Hellenic League Supplementary Cup First Round

Thornbury Town......... 2

Virginia Water............ 1

Premier Division side Virginia Water, making the long trip from Surrey, were the visitors to the Mundy Fields on Saturday, but their journey was fruitless as Town progressed to the next round with an odd goal in three victory writes Malcolm Carr.

It was an entertaining game with Virginia Water playing some good football but lacking a cutting edge with Town’s defence coping with any threat their opponents created.

Thorns started brightly, and Harry Brock had a shot blocked by Chambers in the early moments of the game, but only five minutes had passed when Town took the lead. A fine move down the right saw Craig Lancastle lay off the ball to Luke Franklin who steered the ball into the net giving Jones in Water’s goal, no chance.

Five minutes later Harry Brock appeared to be brought down in the penalty area in full flight but the referee waved play on.

At this stage Thorns were controlling the game and the visitors were restricted to long range efforts which posed no problem for Kurtis Parkin.

Town nearly doubled their lead after 25 minutes when Nathan Sage’s effort from Marcus Wormwell’s corner was cleared off the line by Max

Samyint whilst moments later Jones denied Lancastle with a good save.

However Thorns didn’t have to wait much longer for the second goal, when a move down the left saw Harry Brock jink past the visitors defence and fire past Jones.

The visitors clawed their way back into the game in the 37th minute when they were awarded a free kick just outside the penalty area. Josh Hill’s set piece took a wicked deflection off the wall to wrong foot Parkin and reduce Town’s lead.

Five minutes later Hill almost equalised from another free-kick which seemed to be heading for the top corner of the net but Parkin got a hand to the ball and push it out for a corner.

The second half saw Thorns continue to control a lot of the game and Luke Franklin’s early effort went wide of the post whilst on the hour mark his run and cross into the six yard box saw Wormwell blaze the ball wide when it looked easier to score.

Play swung from end to end with neither side able to create any clear cut chances, although Thorns skipper Pete Fowler blocked another effort by Hill, whilst at the other end a great move led to a real goalmouth scramble with any of four Thorns players being denied.

As the visitors pushed forward in search of the goal that would take the game into extra time, Thorns were able to exploit the gaps at the back with

Dave Jones’ effort, after a jinking run, being blocked and then Wormwell’s shot was saved by Jones.

In the end, it was a good win for Town against Premier Division opposition and they now await the draw for the second round, but hoping for another home draw.

This Saturday Thorns are back in league action when Malmesbury Victoria are the visitors in a rearranged fixture, 3pm kick off at the Mundys.

Then on Tuesday 11th December they are at home again to AFC Aldermaston in the 2nd Round of the Floodlit Cup, kick off 7:45pm.

Thornbury are currently third in the league and have won seven of their eight league so far this season.

Their only defeat in the league came against leaders Cheltenham Saracens back in August.