This was a day that Welton would like to forget, when, after a lively start, they were completely undone by a very lively Bitton attack that created chance after chance against the Welton defence, who were on the backfoot for most of the game.

Welton suffered an early setback even before the game started when central defender, Ritchie Chandler, pulled up in the warm-up and was replaced by Mark West. The game got underway on a very wet pitch after the morning’s downpour, but it was Welton who pressed early on and Anthony Conradi got the ball into the Bitton net, but his effort was ruled out for offside.

West then went close with a long-range shot as Welton continued to make their mark on the game early on. However, all the good work came to nothing when Bitton took the lead on fifteen minutes with a long-range daisy cutter shot from Luke Bryan, beating Andy King low down and flying into the far corner of the net.

Five minutes later, Bitton made it two when a free kick from the edge of the Welton area from Bryan roared into the top corner of the net to score his second.

It was all Bitton as Welton struggled to contain the hosts and just before the half hour, Lewis Powell made it three with a shot into the far corner. A minute later, Bitton got their fourth when Sacha Tong had a free header on the edge of the mix and planted the ball into the Welton net. Just before the half-time whistle, Bryan was brought down in the Welton area and the referee had no hesitation in awarding a penalty. Up stepped Bryan to take the spot kick to secure his first half hat trick, but he was denied by a superb, one-handed save by King.

The second half saw Welton go close early on when Anthony Conradi’s shot on the turn went wide.

However, Bitton responded and a great run down the right from Bryan saw him deliver a quality ball to full back, Matson Evans, in space in front of the Welton goal and he powered his shot into the Welton net to score Bitton’s fifth.

Welton still continued to take the ball to the home side and were rewarded when a Kai Gould free kick into the area was met by Conradi and his glancing header flew into the Bitton net.

However, Bitton responded straight from the kick-off and Bryan was on hand again when he set up Tong, who made no mistake with his effort. Welton wouldn’t lie down and a cracking shot from Gould thumped against the Bitton bar. With ten minutes remaining, Tong scored his hat trick and Bitton’s seventh when he broke through Welton’s defence to slot home.

A minute later, with Welton’s heads dropping, Tong scored his fourth and Bitton’s eighth, with a close range effort. As the game went into added time, Bitton added the final touch with a ninth goal from Powell.

Bob Allard