kovacs was the decision!!
Hiscocks and Ricky Hulbert tried their luck from free kicks, but both fired over.
Town came within inches of claiming an unlikely double in injury time and it took desperate defending by United’s back line to keep them at bay as well as a poor finish by Witchell!
Star Man; Lewis Porter
