Saturday 15th Jan. Hellenic League Premier Division. Westbury United 3 Hallen 3
A CHAOTIC afternoon at Meadow Lane where both teams could have won, neither deserved to win, the draw was a fair result and the officiating was, shall I say, questionable!
As far as action was concerned there wasn’t much in the 1st half however Westbury opened up a 2-0 lead.
It was Hallen who had the earliest chance though, Jordan Ricketts shot powerfully and was denied by Mark Bowden’s strong palm.
United opened the scoring on 12 minutes, the ball was worked from left to right after a throw in and Callum Demkiv took a touch, turned, and finished confidently with his left foot.
There was a lengthy quiet period of play which contained several odd refereeing decisions against both sides. Visiting keeper Harry Thomas-Barker had a busy five minutes as he saved from Sam Jordan and Ashton Shanley as well as just about denying Harvey Flippance when the striker charged down an attempted clearance.
Jordan doubled the host’s lead on 40 minutes; a set piece was played to Demkiv who passed to Jordan and he, like Demkiv earlier, turned and finished excellently with his left foot.
Flippance had a great chance to make it 3-0 but he rifled over when well placed.
Westbury were forced into a goalkeeping change at half time with Ed Baldy replacing the injured Bowden.
Hallen were a completely different side after the break and belied their league position to force their way back into the match. Ricketts latched onto Trey Anderson’s ball and produced a lovely lobbed finish on 53 minutes to reduce their arrears then, following an inexplicable handball given against Ronnie Frost (who had his back to where the ball came from!!) Ben Jones struck a perfect free kick into the top corner to equalise on 56.
United shook off their disappointment and got back on top; Frost’s free kick wasn’t cleared, and Ben Griffiths shot wide, Dan Kovacs set up Demkiv who forced Thomas-Barker into a fine save and then on 76 minutes, Shanley played an accurate long ball to Flippance whose effort was blocked but the ball fell to Demkiv who made no mistake.
Shanley’s corner was met by Dan Price whose powerful header was cleared off the line and this proved vital as Hallen drew level again a minute later when Jones’ free kick fell to Ricketts who produced another great finish.
At 3-3 it was anybody’s game but United were unlucky as they struck the woodwork for the umpteenth time this season through Jake Hutchings’ fine free kick.
There was mayhem in the closing stages, somehow the referee allowed Westbury to play on despite his assistant being out of position noting a Hallen substitution. Goodness knows what would have happened had Ricky Hulbert found the net rather than missing the target.
Demkiv blotted his fine all action performance with a late 2nd yellow card seeing him sent off and the match ended 3-3.
Star man; Callum Demkiv. Team; Mark Bowden, Ben Griffiths, Steve Hulbert, Ronnie Frost, Jake Hutchings, Dan Price, Ashton Shanley, Will Thomson, Sam Jordan, Callum Demkiv, Harvey Flippance. Sub; Ed Baldy, Dan Kovacs, Ricky Hulbert (used) Kurt James, Josh Timbrell (unused)
Report by Andy Meaden
