Match Report

Winterbourne United 0 Malmesbury Victoria 1

The Vics managed to pull off a classic smash and grab raid at high flying Winterbourne with a late deflected strike from Paul Day. It was not the only occasion the visitors had made a chance on the break as earlier Tom Sheppard had to make a flying save to tip a soundly hit volley over the bar. For most of the game though, Tom was mainly a spectator as Bourne dominated play for long periods especially in the second half.

Malmesbury have their keeper to thank for a string of saves which kept the visitors in the game. Even when he was beaten the ball found the woodwork, the most spectacular being when Ben Walker's smashed free kick bounced down off the bar only to be cleared off the line. This effort came at the second attempt after the first free kick was taken to quickly for the referee's liking, unfortunately for Bourne Pottsy's effort was not given. After a while the soft pitch started to cut up making control difficult at times and one such bobble put Jimmy Potts through on goal but the usually lethal marksman found the keeper up to it on this occasion. HT 0.0

This half was identical to the first with Bourne chasing the points but again Vic's determination was clear to see as they stubbornly refused to give in. Lady luck certainly played her part in this period as Bourne were left to wonder what they had to do to score. The now desperate hosts hit the post twice in the same move and then later on Mark Nash flashed in a diving header that looked for all the world to be heading toward the bottom corner, only to see it miss the post by a whisker. The referee saw fit to add on five minutes of extra time following the visitor's attempts at delaying things but it was to no avail as the three points went back to Wiltshire. FT 0.1

Sheppard, Gordon, Saunders, Nash, Waters, Gent (Thompson) Mainstone (Hemmings), Cameron, Potts, Totterdell, Vosper.