Game 9: Bristol Telephones 0.3 Wincanton Town (Western 1) 04.11.2017
The first 2pm kickoff of the season and a long awaited visit to Stockwood Lane to see the latest promoted team in Western 1, Bristol Telephones. Alan and I drove past a number of Western League grounds to get there, also spotting Somerset League team Cutters Friday who play on a neighbouring pitch. After parking near the turnstiles we wandered up to the clubhouse to enjoy a warm pasty and a drink.
We were fortunate that it was sunny for most of the match with just a small drop of rain in the first half. For the first quarter of an hour Telephones dominated possession and it was largely one way traffic towards the Wincanton goal. There was a brief halt in proceedings as the referee pulled up with a muscle strain and couldn’t continue. One of the assistants had to take over in the middle so it was agreed that a Wincanton sub would run the line for the rest of the first half, replaced by a Telephones official for the second half.
Shortly after the restart, Telephones conceded a penalty when a Wincanton player was brought down on the edge of the area. The keeper guessed the right way and managed to push the low shot away. He wasn’t so lucky two minutes later as Wincanton took the ball down the side of the area, cut the ball back and a close range shot found the back of the net. Wincanton had a couple of good chances to extend their lead. The first chance saw a player seeing the Telephones keeper off his line and attempting a chip, only to see the ball go wide. The second chance saw an initial shot saved and the follow up shot towards an empty net blocked.
The second half saw two more Wincanton goals come from good passing and movement. Their second goal came seven minutes into the half when the ball was worked across the area to the far right for an oncoming player to thrash a shot past the keeper. The third came just before full time, a good run down the left wing saw the ball crossed into the middle. Two defenders had a chance to clear it but couldn’t stop the ball running to the back post where it was blasted past their keeper.
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