Premiership

Firebrands 3 Wotton-under-Edge 3

WOTTON-Under-Edge came up against a physical Firebrands team who put them on the back foot from the start.

The first 10 minutes was a case of soaking up the pressure and break on the counter attack, Firebrands created a few half chances and short corners which the defence dealt with, with ease.

Wotton scored the first goal when a quick flowing attack was brought out to the left of circle, and Richie Owen skilfully made his move into the circle and unleashed a powerful reverse past the keeper.

A mistake at the back by Wotton gave Firebrands a two-against-one opportunity, and a reverse stick shot from the top of the circle made its way into the bottom corner.

This lifted the opposition and a frantic few minutes brought a goal mouth scramble, which produced five consecutive saves from keeper, and player of the match, George Lampkin to keep the scores level.

Wotton finished the first half stronger and won a short corner when a low drag flick from Ryan Howarth was saved by the keeper, but George Cave was at hand to flick the ball over the keeper to score his first goal for Wotton.

The second half was end-to-end with both teams creating good chances, it was forward Owen who nearly made it 3-1 with another powerful reverse stick shot, which the keeper knew nothing about but unfortunately it hit the keeper and went past the post for a corner.

Again, Firebrands kept the Wotton defence busy, and they won a short corner sending Lampkin the wrong way and fired a shot into the right-hand corner, making it 2-2.

Not letting their heads drop, Wotton pushed for a third goal and after some quick thinking from player-coach Fairburn he took a quick free hit while Firebrands were still disputing the decision and fired the ball into the near post where David Holt deflected the ball past the helpless keeper, making it 3-2.

Unfortunately for Wotton, they couldn’t control the game in the last few minutes while Firebrands pushed players forward in search of an equaliser. A loose ball fell to a Firebrands player whose shot was deflected off a defender’s stick high into the net.

The game ended 3-3, which overall was a fair result, but Wotton was disappointed not to have seen the game out at 3-2.