United managed to pick up three points on the road last week at Paulton, courtesy of a winner by Dam Demkiv in the 30th minute. Man of the Match went to Bevan Cross and the win sees United climb to 16th place.
The previous week against Frome Town, the weather was mild, and the action was red hot in another Meadow Lane classic played in front of a crowd of 783!
Westbury pushed their promotion chasing local rivals all the way (taking a barely believable 2-0 lead into the break), and it took several top saves from the visiting ‘keeper then a tremendous late winner to send Frome to the top of the league.
Town had the first chance when Shaun Teale’s long ball eluded Jonny Hill, allowing James Ollis a shot at an empty net; however Aaron Cockerill raced back to clear it off the line. Hill saved well with his legs to deny Ollis, and then at the other end, Kyle Phillips made his first stop of the night when Ben Starr fired a low 25 yarder.
All that action had happened within the opening 12 minutes, then after a quieter spell, Ryan Bole played a clever corner to Harvey Flippance at the edge of the penalty area who finished crisply to make it 1-0 to Westbury on 25. A combination of Jonny Hill’s fist and the woodwork denied Frome an equaliser when Jon Davies swung in a corner.
The atmosphere stepped up a notch with an incident that saw Jasper Jones and Ollis cautioned. Whether this fired up Jones into doing something special is uncertain; however within a minute, he netted his third goal in two games with a stunning volley to double United’s lead.
It was all Frome straight after half-time, and they reduced the deficit when a long ball found Ollis whose header across goal found the unmarked Davies who couldn’t miss. The visitors piled on pressure for an extended period but could not force an equaliser; Hill made several catches from set pieces then Joseph Budd and Ollis had efforts blocked.
Into the closing stages and things really got going again when a Bole free kick was charged down, which led to Callum Demkiv having a run into the box where Phillips made a fine low save. Perhaps the most vital occurrence of the match came when Westbury’s Sean Keet was sent off for two quick cautions. Keet had marshalled the home defence and his absence seemed to create the space for Town to draw level through Samuel Meakes moments later.
Both sides went for a winner in a breathless last five minutes as Phillips made a superb diving save from Bole’s long-range strike. However, in the 95th minute, Frome were given a free kick and Davies produced a magnificent 25-yard curler into the top corner to send his side top of the league.
Star men: Kyle Phillips (Frome Town) and Jasper Jones (Westbury United).
Team: Jonny Hill, Jake Hutchings, Ryan Bole, Aaron Cockerill, Sean Keet, Dan Demkiv, Harvey Flippance, Callum Demkiv, Ben Starr, Jasper Jones, Dean Loxton. Subs: Emmanuel Adepitan, Ben Griffiths, Bevan Cross (used) Ashton Shanley, Ricky Hulbert (unused).
