A cold wind blew through Meadow Lane as Calne Town came to visit and they left with all three points, also taking Westbury’s unbeaten home record with them.
Westbury had a good start to the game and after five minutes, Ricky Hulbert had drifted out to the left-hand side of the box to deliver a cross to the back post. Josh Ferguson arrived from the right wing to get a shot on target, which the keeper managed to tip onto the post.
Calne had a good chance on the 11 minute mark; an in-swinging free kick from the left evaded the head of Westbury Captain Dan Price, the striker behind Price managed to meet it though, but only managed to head it against the bar and watch it bounce over. There was a lovely passage of play from Westbury in the 17th minute which involved Ricky Hulbert, Dan Jordan, Josh Ferguson, Mark Robinson and ended with Steve Hulbert, who had just drifted offside, so did not get the chance to test the goal keeper.
Calne were hungry and winning a lot of the 50:50s but when Westbury did get the ball, they were having some good passages of patient play. But the best chance of the first half probably went to Calne’s No.8, when he found himself free inside the 6 yard box. The ball had been delivered from the right and he opted to take a touch instead of striking it goalwards first time. With Westbury goalkeeper, Lewis Porter, and the Westbury defence bearing down on him, he could only manage to slice the bouncing ball over the bar. Half time was nil nil and both teams would have felt that they had had opportunities to take the lead.
Westbury came out in the second half and immediately tried to get on the front foot. Ferguson picked up the ball and driving forward, he passed the ball to Mark Robinson who took a touch, but could only manage to place his shot wide of the post. On the hour mark the Westbury bench decided to make a double change, introducing Jordan Pinder, who was returning from a ban and Dan Kovacs who had been away on holiday. Before the subs had had chance to get into the game, Westbury were down to ten men.
Ferguson was driving forward from his own half, his touch was slightly heavy, so he slid in to try and win the ball Even though his foot was low, the referee judged that the fact that his studs were showing it was a dangerous tackle and issued him a straight red card. After the sending off the game turned a bit frantic, both teams counter-attacking, but neither really putting a meaningful shout on target.
The closest Westbury came was when the two subs combined. Pinder delivered from the left towards Kovacs but he wasn’t quite tall enough to beat the keeper. The Calne goal came in the 80th minute; a powerful shot was blocked by the sliding Matt Jones, but the rebounding ball fell to Calne attacker, Stuart Windsor, who finished well to make it 1-0.
Westbury nearly got back in it two minutes later, a Jamie Jordan free kick was headed back across the goal by Matt Jones. a defender managed to get it clear, but it fell to the feet of Price, who patiently waited for the ball to come down and smashed it goalwards, but the crowd of bodies between him and the goal meant that there was no way through.
Star Man: Matt Jones
