Westbury Utd 2 – 3 Welton Rovers – Toolstation Division One, Sat. 9th Aug

WESTBURY United were made to pay for a poor start as they began the season with a home defeat. 

The game started just as a heavy rain shower soaked the playing surface and within a couple of minutes of the start Westbury’s Matt Mead was booked following an altercation with Anthony Conradi. Welton were pressing early on and took the lead after six minutes. A free kick from Dan Cottle on the right was met by Welton captain Chris Peck on a charge and his bullet header saw the ball fly into the Westbury net to score an excellent goal.

The home sides first real attack of the game saw an effort from Mark Young saved by Andy King and a couple of minutes later Youngs shot from the edge of the area flew inches over the Welton bar as the half ended 1-0 to the visitors.

Westbury equalised in bizarre fashion in the 60th minute. A backpass to King saw the keeper dribble the ball out of area, he was immediately closed down by Young, King hurriedly kicked the ball, it struck Young who calmly slotted the ball into the empty Welton net.

Ten minutes later Welton retook the lead when a deep free kick from Cottle struck a Westbury defender and fell to Jones and he headed home from close range to score his first goal for Welton. Minutes later Westbury equalised when a great run from Mead saw him shake off Welton tackles to fire in a shot that kept low and flew into the far corner of the net.

Both sides went all out for the all important third goal. With four minutes remaining a superb run down the right by Harris saw him beat his man and then deliver a pin point cross that was met by Reynolds, who made no mistake this time.

Speaking to the White Horse News after the game Westbury’s new manager Adam Collington said, “We are disappointed to start with a defeat as that’s obviously not ideal and we paid the price for a slow start to the game. But, we were excellent in the second half and deserved a point in my opinion so we remain positive and will take it into the next game where we would like to build on the strong second-half showing.

“Once we cut out the individual mistakes and start to take our chances we will be fine. We are  a better side than what we showed on Saturday and will do all we can to start winning games.”