WESTBURY travelled the long journey to be welcomed by Bishops Lydeard on Saturday 19th August; the pitch looked in good condition and the weather was fine.
The score doesn’t reflect the periods of dominance that Westbury had, but they didn’t manage to take their chances.
Before the match a quick interview was conducted with Neil Kirkpatrick, who was upbeat about his team’s chances of securing a win. He commented how Dan Kovacs had travelled with the squad but is still a bit sore with injury so he won’t be risked, but will be named on the bench just in case he’s needed.
A shuffle in the squad saw Martin Johnson, Adam Mercer and Grant Gunning called up from the reserves after some excellent performances in the Wiltshire Senior League. Liam Milburn, Conner McKay have gone to play for the reserves and Matt Jones was away, so wasn’t available. This meant a shuffle in defence; Jordan Pinder came in at right back, with Dan Jordan moving inside to partner the captain Dan Price in the centre of defence.
Bishops Lydeard set up with an attacking 4-3-3 formation and the extra man in the centre of midfield was giving Westbury something to think about early on. The first meaningful attack came from Lydeard; a ball over the head of Pinder was kept in by the left sided forward, he cut the ball back for one of the centre midfielders to run on to and strike a low shot, Lewis Porter in the Westbury goal shifted his feet well and made a good save.
Westbury were looking to counter-attack quickly at every opportunity. Jamie Jordan received the ball out wide left, Leon Greenland came flying past for the overlap which J.Jordan used superbly to disguise his move inside to drive forward and shoot. Westbury continued to get the ball forward quickly, with both full backs taking it in turn to join in high up the pitch. Amongst the good play J.Jordan picked up a yellow card for a trip on the halfway line to prevent a Lydeard break.
From the tenth till the twentieth minute, the game was quite flat. Westbury were trying to go a bit too direct which doesn’t really suit them, and Lydeard were trying to play but were starting to try a direct approach too. The breakthrough came after 28 minutes. Joe Kirkpatrick played a pass into the path of R.Hulbert, but he couldn’t see a clear path to goal, so played a pass out to the right. It looked a bit too far in front of Josh Ferguson, but he made up the ground and managed to cut the ball back to the man who had started the move, Kirkpatrick, to coolly finish and make it 1-0.
The next 15 to 20 minutes was some of the best football Westbury have played this season. They created chance after chance, and Steve Hulbert and Kirkpatrick started to dominate in the middle of the park. Whether it was intentional or not, the two wide men, J.Jordan and Ferguson, were playing a bit narrower, allowing the full backs to exploit the wide area and also helped to counter the extra man that Lydeard had in the middle of the pitch. There were shots that went wide from the energetic Mark Robinson and the goal scorer Kirkpatrick and a free kick into the side netting from Ferguson.
The Lydeard keeper picked up what looked like a calf injury in the 38th minute and was struggling for mobility and with his kicking, but that didn’t stop him from pulling off a series of excellent saves. Robinson pulled out to the left channel with the ball, he cut a pass back to S.Hulbert who powered a low drive which the keeper managed to stop with his feet, it fell to Ferguson whose shot was also saved by the keeper with his feet. The resulting corner was delivered; Dan Jordan managed to lose his marker but even though he kept face-butt down, it wasn’t on target.
The half somehow ended 1-0 to Westbury, with the supporters clapping the teams off for the break.
Westbury were shooting downhill for the second half. They continued in a similar vein to which they had finished the first, the ball moving through the thirds and creating chances. After 4 minutes a neat move from Porter into S.Hulbert, who had dropped deep to receive, was passed out wide right to Ferguson. He then played it through to R.Hulbert who had sped past the defenders, he drove into the box and smashed a shot high at the near post, the keeper reacted well and managed to tip the ball over the bar. His bravery was rewarded with a couple of dislocated fingers, he was determined to stay on, he popped the fingers back in himself and put his glove back on.
The game became end-to-end, with both teams creating chance, but neither managing to finish any. The game finished with Westbury trying to keep the ball in the corner to see out the last couple of minutes. There was a foul by S.Hulbert and as S.Hulbert and J.Jordan were moving away, Lydeard decided to take a quick free kick which J.Jordan stuck his foot out to block. He was given his marching orders by the referee for a second bookable offence.
The second half was as much about the organisation of the Westbury defence as it was about the attack. All four of the defensive lines were disciplined and working well together. The game was well balanced, both teams had their chances, but Westbury took one of theirs and managed to keep Lydeard out. The crowd again applauded the players after the final whistle. It was probably one of the most action-packed 1-0 games ever witnessed.
Westbury: Lewis Porter, Jordan Pinder, Leon Greenland, Steve Hulbert, Dan Price©, Dan Jordan, Jamie Jordan, Joe Kirkpatrick, Ricky Hulbert, Mark Robinson, Josh Ferguson. Subs: Martin Johnson, Adam Mercer, Grant Gunning (used) Dan Kovacs (unused). Star Man: Dan Jordan
