With three games to go, Warminster Town, on Easter Monday, made the journey to Cheddar, a team endeavouring to reach the playoff zone. The importance of the match seemed evident in the tension among the players. Cheddar went down to ten men in the 13th minute for a tackle and being the last man, the defender had to go. Cheddar fought well, and at halftime, it was 1-1, with Warminster running out 1-3 winners.
Warminster opened the scoring due to good anticipation from Corey Gardner. In the 17th minute, a long ball from Lewis Graham in his own 18-yard line was run onto by Gardner. Cheddar’s keeper watched the ball bouncing but didn’t exit his area; Gardner took the ball after the second bounce, poked it to the left of the keeper, and then left-footed it home into the back of the net.
The lead didn’t last long when two minutes later, Cheddar’s number 7 on the right picked up a long pass. Twisting and turning, he shrugged off Cockerill and, from the right corner of the penalty area, lifted the ball over Thompson into the far side of the goal.
The visitors didn’t capitalise on the sending off, and the game was very much in the balance at halftime. No doubt, Warminster’s manager Andy Crabtree would endeavour to change the way things were.
It was in the 80th minute when Gardner doubled his tally. The ball came to him by the penalty spot, and using his right foot, he lobbed the ball towards the centre of the goal, going perfectly over the keeper to make it two.
With five minutes of the match to go, James Vincent charged into the penalty area and was brought down by the keeper, earning himself a penalty and a yellow card for the keeper. Team captain Ian Jeffery stepped up (88’) and blasted the ball home leaving the keeper no chance of stopping it.
Overall, credit must go to Cheddar, who, although having been down to ten men for so long, worked hard to make the deficit unnoticeable. They did create chances and forced Thompson into several saves.
Warminster now has two league games remaining. The first is on Saturday, April 23rd away at Oldland Abbotonians. The final game of the season is on Saturday, April 30th at home and Gillingham Town will be at Weymouth Street. A good-sized crowd and atmosphere is expected and all are welcomed.
Team: Thomson, Humphreys, Cockerill, Jeffery(c), Graham, Bartley(s), Gardner, Mortimer-Taylor, Vincent, Butler, McKay(s)
Subs: (used) Johnson, De Silva
(unused) Lisowski