Gloucestershire County League

Bristol Telephones 5 Thornbury Town 0

THORNBURY Town had a day to forget at Stockwood, where Bristol Telephones proved too strong for the visitors.

However, the opening 20 minutes saw Thorns start brightly without any hint of what was to come.

In fact it was Telephones who were very much on the back foot and were grateful for their keeper pulling off some smart saves from Luke Franklin, Toby Bennett and Craig Lancastle in a good opening spell for Town.

Twenty minutes had passed before the hosts had their first meaningful attack, top scorer Dhani Golding shooting across the face of the goal.

However, five minutes later Telephones took the lead, Golding forcing his way through some ineffectual challenges to slot past Alex Lippiatt.

Thorns responded almost immediately, Bennett’s shot going just the wrong side of the post with the keeper beaten.

Ten minutes before the break Telephones doubled their lead when Golding netted his second after a mix-up in the Town defence.

In the dying seconds of the first half the hosts extended their lead further, Golding netting from the penalty spot having been brought down by Scott McLeod.

Thornbury started the second half as they had the first, taking the game to their hosts and looking for an early goal.

Despite a lot of pressure they were unable to carve out any clear chances.

Telephones were reduced to ten men following a head-butt by Jamie Sheppard on Franklin and Thorns started to make the advantage count, Bennett’s shot being headed away for a corner and Danny Thompson just being denied by the keeper.

The last ten minutes saw Telephones come back into the game with Mike Grist heading home a corner at the far post and Jack Fillingham netting despite Nathan Sage’s efforts to clear off the line.

Things almost got worse in stoppage time when Sage was harshly judged to have fouled Golding, but the striker blasted the spot kick over the bar.

Thorns will want to put this behind them when they travel to Southmead on Saturday, 3pm.