Westbury travelled to Brislington to play their first away match in the Toolstation Western Premier League since 2002 and they never let their supporters down, putting in a strong performance and bringing home the three points.
Sayeed Ibrahim returned after a few seasons away, on dual registration from neighbours Melksham. Both teams lined up in a 4-3-3 formation, but it was Westbury who took the upper hand early on.
Ibrahim was involved on the 12-minute mark, delivering a ball from the right wing into the penalty area, a Brislington defender got his head to it first but the ball looped up back towards his own goal. Callum Demkiv reacted the quickest and smashed his right footed volley off the inside of the left-hand post to make it 1-0.
Both teams had some good spells in the first half, but Westbury were the dominant force with a midfield three of Jamie Jordan, Jordan Pinder and Joe Kirkpatrick, JJ providing the attacking penetration, Pinder winning tackles and making a nuisance of himself were both backed up by the excellent Kirkpatrick who was always on hand to receive an easy pass or tracking runners to prevent Brislington’s attacks.
Brislington came out for the second half and put some good pressure on Westbury, forcing them to rush their passes. This is when the experience on the bench shone through, with shouts of ‘relax’ and ‘settle down,’ plus with the added bonus of having a player/manager on the pitch, Westbury soon regained control of the match.
On 65 minutes there was a Westbury clearance that looked like it was going out for a throw, but Dan Kovacs was on hand to keep it in. After controlling the ball Kovacs played it to Ricky Hulbert, who fed it into Demkiv who had managed to get goalside of his marker by the time he received the ball. He took a couple of touches into the penalty area and applied a smart finish to make it 2-0.
Francois Allen had only been on the pitch for two minutes but got involved on the 69 minute mark. Pinder carried the ball from deep and passed to Allen, Allen drove forward and passed to Demkiv who was flying down the left channel, Demkiv dragged his shot but fortunately Ricky Hulbert was arriving at the far post, he was closely marked so still had plenty to do, he lifted his one touch over the sliding defender and into the net to make it 3-0.
The final goal came on the 90-minute mark; Westbury won a corner, Kirkpatrick delivered to the near post, Waleed Bakali lost his marker and applied an unstoppable header.
An amazing first away day for Westbury.
Team: Ed Baldy, Sayeed Ibrahim, Ian Jeffery, Jordan Pinder, Grant Gunning, Steve Hulbert (C), Jamie Jordan, Joe Kirkpatrick, Ricky Hulbert, Dan Kovacs, Callum Demkiv. Subs, Francois Allen, Joe Stradling, Waleed Bakali (used) Lewis Porter (unused). MOTM-Joe Kirkpatrick.
