Bristol Churches FA Division One

Widcombe Wanderers 3 Thornbury Baptist Church FC 5

THE fixture between Thornbury Baptists and Widcombe has a long tradition of high-scoring results and Saturday morning at Bath University proved to be no exception as Thornbury rallied in the second half to turn a 2-1 half-time deficit into a deserved 5-3 victory.

Thornbury started the game well and lone-striker Aidan Maddox fired the first effort on goal just wide of the near upright.

Widcombe were to strike first though, when they quickly countered a poor free-kick from Jimmy Cooke and a last-ditch tackle from Sam Downes forced the referee to point to the spot, from which the Wanderers centre-half slammed home his penalty despite a hand from keeper Davis Newcombe.

Against the run of play, it was 2-0 on the half hour as Widcombe again picked off the visitors with a quick counter attack.

At the other end, Stu Kelly had already been denied by two remarkable blocks on the line, but when he picked up a pass from Sam Nichols and let fly from 20 yards, the keeper had no chance as the ball rifled in off the bottom of the crossbar.

On 64 minutes, Ash Tuck, who was introduced from the bench at half-time, broke free through the middle and fed Cooke arriving from the left flank who fired inside the near post with his right foot for the equaliser.

On 77 minutes, a Lloyd Williams free kick was bundled on by the midriff of Nic Tymko and Rich Ocone reacted first to hammer the Baps into a 3-2 lead.

By this point, Thornbury were rampant and fitness was beginning to tell. Cooke had a second on 85mins when he jinked inside his man and fired low and hard into the far corner from just outside the box and then Tuck completed a superb solo run to slide the ball past the keeper at the near post on 87mins.

Unfortunately, Thornbury allowed their hosts a scrappy late consolation.