It was the first cold wet day of the season, but the weather did not dampen Westbury’s spirits as they made the short journey to Odd Down. Some would say that Westbury have been a second half team of late, but they firmly squashed that stat.
The first 15 minutes was pretty much all Westbury. Ian Jeffery forced a good save from Dan O’Brien in the Odd Down goal, and Callum Demkiv and Steve Hulbert saw good opportunities miss the target. Steve’s was a volley from a corner that he lifted over the bar and Demkiv saw his header go wide after some good work by Joe Stradling down the right wing.
It took until the 30-minute mark for in-form Demkiv to open the scoring with a well-struck shot from inside the area after another fine free kick from Jeffery was parried by O’Brien. Jamie Jordan was lining up a shot, but Steve Hulbert stepped in to drag his shot to the feet of Demkiv who (as usual) smashed the ball into the net.
On 38 minutes Westbury made two with a goal that will be etched into the memory of everyone who was there. Gareth Evans who had only signed 48 hours previously to return to Westbury after a few years away, to cover for the injured Ed Baldy and unavailable Lewis Porter, had the ball in his hands and sent a long high kick down the field. The Odd Down defence let the ball bounce, much to the displeasure of his opposite number O’Brien, who watched the ball bounce over his head and into the net.
Five minutes later Stradling got in on the act. He cut in from the left wing and sent a sumptuous curling shot looping over O’Brien. The small crowd had just witnessed two of the most memorable goals you’ll see all season – within the space of five minutes! Westbury were well worth their three-nil lead at half time.
The horrible weather and the comfort of a three-nil lead led to a relaxed performance by Westbury. Odd Down, with their tough tackling started to grow into the game and cause a threat. Jordan Pinder and Steve Hulbert, in the heart of the Westbury defence, were more than a match for anything that Odd Down threw at them until the 70th minute mark, when an Odd Down set piece ended up in the Westbury net.
This sparked Dan Kovacs, who had come on for the excellent Demkiv, who showed no signs of the illness that he’d been suffering from. Kovacs finally got his breakthrough in the 87th minute when he was brought down inside the area and won a penalty. Kovacs stepped up and, as usual, coolly slotted his penalty home to make it 4-1 to Westbury and give Westbury another well earned three points to make it 6 from 6 in the Toolstation Western Premier League and take their unbeaten league run to 29 games.
Roll on Saturday 29th when one of the league big guns arrives at The Westbury Park Engineering stadium to see if they can halt Westbury’s amazing run
TEAM: Gareth Evans, Ryan Baggs, Ian Jeffery, Will Stead, Jordan Pinder, Steve Hulbert ©, Jamie Jordan, Ben Griffiths, Ricky Hulbert, Callum Demkiv, Joe Stradling. Subs: Morgan Skipp, Dan Kovacs, Francois Allen (used) Sayeed Ibrahim, Joe Kirkpatrick (unused). MOTM-Jordan Pinder.
