Warminster Town 2 – Bristol Telephones 3

Super Size Crowd at Warminster Town

On what turned out to be a very wet Saturday evening on Ground-Hopper Day, 369 braved the weather including many ground-hoppers coming to Warminster for the first time. The spectators were entertained with a 5 goal thriller, a sending-off, missed chances, good saves and the ball crashing against the posts. The final score Warminster Town 2 – Bristol Telephones 3.

Bristol Telephones showed good pace up front and the early warning signs were there for Warminster to see. Balls were being played through the home sides defence for The Phones forwards to run on to. This did not appear to be a team who have only managed one point all season. The visitors breakthrough came on 14 minutes when a cross from the right was not dealt with by the Warminster defence and fell to Luke Barnfield who brought it down with his left foot and with his second touch left-footed it into the right-hand corner. 

Nathan Ball was called into action a number of times to prevent more goals from The Phones in the first thirty minutes as Warminster continued to rock under the attack from the team in blue. O’Neil and Barnfield for The Phones paired up well and were creating many chances and deserved to have scored more. 

Warminster’s first goal came in the 31st minute when from a Phones corner Allen ran with the ball down the left-wing, passed inside to Shanley who then played in Miluk. Miluk beat 2 defenders on the edge of the D and fired home past the keeper. 

Two minutes later Butler down the left passed a long ball to Vincent who beats the defenders on the left of goal and made sure of hitting the target.

In the final minute of the half, Francois Allen received a red card, and at the time most in the crowd away from the action had thought he was being sin-binned for 10 minutes.

The second-half now started and Warminster with a 2 – 1 lead had some work to do with just 10 men on the pitch. Bristol Telephones 3 minutes into the half found number 11, Golding who tapped the ball home. The third goal for The Phones was in the 59th minute when Barnfield scored his second made all too easy by the home side. 

Despite being down to 10 men Warminster created chances but couldn’t either get them on target or were saved by the Phones keeper. Likewise, the visitors went close several times in a real end to end battle between the two teams. It was a game for the neutrals to enjoy who came along as ground-hoppers and made it worth getting thoroughly wet from all the rain.

After the game, Warminster’s manager, Andy Crabtree had this to say: “Obviously over the moon with the attendance of 369 it created a great atmosphere. More importantly, I’m very disappointed with the result and losing at home once again. At 2-1 we in the driving seat and the sending off just before half time had a big impact on the game. 

We didn’t defend very well all night and it proved our undoing. I can’t fault the effort the lads put in but it’s something we need to address as it has happened far too frequently for my liking. We have a tough FA Vase game next Saturday and it’s important that we learn from those mistakes, bounce back and show a bit of character if we are to kick on for the remainder of the season.”

Team: Ball, Baggs*, Barnes*, Allen (red card), De Silva, Lisowski, Miluk, Walton, Vincent*, Butler, Shanley

Subs (used*) Mcferran*, Johnson*, Mortimer-Taylor*  

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