FA Cup Preliminary Round 21st August. Westbury United 0-2 Hamworthy United
Sometimes in football you have to hold up your hands and admit you were beaten by a better side.
This was the case at Meadow Lane (where the pitch was in perfect condition) as visitors Hamworthy from the Wessex League pretty much dominated from the first whistle to the last.
Home midfielder Steve Hulbert was walking a tightrope from very early on, spoken to for dissent then yellow carded for a foul within 2 minutes; he then got away with a few further fouls before sensibly being substituted at half time. However there was a poor show from the visiting team and management who barracked the referee to send off Hulbert on several occasions.
Hamworthy scored their opener on 9 minutes; Matty Neale’s set piece was punched clear by Mark Bowden to Jamie Beasley whose attempt was off target but within seconds they attacked again and Neale’s shot rebounded off a post for Jack Lovell to finish.
The closest the hosts came in the first half was when Francois Allen’s pacy run set up Ricky Hulbert to shoot into the side netting.
Hamworthy were comfortable in possession without finding openings to test Bowden until Max Buckler found the net from 20 yards to make it 0-2 on 36.
Westbury made a double change at the break and seemed to be settling well when Jake Hutchings and Ricky Hulbert combined to set up Callum Demkiv but he was unable to get a shot away.
From there on the match petered out, Hamworthy were happy to sit on their lead and were untroubled by the home side, even Ryan Bole’s usually effective set pieces failed to create a meaningful chance although one free kick from wide on the right flew inches wide with no attacker able to connect either.
Bowden made an excellent save from Lovell then Dan Price managed to block Eddie Hodge’s rebound. Right at the end Dan Price headed wide from a Bole cross but it wasn’t to be for Westbury.
Report by Andy Bown
Hellenic Premier League – 18th August
Calne 1
Westbury United 2
It was one of those summer evenings which turned out to be colder than expected as soon as the sun went down and the White Horse Men needed to keep cool heads to take all three points.
Jones and Price returned after being unavailable on Saturday and went straight into the starting eleven. Josh Ferguson, injured on Saturday, Dan Jordan and Ed Baldy long term injured meant Westbury’s small squad was stretched and the managers chose not to risk starting Ricky Hulbert or Sammy Jordan who were also carrying knocks. Steve Hulbert was assessed fit to start in the warm up even though he was carrying a heavy bruising after a knock on Saturday and a few other players had to be strapped up.
Westbury were the stronger team for the first half an hour, Ryan Bole hit the cross bar from a Dan King free kick swung in from the wide left. King then got himself on the scoresheet after some great work by Stradling down the right to skip past three Calne defenders and slalom his way into the box; he passed it towards Biddiscombe, his control fell nicely for King to finish right footed from 12 yards out into the roof of the net to make it 1-0 to Westbury.
The goal sparked Calne into life and four minutes later the ball was in the Westbury net but was ruled offside by the assistant referee. Just before the 40 minute mark Westbury added King to their long injury list, he had to come off with a pulled hamstring and was replaced by Francois Allen.
There was a strong long range effort from Steve Hulbert which forced a good save and a scuffed shot from Ben Griffiths that trickled into the goalkeeper’s hands plus a great save by Mark Bowden before half time to make it Calne 0-1 Westbury at halftime.
Calne came out the stronger and even though Steve Hulbert had a good header cleared off the line from a Biddiscombe corner and Stradling forced a good save from an Allen back heel, Calne drew level with a deserved goal around about the 70 minute mark. Some good work down the Calne right opened up the Westbury defence and Walters was on hand to apply a powerful dipping shot over Bowden and into the net to make it 1-1.
The goal gave Calne a boost and they continued to dominate, the magnificent Steve Hulbert was everywhere winning tackles, driving forward and demanding more from his teammates. Jones was replaced by Gregory around the 75 minute mark to add another player to the injury list.
Calne’s Russell was given a straight red card on 80 minutes after a strong challenge on Biddiscombe who was injured by the challenge and had to be replaced by Ricky Hulbert for the last ten minutes. Ricky was instrumental in the winning goal, riding several challenges to keep possession and setting up Allen to slam one home from just inside the penalty area.
The seconds ticked away and Calne didn’t have any time to respond, Westbury took the three points with a real smash and grab, Calne looked the stronger team for long periods but skipper Price and midfielder Steve Hulbert refused to be beaten and urged their team to victory.
Westbury: 1. Bowden, 2. Hutchings, 3. Bole, 4. Jones, 5. Price(c), 6. King, 7. Griffiths, 8. S. Hulbert, 10. Demkiv, 11. Stradling, 20. Biddiscombe. Subs: Allen, Gregory, R. Hulbert (used) S .Jordan, T. Thomson (not used)
Report by Steve Hulbert
