Dan Moore’s 86th minute equaliser earned a good away point for Westbury on a glorious sunny afternoon at Portishead.
The result continued United’s fine run of form but to be honest this was a really poor encounter between two teams who constantly wasted possession. Chances were few and far between in the early stages although Westbury’s assistant manager Karl Freeman (deputising in goal for the unavailable Charlie Heydon), denied league top scorer Ollie Trevarthen, as did home keeper Fraser Meldrum, when Moore hit an effort from the edge of the box after being set up by Reece Mitten’s thrown in.
Town nearly opened the scoring on 21 minutes when Josh Ferguson lost the ball in midfield allowing Trevarthen to break through one on one, only for Freeman to do excellently to keep it 0-0. However Trevarthen was not to be denied much longer and a counter attack after a poor Westbury corner kick saw him race clear and finish confidently.
Portishead should have gone further ahead before the break but Kieron Marsden’s header clipped the crossbar and United were glad to get through to half time with just a single goal deficit. Soon after the restart Freeman did well to save again when Trevarthen shot from 20 yards then a fine cross by Callum Townsend found James Griffiths who headed wide.
Marc Scammell replaced the struggling Mike Coll and the visitors tightened up at the back while beginning to look a threat going forward. Although not creating any clear cut chances Shav Allen appeared to be pushed in the penalty area when looking to connect with a Ferguson set piece.
Freeman continued his fine performance with a good parry to prevent Louie Elliott doubling Town’s advantage and that seemed to spur United into attacking to get an equalising goal; Allen received the ball from Ferguson and lobbed just wide, James Hounsell tried a clever flick at another free kick but that also went off target before they drew level on 86; Ferguson chested the ball to Moore who lashed in his 11th goal of the season from just outside the box!
Westbury had to ride their luck in the closing stages as Trevarthen skewed an effort wide then thought he had grabbed a winner but it was correctly disallowed for offside.
*STAR MAN – Karl Freeman. TEAM – Karl Freeman, Jake Stephenson, Rhys Mitten, James Hounsell, Mike Coll, Matty Mantay, Tony McElhone, Josh Ferguson, Dan Moore, Shav Allen, Zayn Alime. SUBS – Marc Scammell, James Cox, Chris Gait (all used).
