Westbury picked up their first point of the 2014-2015 season with a good draw at Hengrove despite playing much of the 2nd half with 10 men.
Manager Adam Collington played in goal due to Alex Shaftoe’s injury and made several excellent saves while Matt Mead had a very good match in midfield.
Following the opening day 2-3 defeat against Welton, United started quickly, and after Collington had denied Luke Crewe at one end, Mark Young had a shot saved by Liam Macfarlane before receiving the ball from Jake Herd and giving the keeper no chance with a fine finish on five minutes to open the scoring. Much of the rest of the first half was a scrappy affair with Athletic going closest through Sam Thomas and Josh Penfold, although the visiting defence were never under much pressure. Then as things became tetchy DJ Wheeler was harshly booked just before the break, and it was another incident involving him that became part of an action packed start to the second half! The hosts equalised straight after the restart when Westbury gave away a free kick which wasn’t cleared and the ball fell to George Saunders inside the 6 yard box and he smashed it past Collington.
Undeterred, United went on the attack to regain their lead on 48 with an excellent pacy run and powerful low drive by Nathan Hallett. However the good work was undone just a few minutes later when Wheeler committed a late foul and saw red for a 2nd booking.
Playing with 10 men, Westbury sat deep but looked threatening on the break without creating any clear cut chances despite the work rate of Young, Mead, Hallett and substitutes Tom Blackman and Harry Page.
The hosts built up a period of pressure resulting in a foul by Kevin Shinn on Thomas with a penalty awarded which Kyle Shallcross scored to make it 2-2. Collington made a stunning point blank double save with 10 minutes remaining, and as the ball broke loose Penfold lofted his attempt over the bar, while with time running out Crewe tried his luck from long range but saw the ball clip the woodwork.
*STAR MAN – Matt Mead. TEAM – Adam Collington, Gary Tugwell, Jake Herd, Marc Scammell, Kevin Shinn, Adam Bishop, Grant Gunning, Matt Mead, Mark Young, DJ Wheeler, Nathan Hallett. SUBS – Tom Blackman, Harry Page (used)
FORTHCOMING HOME MATCHES
United will look to get back to positive results with two home matches in 4 days with the visit of Cheddar FC on Saturday 30 August (3pm kick off) before they host Calne Town on Tuesday 2 September (7.45pm).
