Uhlsport Hellenic League Division 1 West

Thornbury Town 8

New College Swindon 1

THORNBURY maintained their early season promotion charge with an emphatic victory over basement boys New College Swindon, writes Malcolm Carr.

The Thorns opened the scoring from the get-go through the prolific Harry Brock.

Luke Franklin doubled the lead on nine minutes from the edge of the box. However, the visitors pulled a goal back a couple of minutes later when Joe Hiscocks powerful shot slammed against the inside of the post and cannoned past debutant Dan Taylor.

New College enjoyed their best spell after this but never seriously troubled the Town defence and midway through the half Craig Lancastle made it 3-1 when he picked up the ball from a Marcus Wormwell cross, skipped past his marker and steered the ball past McGill.

It was 4-1 after 28 minutes when sustained Thorns pressure saw the ball fall to Brock who calmly slotted the ball past the keeper. Town wasted a couple of other good chances and McGill pulled off a good double save to deny Brock and Lancastle.

The second half was a repeat of the first, with the visitors under pressure and Tom Webb scored twice in a minute and minutes after the restart, his first a close range finish at the far post and his second a lob over the stranded McGill into the far corner of the net.

The young visitors never gave up and Hiscocks came close to netting their second goal in the 63rd minute but his shot rebounded off the post whilst a couple of minutes later Taylor pulled off a good save to deny the striker.

However, further goals from Wormwell and Lancastle emphasised Thorns dominance and but for some wayward shooting Town could easily have recorded double figures.

This Saturday Thorns resume their Buildbase FA Vase journe” when they face a trip to Wessex League side Downton for a place in the 2nd round of the national tournament. Currently lying in second place in their league, Downton will prove a difficult side to beat on their own patch.

Town’s Reserve and third teams both enjoyed good wins on Saturday with the young Reserve side winning 4-2 at previously unbeaten Old Sodbury in the 1st Round of the County Cup, whilst the third team maintained their 100% start to the season with a comprehensive 3-0 home win against Greyfriars Athletic.