Tuesday 31st October. Wiltshire Premier Shield. Corsham Town FC 1 Westbury United 1 (Westbury United won 4-3 on penalties)
WESTBURY went to Corsham in the first match of the defence of their Wiltshire Premier Shield on a very wet Tuesday night.
Westbury started very brightly with early efforts on goal and should have been awarded a penalty in the first minute but with the quality of the line marking struggling in the adverse weather the referee awarded a free kick on the edge, a similar decision went in Westbury’s favour second half when a similar decision should have resulted in a Corsham penalty.
For the first 45 minutes Westbury kept Corsham at arm’s length and continued to probe with rewards on 26 minutes when Jasper Jones opened the scoring against his former club, much to his delight it must be said. Westbury were good value for their 1-0 half time lead.
The second half was a completely different affair, Corsham managed to stamp their authority on proceedings and created opportunities whilst preventing Westbury playing any real football. Corsham equalised on 75 minutes through Owen Humphries and continued to search for a winner with a couple of half chances, however by this point the weather was making playing conditions very hard going and the players were showing the effects of a now heavy pitch.
With the score 1-1 at 90 minutes the match went straight to penalties and it was left to goalkeeper Jonny Hill to be the hero and save the fourth and fifth penalties from Corsham. And with Westbury converting all four of their penalties, they clinched a 4-3 penalty shoot-out victory to earn a place in the next round.
Man of the Match – Bevan Cross
