Andrew Harris takes his side to Burghill this week where they face a side who gained promotion last season. They played Hampton Park(who the Res played last week) the week before last and got beaten 8-0. This doesn’t mean an awful lot and I am sure H will make sure there is no complacency. Team news to follow.
Directions to the ground are as follows. Take the Roman Road and turn left for Burghill at Beeches Park(just before the first set of lights). Go past the site of the old hospital. Do not turn to Burghill village at the next junction,keep left heading for the golf club. Just before the golf club there is a cross roads, turn right and the ground is on the right.
A good win for the reserves on a pitch that was unbelievably hard and bouncy, with a wind blowing down the pitch which didn’t help the flow of the game. The Saints were 1-0 up at half time thanks to a wonder strike from Tom Weaver and Mike Ward sealed 3 well deserved points in the last 10 minutes.
Burghill only had the bare 11 and were effectively down to 10 men after about 20 mminutes with one of their strikers limping through the rest of the game. None the less with the conditions the way they were this was a good performance from the lads.
Burghill started positively although without really testing the Saints defence. After about 20 minutes the Saints settled and started to play some nice football although the final ball often either went through to the keeper or, out for a goal kick. When they did get the ball round behind though they did look the more likely to score. Tom Wilkes on the left always looked dangerous and Wardy on the right linked up well a couple of times and got behind the defence. Wardy also tested the keeper who made a cracking save to push his effort round for a corner. It was looking like that although we were on top we were just not going to be able to get the break through. Step forward Tom Weaver. A free kick went to the Saints all of 35 yards out(Weavs reckons 45) and Weavs hit a screamer which caught the keeper by surprise as it flew over his head. A cracking strike and a deserved lead for the Saints ay half time.
Harry worked his magic at half time and we began the 2nd with a real positive attitude pushing the home side back from the start. Again when we got the ball down and played we were by far the better footballing side. Burghill worked hard and their striker was tireless and, you felt if they were going to break the deadlock then he was the one who was going to do it. Burghills keeper made another good save when Garry Keeble won the ball in midfield and then set Steve Jenkins free on the right. His right foot shot was well saved down to his right with the rebound eluding Gareth Jenkins. The Saints were beginning to have more of the ball now and began stretching the home defence on a number of occasions without troubling the keeper.
With 10 minutes to go Weavs got the ball on the left and he found Jenks on the right who cut across his defender. As the ball cut back Wardy was steaming in from the left and he buried the chance to seal the win. That wasn’t before however, Andrew Gilbert nearly opened his account with a great strike from 14 yards that crashed against the bar.
This was a good performance in conditions that were difficult.Darren Laurie was not really troubled in the Saints goal and the defence held firm all day with Stuart Davies very impressive in the 2nd half. In midfield Keeb and Weavs complimented each other well and Wilko on the left always looked a little bit classy. Up front was a difficult job today with the wind either blowing the ball away from you or holding up but, Jenks and Jacko Thomas worked hard all afternoon. All in all this was a good team performance with a deserved 3 popints. Well done lads.
Team: Darren Laurie,Alex Howard,Stuart Davies,Liam Pugh,Chris Bounds(Josh Powell),Mike Ward,Garry Keeble,Tom Weaver,Tom Wilkes(Steven Jenkins),Gareth Jenkins,Jacko Thomas(Andrew Gilbert).