Saturday 12th September. Toolstation League Premier Division Westbury United 1 Odd Down 0
A VERY turgid, stop/start match at Meadow Lane was won by a goal from captain Dan Price with a header from Jamie Jordan’s corner on 24 minutes. Westbury now have 7 points from their opening 3 league matches.
A series of injuries and a number of fouls led to a lack of free-flowing play, to the frustration of everyone in the ground.
Ben Griffiths, Joe Stradling and Jake Hutchings all had weak attempts while Odd Down were met by a brick wall in Price and Scott Gregory; this defensive pairing and goalkeeper Mark Bowden have only conceded once in the 3 matches.
The deadlock was broken midway through the half, with Price’s second headed goal in consecutive games.
The rest of the half continued in the same vein with no chances of note and relief at the half time whistle.
Visiting keeper Carl Crabtree made the first of a number of five saves soon after the break, parrying away a Demkiv drive then Price headed over from the resulting corner. Demkiv should have made it 2-0 but he opted to control the ball rather than head when well placed. Crabtree then excelled to turn a Hutchings free kick over the bar.
Around the hour, Odd Down had their best spell of the match. Several set pieces were strongly defended, then Lewis White somehow headed over the bar when well placed to finish.
Westbury played the best football of the afternoon in the closing stages. Crabtree kept his side in the game with a series of fine stops to deny Mark Robinson, Price and Stradling twice. Price crashed a header against the crossbar late in the game.
*STAR MAN ; Dan Price. TEAM ; Mark Bowden, Jamie Gregory, Jake Hutchings, Scott Gregory, Dan Price, Jordan Pinder, Ben Griffiths, Will Thomson, Jamie Jordan, Joe Stradling, Callum Demkiv. SUBS ; Mark Robinson, Ricky Hulbert, Steve Hulbert (used)
