Keynsham

Winterbourne U18s 4

WINTERBOURNE returned to the top of the table with a comprehensive victory at Krynsham, writes Simon Evans.

Both teams took a while to settle and it was the home team who had the better of the opening exchanges, but the visitors defence her firm.

Winterbourne slowly got to grips with the damp slippery surface and made a tactical change and this paid dividends and were soon creating several scoring opportunities through the pace of Will Lacey and Ben Davis in attack. Winterbourne were not to be denied however and took the lead through Ben Davis, who finished off a fine flowing move.

Winterbourne then had an opportunity to extend their lead when Lacey again outpaced the home defence only to be fouled by the home goalkeeper who brought him down inside the penalty box with a two-footed challenge. However, Winterbourne’s Sam Hopes penalty kick was saved and the rebound scrambled away.

Keynsham were struggling to contain the visitors and had to work hard to prevent Winterbourne from extending their lead when Kieran Joseph out smarted the defence and headed the ball over the keeper only to see the ball rebound off the post and out for a goal kick

The second-half followed the same theme as the first, with Keynsham working hard to contain Winterbourne. However, Winterbourne duly extended their lead when another good move saw captain Toby Griffin score. Keynsham, to their credit, kept battling away, but whenever they threatened the Winterbourne goal the visitors defence held firm.

The visitors grabbed their third goal of the game when Davis bagged his second of the game after timing his run into the box perfectly to slam the ball home.

Winterbourne were again being foiled by the home goalkeeper when again he made two good saves in succession however Winterbourne grabbed a fourth when Harrison Young, who played in goal for the first-half, hit a screamer of a shot.

In the end, a comfortable win for Winterbourne, who will be disappointed they only scored 4, but will be extremely happy with win and returning to the top of the league two points clear of second-placed Longwell Green.