Bristol Churches League Division 1

Castle Green 6 Thornbury Baptist Church FC 2

THORNBURY Baptists lads may well have spent the remainder of their weekend trying to fathom out how they managed to lose this game 6-2. It was 1-1 on 44 minutes before an ill-judged header from Jimmy Cooke allowed Castle Green to break and take a crucial lead into the interval.

It was only 3-2 on 70 minutes when Dave Tushingham fired home at the far post to put the Baps back in it and yet they allowed Castle Green a fourth within seconds of the kick-off.

The result flattered the hosts slightly but there was no doubt they deserved the three points and Thornbury imploded in the last 20 minutes.

Green led on 25 minutes when a corner was flicked over Davis Newcombe in the Thornbury goal, but when a Phil Mansfield throw-in was flicked on by John Cordle, Ben Keen then knocked the ball into the feet of Jimmy Cooke and he fired low across the keeper into the far corner to level.

He might have had another when he headed wide from a James Hancox cross then forced a brilliant save out of the keeper having latched onto another Keen flick-on. Keen himself forced another good save and Dave Tushingham nearly scored from the resulting corner.

Yet despite the fair share of the pressure, Thornbury conceded a soft goal on the counter-attack just seconds before the half-time whistle and this was to prove all too costly.

Club Captain Nick tymko had been sidelined with injury and in the absence of Manager Chris Beddoes, he withheld changes at half time with the visitors very much in this game.

Even having conceded a third on 52 minutes, Thornbury continued to make chances as Cordle and Stu Kelly fired just wide.

Then it was a Hancox throw-in and a header from Cooke that saw the ball fall nicely for Tushingham to ram home Thornbury’s second.

It should have made for a thrilling finish but Castle Green were the sharper outfit and capitalised on every mistake with ruthless finishing in a last twenty minutes that saw them fire home three goals to nullify this as a contest.

Tymko introduced James Ponting and Aidan Maddox from the bench and continued to cause Castle Green problems but it was too little too late. Thornbury will have to bottle that disappointment and look to harness it when the two sides meet again on the last weekend of the season.