Bristol Churches FA Division One

Thornbury Baptist Church 5 City Church 3

THORNBURY Baptists collected three valuable league points at home against City Church but made hard work of the win on a heavy pitch and with the visitors pushing them all the way.

The hosts could have led on ten minutes when Ash Tuck latched onto a John Cordle pass and his attempt to chip the keeper only narrowly cleared the bar.

At the other end, Davis Newcombe was forced into two important saves low to his left, the second of which was a particularly good stop.

On 14 minutes, Tuck was set free down the right by James Hancox and he drilled a low cross that Jimmy Cooke met to tap home at the back post for a Thornbury lead.

The same duo then combined again for the second on 35 minutes but with roles reversed as Cooke fed a long pass for Tuck who beat his man for pace and finished coolly inside the near post.

Although it had flattered them over the first half hour, Thornbury were starting to look good for their lead, but City Church delivered a stinging blow on the stroke of half time when their centre forward let fly from fully 25-yards and the curling effort settled right in the top corner to halve the arrears.

The next goal was critical and it was no surprise to see the increasingly prolific Tuck score it.

After a James Ponting cross was headed against a defender by Hancox, a goalmouth scramble ensued and Tuck was sharpest to react and flick the ball into the net on 54 minutes.

Yet City Church kept coming and a neat move saw the ball squared to the same centre forward who again finished very smartly from just outside the box.

Thornbury manager Chris Beddoes was enjoying the luxury of rotating his central midfield quartet of Cordle, Cooke, Kelly and Nichols and he reintroduced Cooke on seventy minutes along with the arrival of Ben Keen up top.

Eight minutes later, Keen won the header from a Hancox throw-in and flicked the ball to Cooke who cut inside his man and fired straight at the keeper.

The rebound was favourable and he hammered home his second.

The City Church response was almost immediate, a header from a corner to leave the game ominously poised at 4-3 with ten minutes to play.

Tuck was not to be denied a hat-trick though.

He was fed a pass wide down the left by Nick Lockett-Chapman and unleashed an audacious effort that sailed delightfully into the far corner, finally securing the points for Thornbury.

The Baps’ next fixture is the Gloucestershire FA Intermediate Cup semi final when they will be pitting themselves against Bristol and District Division Two leaders Yate Athletic under lights at the Gloucestershire FA headquarters at Almondsbury next Wednesday with a 7.30pm kick off to the game.