BCFA Division 1

Thornbury Baptist Church FC 3-4 Widcombe Wanderers

THORNBURY Baptists stuttered to another disappointing home defeat on Saturday and on reflection will accept they didn’t deserve anything from this one.

An unfortunate habit of conceding sloppy early goals persisted and they were 1-0 down within 3 minutes as Widcombe broke swiftly down the right flank.

Sloppy defending was to be a theme for the first half as Widcombe then switched off on 10 minutes to allow Jimmy Cooke a free-header to equalise from a James Hancox throw-in.

Cooke then got the chance for a second from the penalty spot after John Cordle was fouled just inside the box and the midfield man found the bottom right corner.

Both Hancox and Cordle will feel they could have done better with opportunities in front of goal and Will Jones made a couple of important saves at the other end, being required to be sharp off his line on a few occasions.

Chances were frequent as both sides struggled in inclement weather and a skiddy surface and the game turned again as the Thornbury defence was exposed twice more before the break.

Calamities continued to be shared fortunately for the hosts however, as a mis-hit Widcombe clearance rifled into a defender and ricocheted straight back into the unguarded net for an own goal to see the sides go in 3-3 at the end of an entertaining first half.

Both sides made changes and both seemed to gain some composure as the game developed but where Thornbury couldn’t manage to unlock the Widcombe defence, the visitors did seize the crucial advantage on 75 minutes when their talented centre-forward latched onto a loose pass and beat the defender before finishing coolly past Jones in the Baptist Church goal.

The scoreline was an exact reversal of the early season fixture in Bath but both sides will feel they have work to do yet to ensure they can steer clear of flirting with the relegation zone this season.