Kevin Jones scoring a penalty on the stroke of half time to make it 2-2.
Saints Gav Williams in action.
The Saints came away from Ledbury with three points after a hard fought victory against a physical home side.
The Saints started the brighter of the two sides and were well on top in the opening fifteen minutes, Kevin Jones blasted a shot over the bar in the 12th minute after being put in by Gavin Williams. Jones opened the scoring in the 16th minute, strike partner Josh Wisniewski skipped by his marker and passed to him on the left, Jones skipped by the full back before calmly placing his shot past the diving keeper.
The Saints seemed to go to sleep after scoring and the homeside threw everything at them using their big centre forward to good affect by pinging long balls up to him at every opportunity, thanks to Ian Jones and some woeful finishing it stayed 0-1 until around the half hour mark, a cross from the left was finished well by a Ledbury striker for 1-1. More Ledbury pressure was to follow and again The Saints rode their luck with the post and Captain Chris Preece putting his body on the line to block a goal bound effort. The homeside finally went ahead in the 40th minute after another cross from the left was met with beaut of a volley to make it 2-1.
The Saints got back on top in the last five finutes of the half, Steve Goodwin was tackled around the neck, the linesman flagged for the penalty however the referee gave an indirect free kick in the box to the surprise of everyone in the ground. The resulting free kick was blocked but the ball went out wide and Wisnieski sent in a cross which was scrambled away but only as far as on the oncoming Wisniewski who was about to pull the trigger when he was taken out in the area this time the referee had no choice but point to the spot. Jones sent the keeper the wrong way for his second of the afternoon and to make the half time score 2-2 which manager Sean Hackett wouldn’t of been too unhappy with as The Saints hadn’t played that well and had use of the slope in the second half.
The Saints were well on top in the early exchanges of the second half, a Jones corner was scrambled away after some fumbling by the home keeper, two minutes later Jones slipped in Wisniewski whose shot just went over the bar. Hackett brought on Tom Weaver for Tom Wilkes for the last 20 minutes, Weaver had a big impact on the game and within a couple of minutes of coming on The Saints were awarded a free kick some 40 yards out, Ledbury had just changed keepers after an injury so the shout went up “test the keeper” which Mike Havard did hitting a low shot which was blocked poorly with his feet by the reserve stopper the ball falling to the feet of striker Jones who netted from close range for his hat trick amd more importantly putting The Saints 2-3 up.
In the 75th minuteWeaver was fouled out wide right , Steve Goodwin whipped in a the resulting free kick and it was that man Weaver who finished well to make it 2-4 to the visitors. The homeside tried to get back into the game, the closest they came to scoring was from a free kick some 25 yards out but Ian Jones tipped it around the post at full stretch. The Saints could of added to their total in the last few minutes, Wisnieswki getting on the end of a Jake Atkinson cross but his header was well saved then Weaver tried his luck with a 40 yard lob to no avail. ft 2-4.
I’ve seen us play better and lose, although saying that over the ninety minutes we deserved the three points, however we had a mad twenty minute spell where we panicked and gave two goals away.
A good start to the new campaign, manager Sean Hackett picked out Josh Davies as his man of the match, mine goes to the other Josh (Wisniewki) for his non stop work rate and link up play.
Team- Ian Jones, Sam Bradley(Stu Davies), Chris Preece(c), Josh Davies, Phil Davies, Gavin Williams, Mike Havard, Tom Wilkes(Tom Weaver), Steve Goodwin(Jake Atkinson), Kevin Jones, Josh Wisniewski.