Radstock Town 1 Almondsbury 2

Almondsbury left Southfield with all three points on Saturday after coming from behind in a game that turned quite feisty after the hosts took the lead but was never as bad as the bookings count implies!

The visitors were quicker out of the blocks than Radstock, who hadn’t played for two weeks because of Covid, and they could have gone ahead when Flynn found some space on the edge of the area, but he sent his shot into trees behind the goal.

Radstock gradually worked their way into the game and created a number of openings but were wasteful in front of goal. The home side’s pressure meant that the visitors were restricted to attacking on the break and they did have the ball in the net in the 33rd minute but Knight’s effort was ruled out for off-side.

With half-time approaching, Radstock missed a great chance to go ahead, but Hopper blazed the ball over the bar with the goal at his mercy and within seconds Flynn did the same at the other end!

The start of the second half was frenetic with the Scrivens being forced into action to make saves from Mastouras and Williams before Howe cleared a goal-bound effort off the line as Radstock struggled to get to grips with Almondsbury’s high tempo tactics.

Against the run of play the hosts took the lead through a rare Morgan Skipp header following a cross from Joe Cooper. However, despite the set-back the visitors continued to press the home side and it was no surprise when they equalised in the 71st minute courtesy of a stunning thirty-yard thunderbolt from Andy Williams which gave Scrivens no chance in the home goal.

Radstock were reduced to ten men when Joe Cooper was harshly adjudged to have fouled Knight and was given a second yellow card by the overzealous referee.

A goalmouth melee resulted from the free kick and Flynn was on hand to stab the ball into the net after Scrivens failed to hold it in the 85th minute.

In time added on Morgan Skipp spurned a golden opportunity to equalise when he found himself through on goal from a George Pawley pass, but his fierce shot went just over the bar.

A first defeat in eight league outings and a performance that was lacking in rhythm and passion, but the result hasn’t seen the team losing any ground in the league and one defeat doesn’t define a season.