Wellington effectively won this match twice as Westbury’s second attempt at a comeback was too little too late on a very wet afternoon in Somerset.
In truth the hosts could have been out of sight by the break and fully deserved to win the points.
Wellington attacked from the off and caught United out with numerous balls played into the channels for their pacy forwards. Jack Taylor, Glen Wright and Scott Drayton had all gone close before Conor Bryant ran in unmarked to head the opening goal on 10 minutes.
Jordan Pinder came within inches of a spectacular equaliser a few minutes later but saw his 40 yard strike brilliantly parried onto the crossbar by Connor Sidley-Adams,
Wellington went straight back on the attack and after having an attempt fly just wide Taylor outpaced Matt Jones and set up Sam Towler who tapped in to make it 2-0.
Westbury were unable to take advantage of any half chance to shoot on the greasy surface and it was no surprise when Taylor nodded in his side’s 3rd goal after fine play by Luke Redrup.
United finally decided to try their luck and Sean Brereton received his reward when his skidding 20 yarder found the corner of the net just before half time at the end of a sustained spell of pressure.
With the rain still pouring down the visitors came out with a renewed push after the break and Matt Mantay’s excellent cross was headed onto the post by Martin Johnson. At the other end Ben Forester saved superbly from Wright’s well struck free kick before Jamie Jordan picked his spot with a lovely low shot to reduce Westbury’s arrears to 3-2 on 54.
Wellington survived a few scares that could have seen the scores levelled and managed to open up a 2 goal advantage on 66 when Taylor’s low cross found Redrup who applied a crisp finish. They quickly wrapped up the points with a fortunate 5th goal when Drayton’s 25 yarder rebounded off Forester’s left hand post before hitting the keeper and rolling over the line.
The game went into a quiet phase with the home side content to see it out and Westbury not able to mount another comeback.
However, the final 5 minutes saw United pour forward; Johnson forced a fine save out of Sidley-Adams, Nathan Hallett-Young had a header and a volley blocked on the line as well as seeing Sidley-Adams turn a 20 yard shot wide. Pinder bundled the ball in but it was disallowed for offside then, with time virtually up, Brereton’s pace carried him into space and he notched the final goal with a fine finish.
Star man: Sean Brereton. Team: Ben Forester, Jordan Pinder, Ian Groves, Dan Price, Matt Jones, Marc Scammell, Sean Brereton, Jake Stephenson, Martin Johnson, Jamie Jordan, Matty Mantay. Subs: James Hounsell, George Bendle, Nathan Hallett-Young (used) Karl Freeman (unused).
