After playing their first five league games away from home in the Somerset County League Division One East, Timsbury Athletic returned to their home base with a comprehensive 5-0 win over Cutters Friday. It was enough to see them go top of the table, with the game Bristol side consigned to the basement.
Timsbury dominated the first half and went in at the interval 3-0 in front. Early on, Ellis Hancock was just too high, and Mark Hancock shot wide. The two players then combined to give the home side a fifteenth-minute lead, with Mark Hancock crossing for Ellis to sweep home. Soon after, he could have had a second, but hooked over the bar, and then Liam Craze had a goal-bound effort deflected for a corner.
Timsbury suffered a blow when teenager Tuso Makombe had to come off with a hamstring injury, but his replacement, Ebner Heatley, made an immediate impact, creating space for himself before shooting past James Needs for Timsbury’s second goal. Jesse Bishop thought he had notched the home side’s third goal when he shot home, after Ellis Hancock’s free-kick had been parried by Needs, but he was adjudged offside.
Five minutes from half-time, however, Timsbury were 3-0 up, when Ellis Hancock headed home Jack Nix’s pinpoint cross. Cutters had competed well in midfield, but failed to create a clear-cut chance, until Martins Olyani shot just wide, with half-time approaching.
The visitors started the second half brightly, but again failed to cause too many problems for a solid home rearguard. On the hour, Cutters failed to clear a Mark Hancock corner, and following a goalmouth melee, defender Callum Taylor struck home Timsbury’s fourth goal.
Ellis Hancock was well-over with another free-kick, but he soon made amends when he headed in the impressive Heatley’s cross for a hat-trick, and his eighth goal of the campaign. A long effort from Cutters’ captain Scott Sellwood was easily held by the under-employed home keeper Jack Scrivens, before Ellis Hancock again found the net in the dying minutes, only to have the effort scrubbed off for offside.
Star Man: Ebner Heatley (Timsbury Athletic).
Malcolm Tucker