The Saints had a good workout tonight against a strong Hinton side who had several players in from other clubs hoping to sign them.
The Saints started much the stronger and had the home team on the back foot from the off and within five minutes were 1 up after some slick passing between Josh Wisniewski and Kevin Jones which set up the advancing Rob Snedden who scored from 16 yards out. The next goal came around the 15 minute mark when Kevin Jones turned in the box and finished with his right foot. Jones was then set up down the right by the hard working Sam Powell, Jones sent in a deep cross for Ben Bevan who hit it first time to make it 3-0 to the Saints. Hinton came more into the game after this and made a couple of substitutions which caused problems and after a loose pass in the middle of the park a Hinton player broke through and hit a superb shot past keeper Kirkham to make it 3-1 going into the break.
The Saints made 6 changes at half-time but were on top from the kick off with youngster Johnny Daw going close on his senior debut. Kirkham had to be alert to make a good save from a long range effort from Matt Aubery. Hinton did score another goal but it should never have stood after the most blatant handball from their striker to tap the ball past Kirkham, the only person who didn’t see it on the night was the referee. This gave the homeside a bit of a lift but the Saints finished the stronger and got the win they deserved after a solid performance all around.
There were a lot of good performances tonight against a quality opposistion but my man of the match goes to Phil Davies who never put a foot wrong all game.
Team-B.Kirkham, J.Davies, M.Havard, P.Davies, B.Bevan, R.Jones, C.Preece(c), R.Snedden, S.Powell, K.Jones, J.Wisniewski. Replacements-J.Daw, C.Ward, J.Maygothling, G.Williams, S.Maygothling, Z.Snape.
Many thanks to Gareth Davies who helped with the coaching tonight.