Town Well Beaten On The Road

Bitton AFC 4(1) Warminster Town 0(0)

Attendance 52

Warminster Town’s away day blues continued as they were well beaten by a good Bitton team.

Not unlike the previous midweek home fixture against Wells City, Town started slowly and found themselves under early pressure. Town’s attacks were few and far between but they did look dangerous from set pieces. Two early corners showed that they could test the home team. Bitton took the lead in the nineteenth minute when Caelen Simpson dispossessed a Town defender and squared the ball to George Lloyd who shot past keeper Callum Hotine, one-nil. In the twenty-sixth minute Town came close to levelling the score. Oscar Williamson out jumped Bitton keeper Tom Creed to get on end of free kick into the penalty area but unfortunately his header went just wide of post. Bitton then enjoyed a spell of domination and the visitors had keeper Hotine to thank for a string of fine saves to keep them in the game until halftime.

Two minutes after the break Town went on the offensive and won a corner. From the corner they lost possession and Bitton launched a quick counterattack down the right wing. Lewis Russell crossed the ball into the danger area to Sacha Tong who had the easiest of tap ins, two-nil. A minute later it was the same combination Russell crossing for Tong to head in this time, three-nil. Town fought hard to get back into the game. Myles Woodward had a shot well saved and a Reece Collyer free kick was kept out. Bitton however continued to dominate and should have gone further ahead when, from a corner, Scott Gregory rose unchallenged but put his header wide. Callum Hotine was continuing to keep the score line respectable. On eighty-six minutes he superbly saved Stefan Lee’s shot from the edge of the box. He parried the ball onto his left hand post and it rebounded back into his arms. Two minutes later home keeper Creed got himself in a real tangle just outside the penalty area but he did enough to stop Sam McFarlane firing into the unguarded net. Two minutes into stoppage time Stefan Lee got behind the Town defence to beat Hotine, four-nil. A minute later Town’s miserable afternoon was made worse. Substitute Sam Wright, only just coming back from a pre season knee injury, suffered a recurrence of the problem and looks likely to be out of action again for a number of weeks.

Report by Geoff Jackson