The Saints continued their pre-season with a trip to Bow Street which resulted in a match featuring goals galore at either end. Hay were missing a host of first-team players which allowed a number of fringe players and youngsters the opportunity to impress. The match was played as three half hours on a decent playing surface.
The home side took the lead early in the first-half when a corner was crossed into the six yard box and an instinctive acrobatic effort beat Stephen Price in the Saints’ goal. Hay were soon on level terms when a defensive mistake from the home ‘keeper saw Will Goodwin snatch the ball and sweep it home into an empty net. Dubious penalty decisions were the talking points of the game as firstly Josh Wisniewski won a spot-kick for a foul after the ‘keeper had cleared the ball. The striker picked himself up to send the ‘keeper the wrong way and put Hay in front. At the other end, a penalty was awarded for Bow Street and again, a soft penalty was awarded for holding. Price got close to the spot-kick but it was right in the corner and made the scores 2-2. A sloppy back-pass left the ‘keeper scrambling to keep the ball in and in doing so, presented Kevin Goodwin with the opportunity to score from an acute angle which he took.
In the second-third, there were yet another dubious penalty decision when Chris Preece was adjudged to have handballed despite it being a sure case of ball to hand. Again the penalty was converted for Bow Street levelling the scores up. Bow Street scored two more in quick succession to ensure a comfortable lead but a superbly worked goal at the other end involving Wisniewski and Tom Wilkes eventually led to the young winger powering a left-foot shot past the ‘keeper.
The final third saw yet more goals as Bow Street added two more goals to make the score 7-4 but Hay came back strong in the final minutes of the game, scoring two of their own. Firstly, an excellent through ball by Tom Weaver let Wisniewski in on goal but his right-foot shot was stopped; luckily the ball fell nicely to W. Goodwin who tucked in the rebound. Soon after that goal, Hay scored their sixth of the afternoon with K. Goodwin nicking the ball off the defender before rounding the ‘keeper; the youngster seemed to be running in circles inside the box but eventually he got his head up to pick out Gary Keeble who scored from 3 yards out.
With so many first-team players missing, manager Chris Baynton had the chance to cast an eye over a number of players who were out to impress. Hay played the better football out of the two teams with some nice two touch football on the ground, although Bow Street looked a useful outfit at this level. The hosts were at an advantage with a squad of over 20 players whilst Hay had just 13 players for the encounter. Next up for the Saints is the visit of Westfields to Forest Road on Tuesday evening.
Hay: S. Price, J. Davies, C. Preece, L. Pugh, Z. Snape, W. Goodwin, G. Keeble, T. Weaver, S. Goodwin, K. Goodwin, J. Wisniewski.
Subs: T. Wilkes, J. Howard.