SYDENHAMS (WESSEX) LEAGUE DIVISION ONE
SATURDAY 29TH OCTOBER 2011
WARINSTER TOWN 2 VERWOOD TOWN 3

Verwood made their way up to Warminster looking to make it seven wins in a row and keep the pressure on the leaders at the top of the table. James Murray came in for Matt Dear who has returned to Wimborne Town and Charlie Elysee starting his first game since the opening day of the season replaced Tom Freeman. With some of the large amount of visiting supporters still taking their seats in the 'away enclosure'! Verwoood found themselves one up in a little over a minute. Evans' deep cross to the far post was met by Homer's header which looped over the keeper's head and into the net. Gajic was on hand to ensure the ball had crossed the line but a quick check on Roy Mortimer's outstanding camera work confirmed the ball had already crossed the line and Homer was quite correct to claim it. 0-1

With 4 minutes gone it was Verwood who were making all the early running and a shot on the turn from Elysee was too high to trouble the home goal. On 8 minutes Warminster created danger for the first time with a long cross to the far post but Murray's vital header diverted it away from the forward to the relative safety of a throw in. The home team's first attempt on goal followed immediately after with a 25 yard shot which was comfortably dealt with by Lynch. On 13 minutes a strong run down the flank by Elysee was followed by a hard, low cross which the keeper nearly fumbled but no Verwood forward was close enough to punish. A few minutes later a good move from Verwood on the opposite side saw Murray work an opening for Homer whose cross to the near post was met on the volley by Gajic but his effort was a yard wide.

19 minutes gone and a wayward back pass from a home defender gave the keeper no option but to head the ball out to the corner flag, Homer was quick to pounce on it and whipped in a quick cross to Haskell whose header flashed just wide. Warminster forced the first corner of the game on 23 minutes when Dyer mis-placed a pass in the middle of the park but the defence came to the rescue. Immediately after, a break from Verwood saw Homer on the right flank bearing down on goal but shot straight at the goalkeeper with Haskell in the middle screaming " I've just ran 50 ******* yards for that". A quality moment which immediately cancelled out my disappointment that we hadn't increased our lead. We didn't have long to wait though as Murray forced a great cross out of nowhere and Elysee rose like a salmon on the penalty spot to head home just inside the post. 0-2

27 minutes gone and Warminster kept us on our toes as a cross was met by the forward's header but it went just over the bar. The hosts were coming in to the game more now with Verwood possibly starting to lose our way a little, they were trying to force one or two openings but without causing us a major panic. On 37 minutes Dyer rolled a ball across the box and Haskell's snap shot was well saved. Another corner to Warminster on the stroke of half time was met by Delaney and his header to safety ensured we went in with a deserved half time lead. HALF TIME 0-2

We created an early chance in the second half as we had done in the first when Haskell's flicked header found Homer on the edge of the box but the keeper was quick to foil the danger. Shortly after that a mix up in the home defence allowed Haskell a long distance shot but this was too high to threaten the goal. 49 minutes and a dangerous ball into our penalty area created a little panic but Lynch was down quickly to snuff out the danger. The first yellow card followed for a foul on Webb when in a dangerous area, another Warminster player went into the referee's book just after for a very similar offence. 53 minutes and we were starting to look a little off-colour, a run from midfield towards our goal looked likely to cause a problem until Kelly's brilliantly timed tackle on the edge of the box.

Warminster were definitely upping the tempo now and we were forced to dig deep to defend our lead, we were playing possibly the worst we had on our current winning streak. With 57 minutes gone Delaney broke up an attack with a volleyed clearance that was so effective it set Gajic away but he was pulled down 25 yards from goal, Homer's resultant free kick was easily claimed by the keeper. On 64 minutes the moment we feared arrived. Twice in quick succession a forward was allowed to run at the Verwood goal, Lynch saved bravely at the feet of the first attack but had no chance second time as a shot from the edge of the box flew into the far corner of the net. You could sense this was coming 1-2

72 minutes and Gajic wriggled clear on the right but his cross was cut out by the defence and a few minutes later Haskell turned in the box and saw his shot blocked but the ball fell to Homer on an angle 12 yards out but this shot went high. Three minutes later our best chance of the second half was when Gajic put Homer through his goal bound shot was well saved and allowed us our first corner of the game. 78 minutes and a header towards our goal was well saved by Lynch. With 7 minutes remaining we forced only our second corner of the game. Homer's kick was headed goalwards by Haskell and Kelly made sure with a flicked header to restore our two goal advantage 1-3

It was just as well we had scored again as immediately after a ball into our box was handled by Delaney, almost certainly unintentionally, however the ref pointed to the spot and Lynch could do nothing to stop the penalty hitting the back of the net. 2-3

We may not have played at our best today but you could see the determination was there to hang on to our lead. With just a minute remaining a free kick was awarded to Warminster just inside our half. Webb who was close to the incident stopped a quick kick being taken and the referee was quickly across reaching for his card. Much to everyone's horror it was red! The same colour as the faces of Messrs Arnold and Beverly in the Verwood dug-out though their's was the result of rage at the decision. Thankfully calm was restored as the official realised the error and replaced it with a yellow and all concerned breathed a sigh of relief. The free kick that followed was a weird one. The ball was drilled low and hard like a missile towards our goal from what must have been almost 50 yards. Everybody seemed to freeze and hold their breath, all except Lynch that was who saved what was now a skidding ball brilliantly.

The 90 minute mark was reached with Verwood playing keep-ball by the corner flag, the home team were getting a little frustrated with this and things were getting a little feisty. With only a few seconds of stoppage time played (perhaps fearing 3 or 4 minutes) the referee decided to blow for full time and we had made it seven league victories on the trot FINAL SCORE 2-3

Report submitted by Steve Jefferis