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Whitchurch 4-3 Barford Tigers (Sunday 5th October)

Having played the three top teams from the 2013/14 season and only picked up a solitary point, Whitchurch headed into Sunday’s game with hopes of securing a win against newly promoted Barford Tigers.

Coach Greg Mill made a few squad changes midweek with James Hodge coming back into the squad and Andy Gray making his national league debut.

The game started at a high tempo with both sides trying to assert themselves.  Whitchurch made the better start as good work from Manyonge Muliro and Hugh Flassman forced a series of short corners against the Tigers’ defence.

From the third consecutive short corner, an Alan Welsh danger push, deflected by Muliro, landed on a defensive foot, resulting in the award of a penalty stroke.

Taking on the responsibility, Gareth Thomas hit the top right – sending the ’keeper the wrong way in the process – of the net for a deserved 1-0 score-line.

Maintaining their high work rate, Phil Wilkinson took a quick long corner, crashing the ball into the Barford D for Rhys Welsh to trap the ball reverse and smash a reverse volley into the back of the net: 2-0 Whitchurch.

Barford fought back and exerted some pressure back onto the Whitchurch defence, which led to a Barford short corner near the end of the first half. After a great pick from Rory Gorman on the line, the ball fell to a Barford forward who lashed it into the rigging.

Coach Mill demanded more from the players going into the second half, with skipper Dougie Young reinforcing that the work rate would have to increase if Whitchurch were to maintain their advantage.

Whitchurch emerged slightly cagily after the break and Barford smelled blood.  Exerting huge pressure on the Whitchurch defence, Barford undid themselves as a quick breakaway from Muliro led to Wilkinson beating the ’keeper before smashing the ball into the net past a hapless defender.

At 3-1 down, Barford stepped up a gear and won a series of free hits and D penetrations.  A smart save from custodian Iwan Williams was not enough to deny Barford as the rebound was tucked home by an oncoming attacker.

The game was not over and Whitchurch found their feet again.  A series of quick attacks into the Barford half ended as Jake Joyce found the gap with a defence-splitting pass into Wilkinson’s path.  Under pressure, Wilkinson showed good composure to beat one defender, fake his first shot to send the ’keeper to the floor and then smash his shot into the backboard to make it 4-2.

Seesawing again, the game took another turn, as Barford won another short corner and beat Williams down the middle.

With 3 minutes to go, Owain Ryland was awarded a yellow card for breaking down the play so Coach Mill sent on defensive reinforcements in the shape of Will Teagle to shore up the backline.  After a nervy few minutes, the final whistle blew and Whitchurch celebrated their first win of the campaign. Whitchurch hope to build on this win next Saturday when they face Cheltenham at WIS, 1pm. 

Final score: Whitchurch 4-3 Barford Tigers