Corsham Town 0-0 Westbury United – Toolstation Division One, Wed. 22nd January.

WESTBURY won 3-2 for the 2nd week in a row, and as with the victory over Welton Rovers they had to dig very deep to do so, and in the process brought up a 4th win in five games. 

On a day when many matches were postponed, United seemed to thrive on the Gloucestershire FA’s 3G all weather surface which is the home ground of Roman Glass.

On a showery afternoon the first half was action packed with United racing into a 2 goal lead by the 9th minute! The opening goal came on four minutes when a three on two counter attack saw Mark Young set up Wayne Wheeler who took a touch before firing an excellent low finish into the corner of the net. St George had a chance to draw level with Aaron Thorne cutting in from the left and shooting wide, but it was Wheeler who stole the show with a stunning dipping long range shot that flew past home keeper George Dempsey!

Again the hosts had a chance to score straight from the restart as Nathan Churchill forced Rob Brown to tip his 25 yard volley over the bar. The resulting corner was cleared and Westbury counter attacked through Wheeler who came within inches of an eight minute hattrick as his volley flew just wide! Roman Glass pulled a goal back on 20 when the impressive Omari Simms played the ball to Churchill whose cross found Paul Coles and his header found the back of the net despite a good touch by Brown.

United were shaken by the goal and St George drew level three minutes later; a superb passing move ended with Brown doing well to deny Coles but, after the ball was only partly cleared, it found its way back to Coles who netted his 2nd from close range to make it 2-2.

From that point on the rest of the match became littered with errors and poor play by both teams, and as a result chances were fewer and further between. Brown saved well to deny Coles his hattrick as did Dempsey to prevent Wheeler at the other end. Dempsey again did well against Wheeler soon after half time and at the other end Brown tipped a free kick by Jamie Johnson round his right hand post. With play becoming increasingly scrappy Wheeler tried the spectacular again but this time he only found the side netting.

Westbury were awarded a free kick on 70 and it was no surprise to see Wheeler step up for a similar kick as he scored the previous week; this time the ball took a deflection off a defender’s head and eluded Dempsey before nestling in the net to score the winning goal and Wheeler’s hattrick.

St George never really threatened to equalise again with United impressing defensively to continue their move up the table, only a flashing cross-shot by Churchill went close to the danger area.

*STAR MAN – Wayne Wheeler (Westbury United). TEAM – Rob Brown, Ally Bradley, Ryan Elliott, Matt Friendship, Nathan Hallett-Young, Marc Scammell, Simon Millard, Dan Hurkett, Joe Murray, Mark Young, Wayne Wheeler. SUBS – DJ Wheeler, Joe Moloney (used) Matty Bown (unused).