The Whitehorsemen made the long journey to title favourites Plymouth Parkway and returned with a famous victory in a game that was a fantastic advert for Western league football.
United made three changes to the side that seven days earlier had beaten Willand Rovers, with 17 year-old Brandon Sawyer making his debut in goal and Ryan Baggs and Morgan Skipp taking their place in defence, replacing Skipper Steve Hulbert (holiday) and Ben Griffiths (injury).
The first half saw both sides play some attacking football with Parkway having the upper hand in possession, but with Westbury looking dangerous on the break. A couple of last ditch challenges from Parkway defenders prevented Callum Demkiv from getting a shot on goal whilst at the other end, when Parkway did break past the excellent back line of Westbury, Sawyer pulled off two very good saves to keep the game goal less. On thirty minutes Westbury lost Dan Kovacs to injury and Jamie Jordan replaced him.
The second half was a no holds barred contest which turned just after the hour mark when Sawyer made a stunning point blank save. You could sense this could be Westbury’s day and five minutes later the decisive goal was scored by Callum Demkiv after linking up well with Ricky Hulbert.
Parkway pressed hard to find an equaliser and when they finally did beat Sawyer, Jordan Pinder made a great goal line headed clearance. This drove the Whitehorsemen on and when the excellent Will Stead got on the ball with JJ, Strads and Fergie, Westbury carved open the Parkway defence four or five times, but they couldn’t finish off any of these chances, which left a nail-biting last few minutes.
But the small band of Westbury fans that made the long journey were rewarded with the final whistle being greeted with loud cheers.
A fantastic performance and result against a very good Parkway side, which sets up Westbury nicely for next week’s really tough FA Vase game at Saltash.
Star man: Brandon Sawyer. Line up: Brandon Sawyer, Ryan Baggs, Morgan Skipp, Will Stead, Jordan Pinder, Ian Jeffreys, Josh Ferguson, Joe Stradling, Ricky Hulbert, Dan Kovacs, Callum Demkiv. Subs: Jamie Jordan, Francoise Allen used. Waleed Bakali Joe Kirkpatrick not used.
