Bristol Churches FA Division One

Thornbury Baptist Church FC 2 The Sanctuary 5

THORNBURY Baptists succumbed to a second consecutive heavy league defeat on Saturday at the hands of The Sanctuary.

Despite the obvious distraction of Monday’s GFA Cup final, there was no excuse for this first-half performance, which was lacklustre at best.

Thornbury were under pressure early and the loss of James Hancox to a groin injury within the first five minutes rather set the tone for the match.

That said, Thornbury did manage to take the lead, playing with a huge wind advantage in the first half.

Stuart Kelly found Jimmy Cooke in the box and his shot was well saved by the keeper, but it fell to Ash Tuck who fired home the first goal.

Thereafter, it was one-way traffic and the visitors looked set to take a 3-1 lead into half-time, until Thornbury put together a lovely move down the left with Steve Clare and Jimmy Cooke exchanging passes before Stu Kelly found Tuck. He squared perfectly for Steve Clare to complete his break from left back and tap home for 3-2.

Manager Chris Beddoes dished out a proverbial ‘teacup throwing’ at the break but Thornbury were not much better in a second half that saw the visitors’ striker Mike Lee complete a smart hat-trick.

The 5-2 scoreline was a fair reflection and Thornbury will want to forget this game.