United in ninth spot after away day defeat

Sat. 30th November. Toolstation Prem. Div. Clevedon Town 2 Westbury 0

Clevedon Town continued their excellent form and extended their Toolstation Premier Division unbeaten run to six games, as a solid 2-0 win against Westbury lifted them to 4th in the table.

The defeat left United innint place with 24 points from 16 games.

Clevedon were the quickest team out of the box with George King and Zach Drew forcing a couple of good saves from Westbury shot stopper Ed Baldy. It took until the 15th for Westbury to create their first chance. Callum Demkiv broke down the left and crossed to the edge of the box to Jamie Jordan, but Jordan couldn’t get his shot on target. 

Clevedon continued to stay on top and pounced on a Westbury defensive mistake, fortunately the shot was sliced high and wide. Everyone thought that Clevedon were going to take the lead in the 21st minute when Jay Murray unleashed a 30-yard thunder bolt which Ed Baldy could only stand and watch as it flew over his head and crashed against the outside of the post. On the half hour mark, Dan Kovacs pounced on a loose ball but couldn’t get his shot on target. Westbury’s three strikers linked up on 43 minutes; Kovacs passed to Hulbert for him to cross from the left to Demkiv, whose shot was straight at the Clevedon keeper.  The teams went in at halftime with the score still at 0-0, Lucas Vowles would be wondering how he hadn’t scored, especially with his chance on the 38 minute mark.

Westbury were the first team in action in the second half, with a Henley cross to Stradling, who was arriving at the far post, Stradling could only manage to direct his header into the side netting. Vowles was cursing his luck again soon afterwards when a rebounded shot fell to his feet, but he could only manage to drive the ball over the bar. 

Westbury’s best chance came on the 55 minute mark. A Ryan Bole corner was flicked goal wards but was cleared off the line by the Clevedon defender. Clevedon got their reward on the 60-minute mark when a cross came in from the left for Morgan Williams to head home. They doubled their score ten minutes later; Vowles somehow beat three players and passed the ball past the helpless Baldy.

A well-deserved three points for a strong Clevedon team.

Star Man: Ricky Hulbert. Team: Ed Baldy, Jason Henley, Ryan Bole, Will Thomson, Jordan Pinder, Dan Jordan©, Joe Stradling, Jamie Jordan, Ricky Hulbert, Dan Kovacs, Callum Demkiv. Subs: Lee Salter, Sam Jordan (used) Matt Jones, Luke Smith, Lewis Porter (unused)

League table – see page 30; more United news on page 29.