Westbury signed off their season with a draw against league runners-up Hengrove Athletic to finish 12th.
Hengrove arrived in Westbury with the chance to take the title away from Wellington; Wellington managed to win their match so it ended up out of Hengrove’s hands.
Westbury had a few first team regulars missing so Jordan Pinder moved back into defence, Mattie Mantay got his 36th appearance of the season and Martin Johnson returned to join George Bendle in attack. Westbury’s preparations were thrown into disarray when Leon Greenland turned up with a stomach bug, his starting place was taken by Joe Kirkpatrick.
The first half started with Westbury in good control of the match. The strong start came to fruition on the 14th minute when Jamie Jordan attacked down the left, his excellent delivery was defended well and resulted in a corner. Kirkpatrick delivered the corner so well that it reminded the crowd of David Beckham, Johnson pounced to score and make it 1-0 to Westbury.
They had another chance only five minutes later, another Kirkpatrick corner was sent in for Daniel Jordan to meet, his header was on target, but Hengrove managed to clear at the far post. Apart from when Ferris Lamrabet tried to knock the crowd’s pints off the wall, the first half didn’t have much more action. Westbury controlled and contained Hengrove.
The second half started with Westbury deservedly leading 1-0. On the 50th minute a Westbury free kick was delivered and the Hengrove keeper managed to beat Jake Stephenson to the ball with a punched clearance. It fell to Jordan whose shot was saved by the keeper’s foot. The resulting corner was again superbly delivered by Kirkpatrick onto the head of captain Jordan Pinder, unfortunately Pinder’s header went wide.
The sucker punch came on the 62nd minute; this time a Hengrove corner was delivered with good quality and Asa White was there to apply the finish taking his tally against Westbury to 5 goals this season.
The message filtered onto the pitch that Wellington were winning away to Radstock, which led to the game fizzling out, Hengrove more interested in the final whistle than the result.
It was a good final performance by Westbury and it shows that they have built a squad capable of competing with the best in the league. Hengrove stayed in Westbury for a few beers after the match, which displays the togetherness they have. We wish them luck for next season in the Western League Premier Division and we hope that Westbury carry on with the form and performances that they have finished the season with. Next season will be exciting in Westbury, we wish it could start tomorrow.
Team: Kierran Ramsey, Grant Gunning, Ferris Lamrabet, Mattie Mantay, Dan Jordan, Jordan Pinder, Joe Kirkpatrick, Jake Stephenson, Martin Johnson, George Bendle, Jamie Jordan. Subs: (unused) Leon Greenland, Stephen Fox, Otis Young.
Westbury Star Man: Jordan Pinder
