Westbury suffered an embarrassing defeat on a cold, showery evening in Bishop Sutton. The hosts had only managed 5 points all season before this match and, despite being 2nd from bottom themselves, United had 25 more points at kick off!
If the hosts keep their current batch of young players then they will surely do better if their Western League status is retained. United must also keep faith with their young players of whom Matty Mantay was again a class above the rest in midfield.
Mark Young was back in the visitors’ line up and it was he who led the line as Westbury dominated early on, forcing numerous corners, one of which led to James Hounsell nodding the ball over the line, but it was disallowed for offside. Joe Cavalla brought an excellent save out of Reece Joint and Marc Scammell had a header blocked on the line.
Sutton were dangerous in attack, with teenagers Cameron Mastromarino and Sam Downes both going close before the latter produced a fine finish to open the scoring on 24 minutes.
United levelled quickly when a lovely move between Reece Mitten, Zayn Alime and Cavalla led to the ball being played to Young and he fired a fine 20 yarder past Joint.
Slack defending cost Westbury again on 35 when Josh Dakwa cut in from the right wing and finished confidently to make it 2-1 at the break.
Conditions worsened during half-time and the play did likewise in a frantic second half, which saw United desperate to get back into the game while the hosts had chances to score a third.
Tony McElhone should have equalised straight after the restart but put the ball wide, as did Mastromarino at the other end. Excellent wing play by Lewis Sheppard set up Jack Dicker, but he was equally wasteful.
Having kept their deficit at just a single goal, the visitors forced Joint into several smart saves which denied Mike Coll, Young and the best save of all when Chris Gait’s header was tipped wide!
*STAR MAN – Matty Mantay. TEAM – Ben Forester, James Hounsell, Reece Mitten, Nathan Hallett-Young, Mike Coll, Marc Scammell, Tony McElhone, Matty Mantay, Mark Young, Zayn Alime, Joe Cavalla. SUBS – James Cox, Chris Gait (used) Adam Kenich, Karl Freeman (unused)
