Category: Match Highlights

Warminster Town 1 Wells City 1

Warminster Town Come From Behind To Draw With Wells City

Warminster Town 1(0) Wells City 1(1)

Attendance 154

A strong second half performance from Town helped them to come from a goal down at the break to earn a deserved point against Wells City. The same opposition did the double over Town last season scoring ten goals in the process, so this promising result highlights the progress that they have made this season. 

The omens weren’t great when City started strongly, with Town struggling to contain their wide men breaking down the wings and crossing into the box. From one such attack they took the lead. In the fifteenth minute a cross from right was swept in at the back post by Craig Herron. A rare Town attack in the thirty-fifth minute almost led to an equaliser. A defensive mistake left Jack Newman one on one with the City keeper Harley Wilkinson but the centre-forward lifted his shot over the bar. City continued to dominate and almost doubled their lead on the stroke of half time. A spectacular overhead volley found the back of the net but the goal was ruled out as referee had blown for an earlier infringement.

With Town manager Rob Nash unavailable due to a prior commitment the half time team talk fell to assistant manager Rob McFerran. Whatever he said during the break had the desired effect. Town’s second half was arguably their best forty-five minutes so far this season. In the fifty-second minute a Sam McFarlane volley flew just wide. On sixty-three minutes Town equalised. Jake Wright was fouled on the right edge of box. Reece Collyer’s free kick was blocked by City’s defence but when the ball rebounded back to him he unleashed an unstoppable shot into the top corner. Town were now on top. The full backs were stopping City’s flying wingers and the central defenders blocking shots. The midfield were now winning the fifty-fifty challenges and the forwards were causing City serious problems. What looked to be a good shout for a penalty when Jack Newman was felled in the box just led to a yellow card for simulation. Jake Wright was turning defenders inside out and he had a fierce shot well saved by Wilkinson. A minute later Jack Newman rounded the City keeper and shot from an acute angle. Unfortunately the shot was blocked at the near post. With time running out a Jack Newman layoff to captain Ryan Benson was volleyed just wide of the post. Then with time almost up another Reece Collyer volley was well saved by Wilkinson.

A great battling performance to suggest Town can start turning draws into wins to move them up the table from their current twelfth place.

Report by: Geoff Jackson

Warminster Town 1 Calne Town 0

On the first dry Saturday for a while, Warminster Town welcomed the league leaders, Calne Town to Weymouth Street. The home side, up until this match, had not won a home league game all season. Today though that was about to change. A single goal in the match gave Warminster that first home league win so needed and moved them up to 14th in the table.

Warminster produced a good solid performance, earning the public praise of manager, Andy Crabtree via his Twitter account @AndytheCrab. Warminster contained the visitors very well throughout the game, limiting them to few opportunities to score. The back four, comprising, McFerran, Graham, De-Silva and Jeffery (players man of the match) did well and worked hard for 90 minutes to keep the clean sheet and make life much easier in goal for the keeper, Nathan Ball.

The only goal came when in the 39th minute, Jack Miluk was brought down after making a run into the penalty area. Ian Jeffery stepped forward to take the penalty which the keeper saved but parried back into the path of Jeffery who made no mistake with his second chance and put the ball past Thomson to take the lead. 

Five minutes after the penalty, George Butler went close, firing the ball just over the bar, not long after which the referee blew his whistle for halftime. 

Just 5 minutes into the second half, Jack MIluk should have made life more comfortable for The Red & Blacks. Allan won the ball inside the visitor’s penalty area, squared the ball to Miluk who blasted the ball onto the underside of the crossbar, the ball bouncing downwards but sadly away from the goal-line. Later in the game, Miluk had another golden opportunity in a one on one with the keeper but shot wide of the right-hand post. 

Calne Town tried hard to breakdown the Warminster defence, particularly more so in the second-half but were limited to some long-range and well off-target shots.

All in all, an excellent performance from the home side and a victory which they well deserved. This result should give them more confidence in future home matches. However, they are not at home now until Wednesday, December 4th when they play Cheddar F.C. with kickoff at 7.45 pm. The next game is on Saturday, November 23rd, with a trip to Almondsbury F.C kickoff at 3.00 pm.

Team: Ball, McFerran, Jeffery, Graham, De-Silva, Lisowski, Miluk, Mortimer-Taylor, Allan, Butler, Shanley
Subs: Vincent, Johnson, Barnes, Fletcher 

Sherborne Town 0 – Warminster Town 3

Warminster’s only league wins of the season have been on the road and a trip to Sherborne Town was likely to be a tough fixture. Once again though, the Red & Blacks rose to the away challenge and won the game 0 – 3.

The opening moments of the game showed that Sherborne aka The Zebras would be no push-over and the early chances fell to them, chances which could have easily turned to goals in the opening few minutes. The home team, especially in the first half put Warminster under pressure and were very good at keeping possession of the ball. 

Warminster’s first goal came in the 10th minute when Jack Miluk found himself in space on the right side. Miluk crossed the ball into the box which was met by James Vincent bursting into the area to plant the ball firmly in the back of the net.

The Zebras proved to be very dangerous during this game with some slick passing and one-twos around the Warminster penalty area but with good defending managed to keep the ball out of the net. The back four was changed today, Lewis Graham and Henry McFerran were out and in came Jordan de Silva (back from injury) and Stewart Lisowski who got his first start for a while. The lads voted Lisowski ‘man of the match’ for the effort he put in on the pitch to keep that clean sheet.

The second half saw Warminster produce some better-attacking football. Very early in the half Warminster created several chances forcing the keeper to make several good saves. The second goal (54th minute) came when keeper Nathan Ball threw the ball to George Butler who ran down the left, cut along the edge of the box, back-heeled the ball to Charlie Walton who took on the defender in the box and fired home right-footed into the right corner. A very well-worked goal.

Sherborne continued to press the visitors and Warminster had to defend long and hard and sit deep with the intention of catching the home side out on the break. In the 73rd minute, Butler missed an absolute sitter, somehow managing to miss from a few yards out. The good news though for him would be that he would go on to score. This followed a triple substitution by the Zebras in the 77th minute. Immediately as play resumed, Jack Miluk ran the ball down the right and crossed to Butler who at the edge of the ‘D’ made no mistake with a left-footed shot past the advancing keeper to make amends for his miss. 

The travelling supporters went home happy after watching a dogged performance from the Red & Blacks and now look forward to welcoming Bristol Telephones for an unusually late kickoff on Saturday, October 5th at 7:45 pm as it is “Ground-Hopper Day”.  

Team: Ball, Baggs, Barnes, De Silva, Lisowski, Miluk*, Mortimer-Taylor, Walton, Vincent*, Butler, Shanley

Subs (used*) Fletcher*, Chenery-Bowden*, McFerran

Warminster Town 5 Wincanton Town 0

Warminster Rampant against Wincanton

After two postponements due to snow and rain it was good to be able to play football again at Weymouth Street. For the 109 in attendance, this was indeed a game worth waiting for. Following a goalless but still an entertaining first-half, the home side were rampant in the second-half winning 5 – 0 and climbing above the visitors to tenth place in the league table.

The first half opened with an early opportunity for the visitors with a long-range shot which went wide of the left-hand post. However, not to be outdone and still only in the second minute, Charlie Walton for Warminster shot from the left well outside of the box and saw this beat the keeper but rebound off the crossbar before being cleared by the defence.

Wincanton passed the ball well and kept finding players in or around the edge of the penalty area. The Warminster defence stood up well and limited the visitors to very few shots on goal and forcing one save by Nathan Ball when Toby Cole was free on the left and got just into the edge of the penalty area and fired a left-footed shot along the ground in the 28th minute. Two minutes, McKay for Warminster passed the ball to Butler who travelled down the left side of the pitch, passed the ball along the line to Jake Wright. Wright took on the defender and got past him to the edge of the box and fired a looping shot which forced the visitors keeper, Liam Norris to make a fine save and lift the ball over his crossbar. It was almost a carbon copy of the goal Wright scored at Portishead and but for the keeper’s excellent reflexes it would have been another.

The last 15 minutes of this half saw the home side in the ascendancy and were it not for Norris’ super goalkeeping would have seen Warminster ahead at half time, as it was, both teams went into the dressing rooms goalless.

The second half got underway, and Warminster took up from where they left off, and in the 49th minute, George Butler got a shot away which was saved by Norris who was proving his place in the Wincanton team.

The breakthrough for the Red & Blacks came in the 63rd minute when Charlie Walton fired home from just inside the 6-yard box a rebound from the keepers save. Three minutes later Jack Miluk forced the keeper once again to make a save this time tipping over the bar a long looping shot. Warminster continued piling on the pressure, and from a corner, Lewis Graham headed the ball and with a fantastic overhead kick and 12 yards out Charlie Walton found Conner Mackay who could then tap the ball home in the 67th minute.

Just 3 minutes later Jake Wright was brought down just inside the box by the keeper, Norris. Wright took the penalty and calmly slotted the ball in the bottom right corner. Norris went the right way but couldn’t keep the ball out of his net. Wincanton now rattled by Warminster’s relentless attack decided to change from playing out and passing from the back to long balls to the front men. This tactic was easily dealt with by the home side’s defence, and the pressure on Wincanton didn’t cease.

The fourth goal came in the first minute of added time when Walton gathered the ball around 15 yards inside the middle of visitors half, he ran towards goal and fired home a powerful shot, a well-deserved reward for the incredible hard work he had put into this game. Warminster still did not rest on their laurels, and just two minutes later the ball was in the back of the net when substitute Martin Johnson tapped home, following excellent work from Walton who won the ball inside his own half, passed to Jake Wright. Wright ran into the box from just inside the away teams half, he passed the ball across goal, and a defender sliding in sent the ball onto the far post which Johnson was then able to follow up on the rebound. A truly outstanding performance from the team and without the excellent saves by Norris could have been closer to 10 goals scored against a team who did not play poorly and who beat Warminster in the home tie 3 -1.

After the game manager, Andy Crabtree said, “Very pleased with our performance especially the 2nd half with the goals. It’s great that we are now beginning to show what we are capable of. When you look back where we were this time last year, and to where we are now, we have come a long, long way, not only as a team but the club in general. We are finally giving the supporters something to shout about. But nothing stands still in football, and it’s on to the next game.

Warminster welcome high-flying Calne to Weymouth Street on Saturday 23rd February in what should be another excellent game of football. Kickoff 3.00pm and all are welcome.

Team: Ball, Baggs, Barnes, Graham, Sisson, Churchyard, Miluk, Walton, Wright, McKay, Butler.
subs (*used): Mortimer-Taylor*, Crabtree, Johnson*, De Silva*