Five clean sheets in six

Sat 27th Nov. Hellenic Premier Division Thornbury Town 0 Westbury Utd 0

It was cold and it was windy for the match away at Thornbury Town, the pitch looked great really thick with grass but it was super soft after the rain through the week. 

Storm Arwen had hit the UK and even though it was dry, the cold and wind (I know it’s already been mentioned but words aren’t enough to express how cold and windy it was) made conditions difficult. 

The match got off to a slow start, both teams adjusting to the slow pitch, on 19 minutes Ashton Shanley swung in a corner which crashed off the bar. A minute later Callum Demkiv sent a low hard shot goalwards, the Thornbury keeper dived to his right to save but couldn’t hold on and the ball bobbled up and over him as he lay on the ground; Westbury players thought it was going in but it hit the post and the keeper was able to gain control. 

Demkiv was involved again moments later when he was brought down in the area and the referee awarded a penalty, Dan Kovacs stepped up and struck a good strike but the Thornbury keeper was equal to it, diving to his left to get a strong hand to the ball and push it wide to safety. 

Westbury dominated the closing stages on the first half with Shanley pulling the strings from centre midfield, Demkiv and Joe Stradling had good chances which were both saved. The sides went in level at 0-0 at half time. 

The wind dropped in the second half but so did the number of chances. Shanley was still dominant in midfield but both defences were on top to keep the attackers quiet. Overall Westbury looked like the stronger team and on another day probably would’ve scored one or two of their chances but it was Thornbury who went closest to nicking the three points in the last minute, a corner was swung in and met with a powerful header that went wide of the target. 

The 0-0 result means that Westbury make it 8 games unbeaten with 5 clean sheets in the last 6 games. 

Star Man: Ashton Shanley. Team: Bowden, S. Hulbert, Bole, Hutchings, Price (c), Griffiths, Shanley, Strad- ling, Demkiv, Kovacs, Biddiscombe. Subs: R. Hulbert, Cunningham, Timbrell Baldy, James (unused).