Avonmouth 5(2) Warminster Town 1(0)

Attendance 120

Ahead of today’s game Avonmouth were 15th in the Western League Division One table, visitors Warminster 19th.

Warminster started brightly and in the second minute Reece Collyer tested the Avonmouth keeper Tom Hague with a long range effort. Hague’s superb diving save pushed the ball wide of the post. Just two minutes later, however, Avonmouth took the lead when a cross from the right found Kyle O’Donovan umarked in the centre of the box and he fired past Warminster’s keeper Callum Hotine, 1-0. On eleven minutes Avonmouth doubled their lead. Warminster only half cleared the ball from a corner. The ball was hooked back into the danger area and Charlie Aldom headed in off the underside of the bar, 2-0. Things went from bad to worse for the visitors on thirty-five minutes when they were reduced to ten men. Jake Wright’s late tackle led to the referee sending the winger off. Five minutes before the break the visitors were forced into an early substitution Ryan Benson replacing Saracen Yates. At the break the hosts were good value for their two-nil lead.

Eight minutes after the restart Reece Collyer again tried his luck from distance but his shot flew wide of the target. On fifty-eight minutes Martin Johnson came on as substitute for young Kieran Burpitt, making his first appearance since September following a bad injury. In the sixty-second minute Charlie Aldom’s diving header from a right side cross extended the home side’s lead, 3-0. Just five minutes later Avonmouth struck again. Josh Pearce, looking suspiciously offside, ran onto a long downfield punt and scored unchallenged, 4-0. To Warminster’s credit they didn’t stop fighting and on seventy minutes they pulled a goal back. A fierce shot from, who else, Reece Collyer was well saved by Tom Hague but Jack Newman reacted quickest to head in the rebound, 4-1. With renewed purpose Warminster went close again in the seventh-sixth minute when Martin Johnson got on the end of an Owen Bartley free kick but his header flew just over the bar. Avonmouth, however, were to have the final say. In the eighty-sixth minute substitute Zaid Samadi added a fifth goal with an unstoppable right foot shot from the right-side of the box, 5-1. 

Credit to Avonmouth who were worthy winners. Losing Jake so early was a big loss and made the visitors task all the harder. On the plus side it was good to see Martin making a substitute appearance and hopefully he will get more match time on Wednesday when we take on Keynsham in another bottom of the table, must win game.

Match report: Geoff Jackson