Thornbury Baptists.... 0

Woodlands................... 4

Thornbury Baptist Church suffered a disappointing home defeat at reigning champions and title favourites Woodlands on Saturday.

Thornbury made the brighter start and might have led when Jimmy Cooke fed Doug Nash, a winter transfer from Real Thornbury, whose effort was brilliantly saved by Woodlands keeper Steve Ballard.

The Woodlands opener came completely against the run of play after Thornbury forced a series of corners before being hit on the counter attack and the ball was squared for Ieuan Peurse to give the visitors a slightly fortuitous lead.

They made it count though and followed up with a neat move from a corner before a second for Peurse with a sweet left-foot strike to make it 3-0 at the interval.

Thornbury will still have felt that one goal might give them a sniff and the best chance fell to Ben Paddy on 72 minutes when he latched onto a Cooke header but could only fire wide of the far post.

Sam Williams hit another effort just over the bar for Thornbury but chances were otherwise scarce in the second half with both defences holding up well and Thornbury always looking the more dangerous whilst Woodies sat back and absorbed the pressure.With the clock running down, Woodlands again showed the ruthless edge with a neat move down the left flank and a simple tap in for Alex Bakker arriving at the far post.

For a Thornbury side suffering from injuries to key players, the performance was far more pleasing than the scoreline as for the large part they went toe-to-toe with the best team in the league.

The pair will meet again at Alveston in the BCAFL League Cup Semi-Final and Thornbury will be hoping they have saved better to come.