Warminster continued their 17-match unbeaten run with another hard-fought win on Saturday when they overcame an early setback to overcome a determined Cheddar side 2-1
Although the weather was dry and sunny the recent bad weather had taken its toil on the Weymouth Street pitch, and it was only thanks to some outstanding work by volunteers clearing a large amount of broken branches and twigs that the pitch was playable at all, even then it was soft.
It was the away side that got off to the best start when in the 5th minute when a ball in from the right found Finlay Biggs unmarked on the edge of the box and he fired in a right-footed shot that left Sam Thomson helpless in goal
Town had chances to equalise in the first half, including in the 15th minute Martin Johnson chased down a poor back pass to the Cheddar keeper which resulted in the keeper losing control, and the ball whipped across the goalmouth evading everyone. In the 18th minute, Eben Mortimer-Taylor received the ball back from a blocked corner kick and his fine right-footed shot fizzed just wide of the right-hand post
In the 25th minute, a corner from the left from Conner McKay found Johnson in the box but his header floated past the left post while in the 30th minute a corner from Ian Jeffery from the right found Johnson whose near-post header flashed just wide
HT Warminster 0 Cheddar 1
In the second half, Warminster raised their game and looked more threatening and nearly equalised in the 56th minute when fine combination work between Max Pollock and Jack Miluk on the right found Johnson again the box whose acrobatic overhead kick flashed just wide again. Johnson was denied minutes later when his shot from a ball in from McKay was well saved by the Cheddar keeper
The feeling around the ground was that Warminster’s pressure would eventually lead to an equaliser and the Cheddar defence eventually succumbed when in the 70th minute Aaron Cockerill was brought down in the box and skipper Ian Jeffrey stepped up to put the penalty kick away.
The Cheddar defence was clearly having difficulty in dealing with crosses effectively and this was shown in the 76th minute when a corner from the right taken by Jeffrey found the back of the net and Town took the lead.
Despite conceding a couple of late free-kicks Town were able to see the game out with a 2-1 win, with games at home to Lebeq on Wednesday 2nd March in the Les Phillips Cup followed by two away League matches at AEK Boco on Saturday 5th March and on Tuesday 8th March at Welton Rovers, these are exciting times for Warminster Town supporters
Attendance – 144
Team: Thomson, Pollock, Cockerill, Jeffrey, Graham, Humphreys, Miluk, Bartley, Mortimer-Taylor, Johnson, McKay
Subs (used) Vincent, Wain, Gardiner (unused) De Silva, Seviour